La dernière maison sur la plage

This may not be quite as explicit or in your face as, 'House at the Edge of the Park', but it is still seriously nasty affair and most compelling. I found the pacing tight and the action fast moving. 'Action', of course includes, stripping, raping and torturing the various youngsters who are in a desolate house practising a play for their catholic church school with their nun. Florinda Bolkan does very well in her role as the nun, at first stoical and gradually coming around to a more vigorous defence of herself and her girls. Ray Lovelock is excellent as the more charismatic of the baddies who intrude upon the ladies, but everybody helps to make this a most entertainingly brutal and sexy outing. 'Guilty pleasure' I think is the apt description.

A trio of obdurate bank-robbers who are barely evading the authorities hole up in an incommunicado beach house where several girls from a parochial school are having a field trip with their drama teacher. Instantaneously, the girls are sucked into a living nightmare of sexual assault, inexorable degradation, torture, and death. At one especially disturbing point in the course of events, one of the brutes becomes seriously injured, and callously demands to be cared for by the very people he has been so cruelly tormenting.

This film is often compared to LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, though despite axiomatic similarities in the general mien, little else between the two films is consonant. LA SETTIMA DONNA is an emotionally exhausting steamroller of tribulation, pathos, and senseless inhumanities...highly unpleasant, but effective, like a hard punch to the gut.

6.5/10

Well, Wes Craven's Last House on the Left sure was an influential film, as there's been a barrage of rip-offs released since 1972, and this is one of them. The Last House on the Beach tends to get put down, and certainly isn't one of the better rip-offs to be released since Craven's masterpiece; but still, I've got to admit that I have a penchant for films like this, and The Last House on the Beach hits the spot. The only real difference between this film and the rest of its ilk is that, as the title suggests, the action takes place close to a beach this time around. Director Franco Prosperi seems keen to capitalise on his film's only original element, as the beach setting is often sun-drenched, and the director has seen fit to implement several upbeat pop-rock songs into the mix...which actually works quite well. The plot is paper-thin as you would expect, and follows a bank robbery. On the run, the thieves decide to hide out in a nice house on the beach; which just happens to be where a nun is taking care of a bunch of teenagers rehearsing a Shakespeare play...rape, torture and murder ensue.

The main thing I like about these sorts of films is that the focus tends to stay on just one idea, which means that the audience is allowed to see into the situation. This film doesn't do it as well as, say, The House on the Edge of the Park, did; but all the actors play their parts well, and considering that there's barely any character on display; it is testament to their talent that we are actually allowed to feel for the characters. Then again, it's always going to be difficult NOT to feel for someone that is being brutally raped and humiliated. This film never received the notoriety of some of its counterparts, and that's hardly surprising as the violence is never particularly shocking and the rape scenes don't go on for long, nor do they occur often. The girls in this film are typically young, which gives it a lot more shock value; but the real problem here is that there isn't a lot of invention, and it ponders along, which may annoy some. I do have to say that I enjoyed the relaxed style of this movie, however, and since I personally found the action interesting; I am perhaps rating is a little above the rating that many exploitation fans would give it.

Last House on the Beach (1978)

* (out of 4)

Yet another Italian rip off of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, which of course was nothing but a rip of Ingmar Bergman's masterful The Virgin Spring. A nun and her five students are practicing a concert in a house far away from anyone when three thugs, running from the police, break in on them. Soon the thugs are raping, torturing and beating the girls so the nun finally gets fed up and takes her own revenge. I've seen a lot of these rips over the years but this one here is without a doubt the worst of the bunch. If you're looking for a watered down version of the Craven film then this is the movie for you as the violence all takes place off screen and we're often just shown the aftermath. The rape sequences are very tame and often don't even feature any nudity. As with the Bergman film, this movie tries to use religion as an undertone but it never works. The entire film is very lazy but what makes the film unwatchable are all of the characters who are annoying from the start and only get worse. The performances are what you'd expect from a film like this but the direction is quite horrid as Prosper brings no energy, suspense or drama to the film. Florinda Bolkan, a Euro Horror favorite to many, plays the nun and does a decent job with the role.

Another vile and rapidly edited Italian exploitation effort that just mildly succeeds in cashing in on the enormous 'popularity' of Wes Craven's horror landmark "Last House on the Left". Three bank robbers drive up to a remote beach house where they plan to hide from the police after a successful heist. Staying at the house at that moment are an attractive nun and five teenage girls under her supervision. The schoolgirls become the objects of violent torture games, vicious rapes and eventually murder. Bloody vengeance by the remaining girls and the nun is the inevitable consequence. What can be said about this type of cinema that hasn't been said a thousand times before? It's mean-spirited, sickening and not the type of film to watch if you already feel a bit depressed. Peculiar, however, is that the victims of these rape-flicks continue to get younger and more innocent. I suppose it's some sort of competition among the directors to be the sickest bastard of all? How else do you get the crazy idea of exploiting sexual aggression towards teenage girls? The girls in "Last House on the Beach" barely look 15 years old, so mission accomplished for director Franco Prosperi, but the overall tone of the film isn't half as offensive or shocking as Ruggero Deodato's "House on the Edge of the Park" or Meir Zachi's infamous "I spit on your Grave". Not recommended, unless of course if you're on a sole mission to watch every rape/revenge flick ever made. In that case, you can watch this one on par with "Late Night Trains" and "Terror Express", which are equally bad.