Revenge is a dish best served cold — or, in these movies, with ample violence. As the remake of Carrie hits theaters, let’s look back at the original and 19 other films offering serious vengeance. WARNING: Major spoilers for all of the films discussed.
Straw Dogs (1971)
Revenge seekers: David and Amy Sumner
Why they want it: David and Amy move back to her hometown, where they hire locals (including Amy's ex-boyfriend) to renovate their house. The workmen lure David into the woods, then double back to gang-rape Amy.
How they get it: When the workmen later try to seek refuge in the Sumners' home, David uses hot oil and a fire poker to fight back. Eventually, he gets a gun, but it's Amy who shoots and kills the last of her assailants.
MGM
The Last House on the Left (1972)
Revenge seekers: John and Estelle Collingwood
Why they want it: Their daughter Mari and her friend Phyllis are sexually abused, tortured, and finally murdered by prison escapees. The criminals then seek haven at the Collingwoods' home, not realizing their relationship to the victim.
How they get it: In the film's most memorable scene, the "blow job with teeth," Estelle bites off a murderer's penis, leaving him to die. The rest of the criminals are killed by shotgun, knife, and chainsaw.
MGM
Carrie (1976)
Revenge seeker: Carrie White
Why she wants it: Her classmates have bullied her mercilessly and her religious mother abuses her. She ends up winning prom queen, but only so two cruel students can dump a bucket of pig's blood on her.
How she gets it: She uses her telekinetic powers to cause an electrical fire and set the entire prom ablaze, killing everyone inside. The pranksters only witness the carnage and nearly escape, but Carrie flips over their car, killing them both.
United Artists
I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
Revenge seeker: Jennifer Hills
Why she wants it: After renting an isolated cottage to work on her writing, she is brutally raped and tortured by a group of locals. They decide to kill her so she can't accuse them of their crimes, but she's spared because one of her attackers feels too much sympathy to do the deed.
How she gets it: She murders all of them. Jennifer tricks the men into believing she wants to have sex with them, then kills them off in increasingly horrifying ways, including a memorable bathtub castration, after which she lets her rapist bleed out.
Elite