The Last House on the Left

I found this film to be rather interesting in a number of ways. Yes, I would agree that it has many unpleasantries throughout the film: two women are raped, stabbed, shot, and brutally killed, one man loses his manhood in a rather disconcerting fashion, and another man is chainsawed to bits. Yet, through all this, the film has many highlights when viewed as a product of its time and with regard to its importance to the horror genre. The film creates a disturbing atmosphere which really affects the viewer. The murders are cold-blooded and yet not glorified in any manner. The acting, although for the most part amateurish, is restrained and believable. A must see for any student of the horror genre.

While I think that people tend to get a bit hyperbolic when they talk about The Last House on the Left, I do think it's a fairly good film, especially given what the filmmakers were trying to do and considering their lack of experience, the era and the budget. Also, despite a filmic precursor, it just may be the earliest example of the horror subgenre of "brutal, realist tragedy" (that's more a description than a name, but I haven't spent much time trying to come up with a catchy moniker). However, it has flaws that would be difficult to overlook in a "distanced" (rather than "objective" or "unbiased", neither of which I think are possible) assessment of the film.

The story, although claimed as true, is an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's Jungfrukällan (aka The Virgin Spring, 1960). Roughly, it is the story of Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassel). We see Mari at home with her almost-hip parents. Mari is about to head out to a "Bloodlust" concert in New York City with her new friend Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham). Mom and dad are harassing her about her clothing, which is thin enough to show off a bit of flesh, but they're not so un-hip as to make her change. Meanwhile, we learn from a radio that four convicts--"murderers, dope-pushers and rapists"--have just escaped from prison. At the same time, director Wes Craven slowly reveals the quartet--Krug Stillo (David A. Hess), Junior Stillo (Marc Sheffler), Fred "Weasel" Podowski (Fred J. Lincoln) and Sadie (Jeramie Rain). They're holed up in a New York City apartment. Sadie seems to be group property, and that causes some tension. It is suggested that they look for a couple more women. Mari and Phyllis end up at the wrong place at the wrong time. They're kidnapped, and mayhem ensues. But there's a twist that arrives when the convict's car breaks down in an ironic location.

"Frightening", "disturbing", "sick" and various other terms are frequently employed when describing Last House on the Left. Since I find no films scary, I can't vouch for the first term, but the other two would perhaps apply proportionate to how many horror films you regularly watch, and just what kinds of horror films. If you're not used to the genre in its grittier and gorier post-1960s instantiations, you'd likely find The Last House on the Left shocking. If you've seen a large number of films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Cannibal Holocaust (1980), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) and so on, don't pay too much attention to the hype. You're not likely to be very disturbed by anything you see here.

That doesn't mean that you'll not enjoy this film. After all, it has been a major influence on the films mentioned above--there is even an important chainsaw scene here. That's especially remarkable when we consider that it was only Craven and Producer Sean S. Cunningham's second film. They had been approached by a consortium of exhibitors who said that they wanted "something as appalling and exploitable as Night of the Living Dead (1968)".

Maybe largely by accident, Craven and Cunningham (along with others, such as assistant producer Steve Miner, who later became much bigger "names" in horror--between these three, we have the helmers of a number of films in the three major 1980s/1990s franchises--Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street) happened upon an unusual cinema vérité style that made the horrific situations depicted seem much more immediate and real. Combined with occasionally graphic and always intense situations of violence and control, the final effect is akin to watching a home video/snuff film. In fact, it was promoted as such in some areas, and the effect was disturbing enough in its time that the film initially received an X rating and was banned for many years in some locales.

But again, focusing on that amounts to hype now, and shouldn't be taken too seriously, lest it lead to inflated expectations. Just as surprising on a first viewing is that The Last House on the Left has an intermittent goofy sense of humor and a "groovy" attitude that is firmly mired in the early 1970s. The two policemen are really comic relief characters (and very funny at that), but there is also a lot of humor surrounding the criminal quartet--this almost becomes a "black comedy" at times. These sensibilities even extend to the music, which has a frequent hillbilly edge and lyrics that supply ex-positional material. Surprisingly, Hess, who plays Krug, wrote the music.

