La venganza de la casa del lago

A gang kills two detectives and breaks out criminal Krug (Garret Dillahunt). Competitive swimmer Mari Collingwood (Sara Paxton) and her parents (Monica Potter, Tony Goldwyn) go to their vacation home. Mari reconnects with local friend Paige (Martha MacIsaac). The girls go to a motel room with Justin (Spencer Treat Clark) with the promise of some marijuana. They have a fun time until Justin's dad Krug, uncle Francis (Aaron Paul) and Sadie (Riki Lindhome) arrive. The girls are kidnapped and then Mari causes the car to crash.

As far as violent horrors go, this works better than most. The first half is the most compelling. The rape scene is pretty brutal. The violence is scary without the enjoyable fun. It's a horrific scene. The scariest part is actually the motel scene where the violence is just threatened. The second half is less scary by comparison. It's more traditional with the Collingwood family battling the criminal family. The whole movie works pretty well with some memorable brutality.

The Last House on the Left is directed by Dennis Iliadis and adapted to screenplay by Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth from the story by Wes Craven (co-producer here). A remake of Craven's 1972 film of the same name (itself influenced by Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring), it stars Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Sara Paxton, Spencer Treat Clark and Martha MacIsaac. Music is by John Murphy and cinematography by Sharone Meir.

During a family vacation, teenagers Mari (Paxton) and Paige (MacIsaac) are viciously set about by a gang led by recent prison escapee Krug (Dillahunt). When bad weather forces Krug's car to career off the road, the gang, unbeknownst to them, seek refuge in the vacation home of Mari's parents. When the parents realise what their new lodgers have done, they begin to enact bloody retribution.

It's pointless going on about remakes of old horror films, they are here to stay and we continue to watch them in the hope that they will strike a chord with us. With The Last House on the Left, remaking it, to me at least, is understandable given the 72 film is not exactly a great classic itself. True enough to say it has that grainy grunginess that was so befitting the decade's horror movies, marking it out as an unsettling experience without really living up to its "terrifying" reputation. In fact if you put both movies together they still wouldn't have enough class in them to give Bergman's movie a run for its money.

So the remake then, all glossy and big budgeted, with name actors in the principal roles, it is by definition routinely packaged for the modern day audience. However, that doesn't take away from the fact that what unfolds on that screen is challenging us, it really does do its job. The pertinent question exists, are you capable of such violence having had violence inflicted on your loved ones previously? What would you do in the same situation that Mari's parents find themselves in?

We have been privy to what was meted out to poor Mari and Paige, and the impact is most distressing. There is good cause to argue that Iliadis and his production team go too far in grabbing our attention in readiness for the "revenge" factor later on. Certainly I myself was uncomfortable watching it, as I was with the I Spit on Your Grave remake, but it's about getting a prescribed response, however close to the knuckle it is.

It's not a film anyone can feel comfortable about recommending, surely? But I know it put me through a gamut of emotions, even making me feel bad about myself the next day. That is quite often the power of cinema, and clearly the banner that Craven and Iliadis held aloft during the publicity tours for The Last House on the Left. Today I give the film an uneasy 7/10, it's uncompromising and unapologetically violent, but also laced with flaws. On another day I may find myself rating it considerably lower

As a fan of the original 1972 version, I wasn't expecting a lot, but at the same time, with Wes being brought in as a producer, I felt it had to live up to some expectations.

What I got was a fun yet torturous movie that had the audience with it the whole time. They were gasping, hollering, sighing, saddened, and later clapping, laughing and woo'ing. It really takes you for a ride from the first moment and only lets up briefly, only to take you back down again.

While the original scores higher for "shock factor," this one still has plenty of gore and story. I'm not going to give anything away because I'm sure most of you know the story by the trailers, but overall this is an intense film that you won't forget anytime soon. If you know what happens, you'll be happy when the second half of the film picks up. If you have no idea, try to enjoy the ride as I'm sure you'll leave satisfied.

A few people in my theater left before it ended, so if you feel sick or faintful, just keep repeating to yourself: it's only a movie, it's only a movie, it's only a movie...

I'll keep this short and sweet. This was gruesome and twistedly faithful to the original in spirit and effect. I totally expected to be the one tortured when watching, well I should have left my preconceived notions at the door. The acting was sharp, the plot devices made just enough sense that it never broke my disbelief and I admittedly had to briefly look away from some scenes.

The setup was stellar and the ending did not disappoint. I give it a 7 but if it was possible I would have given it a 7.5.

Good for the genre and great by comparison of other remakes.

I would definitely suggest it to anyone that enjoys the genre.

I had watched the original with friends before. What attracted it to us was the way the movie was being put across "to avoid fainting keep repeating it's just a movie" etc. We loved horror and anything just generally shocking it was the most fun along with comedy's you could have with friends!. Well it certainly did not let anyone one of us down it was pretty insane?! shall we say. Either way a truly great piece of horror beyond what any of us had seen at the time.

When i heard about This Re-make i was not so much excited but anxious to see how they would handle the story and the scenes that would be necessary to tell it to the best of it's ability.

I was impressed.

I knew straight away it would be reasonably mild compared to the first one it had to be , to be watchable in cinemas in order to make money. And for the most part it was. However it still kept that vital shock value the gore (the blood & guts) were handled perfectly it was like the hills have eyes re-make in the sense you saw what was happening the camera never once did one of those annoying wall shots were you see the blood splatter! when a knife went in or a bullet etc. it went in and you saw it. Well with a horror film that's half the battle straight away.

Obviously you probably know this film is centred around a group of convicts who are a perfect example of a human being with no soul or heart. And this even better than the first one in my opinion is displayed amazingly. In this film you really get the feeling that these guys would do anything to any human being in the world and would not feel one bit of remorse for there actions. I would even go as far as to say out of every film i've ever watched these have to be some of the scariest people i've seen on the silver screen. It all adds to the great experience.

The "Rape" scene/scenes are also what this film is pretty famous for and i was interested to see how they would handle this films such scenes. I thought it was handled pretty well. What this film hits straight on the head is the atmosphere the music and every aspect of the film combined just build up to exploding point then it happens. It was like nothing i'd experienced in a cinema before the place was packed out with what was to be honest a perfect testing range for the film there were people of my age (18) all the way to what i would have said was about 70-ish. As the scenes built up and up the piercing sounds of the girls screams , the actions taking place on screen and everything accumulated into one terrifying experience. I looked round the once rowdy room to find everyone silent and i could just feel it someone had to walk out.

And they did.

For the first time in my life a film was that shocking that as many as 10 people walked out and couldn't come back. That is what horror is meant to do!. So at this point Last House had already scored high marks with me it had stayed as true to the original as it could have. (There was also someone crying behind us!).

This film splits the story 50/50.

The first half is horrible it is meant to shock and appaul the audience so that when the second kicks in it satisfies all!. And god does it never before has revenge felt so right. People again were re-acting to the film again in a way i'd never seen people were clapping chants "get in" , "have it" "go on" and cheering. Admitadley by the younger members of the audience but non the less a great re-action. In my eyes this film was just as perfect as this re-make could have been it had it all. And it was one of the first films i'd seen in along time that was almost more than a film it was a genuine experience.

Oh and you'd be surprised to know the acting was actually very well done i wouldn't have changed it at all t be honest again pleasantly surprised.

Only things that this film down was the fact that it's still a pointless story and if not for the shock factor couldn't possibly be even an average film!. so I'm afraid it's a 7 from me which is still good for a horror film non the less.

It's definitely one of the better horror re-makes and one everyone will have a load of fun watching what more can you ask for in this day and age!.