La Dernière Maison sur la gauche

The Last House on the Left was just another in the endless glut of horror remakes that was triggered by the surprise success of Platinum Dunes' Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot in 2003, but what makes this film stand out is its ability to truly reimagine the source material, highlighting different moments for emphasis, and turning it into a very different experience than the original film.

For all it's intensity and guts, the original film isn't a well made film by any stretch of the imagination. Camera work is mostly ugly, some acting isn't great, and the comic elements don't work and drag things down. This newer Last House is easily a better made and acted film even if some of the gorier aspects have been toned down.

If it has any faults, it's the awful ending which feels tacked on and completely unnecessary.

The Hollywood remakes continue unabated with this redo of the notorious Wes Craven shocker from 1972 which involves a couple of teenage girls falling foul of a criminal gang and the violent consequences that ensue. The Wes Craven film remains chilling to this day for its low budget, grainy look and feel which gives it a fuzzy, could-almost-be-a-snuff-movie type vibe. This remake is, inevitably, bigger and slicker, with more explosive action and high-end camera-work. It may not be as downright disturbing as Craven's movie but as remakes go it's one of the better ones out there.

The imposing Garret Dillahunt stars as Krug, the leader of a criminal family, for whom kidnapping, rape, extortion and murder are the order of the day. The scenes in which he captures the two girls and then subjects them to a horrendous ordeal within the woods is still a powerfully shocking moment, although thankfully it doesn't go into as much unpleasant detail as in the Craven movie. The scene then shifts to the titular location, which for me is where the film really gets going: it's all about the suspense inherent in waiting for the parents to find out what happened and then watching what they do about it, the classic home invasion premise.

What ensues both delights and disappoints. There's a violent and lengthy scene in which a character is attacked which really pays off, but aside from that what follows is a little disappointing – not least the tacked-on ending involving a microwave, which takes the mildly realistic events of the previous movie and trashes them with a frankly outrageous and unbelievable gore scene.

The cast is pretty good, which seems to be the norm for these modern-day remakes (aside from the teen slashers, in which the cast remain drivelling). Dillahunt excels in the role which made David Hess's name; he's no Hess, but he gets close at times. Tony Goldwyn, previously a villain in the likes of THE LAST SAMURAI, is particularly good as the father caught up in events spiralling out of control, although Monica Potter as the mother has little to work with. Yes, there are a couple of unwise twists where the plot deviates from the original – and horror fans will be disappointed there's no chainsaw this time around – but for the most part this is a workable suspense thriller with enough viciousness to appease moviegoers looking for their latest violent fix.

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!.

If you've ever read any of my other reviews you know how I feel personally about re-makes. Most horror fans feel the same way I do (yet we still watch these things!) so needless to say I went into this movie expecting to be disappointed. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how well this one was. Yes there are the usual cases of character name changes, scene and dialog changes and complete story line changes for no apparent reason but the basic premise that made the original film so creepy was somehow still retained. The major story line change in this one has been discussed in previous reviews and revolves around main character Mari (I won't reveal any major changes for the benefit of those who haven't seen it yet) and yes I was EXTREMELY disappointed with these changes but as I said I went into the film expecting to be let down so this helped to soften the blow. This version of "Last House on the Left" has a considerable amount of added gore sequences as well but they are not overly done or thrown in for no apparent reason other than shock value (as was the case in the unofficial 'Last House on the Left' re-make 'Chaos' directed by David DeFalco). Nowadays there really is no way to re-create the grainy, almost documentary like filming style of the original which is one of the main elements that added to the general feel of the film, but these filmmakers did an exceptional job of making the viewer curl in disgust at the actions of the villains and cheer and applaud the violence that befalls them. If you enjoyed the original you will most likely enjoy this one as well...just make sure you watch it and avoid the aforementioned "Chaos".

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.