Despite the simplicity of the story and the fact that the 2002 MGM DVD release is the "most complete cut ever" according to Craven, there are problems with the story, whether due to the script or the editing. Too many segues between major plot points are "jumpy". The chase(s) through the woods seems a bit random. It's not very well explained how the convicts end up at a home looking as they do. Two characters find another who was missing, and it seems more like a dream sequence because of its arbitrariness, and so on.

But overall, the story is effective enough. Although many subtexts can and have been read into the film, the most interesting theme to me was that it's largely a "tragedy of happenstance". Craven seems to be expressing a strong belief in chance and coincidence and focusing on the dark side of it. Under that reading, we can maybe excuse some of the narrative jumps more easily.

Although there are a number of similar films that I think are better than The Last House on the Left, including Ruggero Deodato's House at the Edge of the Park (aka La Casa sperduta nel parco, 1980)--also starring Hess in a similar role, curiously enough, this is a must-see for serious horror fans because of its historical importance.

I first saw Last House on the Left at the age of 18 at the drive in with my best girlfriend. This movie, an early outing by horror maven Wes Craven was so disturbing to me that 26 years later I am still haunted by the images on the screen. The story, of 2 young girls, approximately the same age I was when I saw the film, of being abducted, tortured, raped and then murdered is not for the faint of heart. The brutality and violence was staggering, and the film spoke volumes of the depravity of the human soul. I remember driving home with my girlfriend after watching this, and both of us were dead silent, each contemplating what we had watched and knowing that something like that could happen to us. This movie is one I know without a doubt, that I will never again watch, and now, being the parent of a daughter myself, I could never watch it and then allow her out of the house again. This is not a monster movie, the MONSTERS are human and all too real, especially in today's society filled with Ted Bundy's and The Green River Killer, this movie hits too close to home and leaves the viewer depressed and saddened at what human beings are capable of doing to other innocent people. Watch it if you dare, but be prepared to be left with a very hollow feeling after it is over.

"The Last House on the Left" (1972) plays a pivotal role in the history of horror cinema, marking Wes Craven's directorial debut. Although it features somewhat quirky performances and moments of comedy that occasionally break the tension, this is undoubtedly a negative aspect, along with its strange and disconcerting soundtrack.

However, the film manages to maintain an intense atmosphere in its more serious moments, whether through Craven's direction or the image quality that gives it an amateur feel, as if we were witnessing real events on camera. The film's plot may not be particularly innovative, but it makes up for it with its scenes of violence, which at the time were, in a way, considered a novelty.

Although it has aged somewhat problematically in certain respects, "The Last House on the Left" still retains its disturbing power and deserves to be appreciated, especially for its lasting influence on the genre, serving as inspiration for countless other films.

A strong candidate for "The Worst Movie of All Time". With his first film Craven reached heights of ineptitude and tastelessness that even Craven-haters should be surprised by, and the incompetence is far-reaching; in every respect imaginable does this film not fail to fail. This piece of exploitative trash is at the very least the worst killers-on-the-lam film ever made. The acting ranges from one-dimensional to atrocious to ridiculous, and the characters behave in such an inconsistent and illogical manner that I have to suspect that this movie wasn't so much directed as that it's simply a collection of improvised scenes by a couple of bored – and talentless - students who just happened to have had a camera nearby. One of the main things that separates a film like "I Spit On Your Grave" from this junk is that Craven has neither respect nor pity for victims of brutal crimes; this he shows more than obviously by playing utterly inappropriate cheerful music while the two girls are being shoved into the trunk of a car and then driven off. At the end of the film there is yet more upbeat music. This is not some fantasy zombie film where you can expect your audience to laugh with you about the exaggerated and silly events and cartoon violence that take place in the movie. The main events in this "reality-based" horror movie haven't got an iota of a humorous side to them, and the fact that Craven doesn't realize this shows what a sad little degenerate he is. An English professor??? What a joke. In-between scenes of torture, degradation, and murder Craven manages to squeeze in scenes of goofy cops, which we are supposed to find amusing.