Amazon.com: Future Nightmare creator and Scream weaver Wes Craven's film debut is a primitive little production that rises above its cut-rate production values and hazy, grainy patina via its grimly affecting portrait of human evil infiltrating a middle-class household. The story is adapted from Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring, but the film has more in common with Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs as it charts the descent of a harmless married couple into methodical killers. A quartet of criminals--a distorted version of the nuclear family--kidnaps a pair of teenage girls and proceeds to ravage, rape, torture, and finally brutally murder them in the woods, unwittingly within walking distance of their rural home. The killers take refuge in the girls' own home, but when the parents discover just who they are and what they've done, they plot violent retribution.
Along with George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Craven helped redefine American horror with this debut--all three movies portray modern society crumbling into madness and horror. But, unlike his fellow directors, Craven gives his film an uncomfortable verisimilitude, setting it squarely in the heartland of modern America. While at times it's awkward and inconsistent, with distracting comic interludes, his handling of the brutal horror scenes is unsettling, and the death of the daughter is an unexpectedly quiet and lyrical moment. --Sean Axmaker
last house on the left *possible spoilers* I orginally saw this movie, when my parents took us to the drive in, back in the early 70's. I may have been 6 or 7 years old. I was able to rent the movie tonight and rewatch it for the 1st time in 30 something years. So as you can imagine it is extremly dated, and it shows it's age. It is NOT a feel good movie, so if you are expecting 90 mins of fun and excitement, forget it. There are no special effects and the budget is obviously very small. However I felt that the directing was excellent and this is a very powerful movie and not for the squemish. The bumbling cops in the movie provided some very needed comic releif to offset the extremly disturbing subject matter. Let's face it the kidnapping, rape, mutilation and murder of two young teenage girls is bad enough. It is hard to watch at times, expecially due to the fact that the murders take place in such close proximtity to the girls home, where the gang of rapists and murderes end up after they commit their horrific crimes. Again this movie is not entertaining in the least, but, I gave it four stars because it does succeed in it's intended purpose. It's shocking and horrific and a parents worst nightmare come true. You may find yourself cheering on the parents of Mary when they discover the truth and plot their revenge. Maybe that was the purpose of the film to feel that bit of satisfaction when the villians get what is comeing to them. Hmmm. something to think about if you would like to see it.
Is this really a Craven flick?.. ...Because it's hard to believe that the same man who brought us Nightmare on Elm Street would produce such absolute trash. Reminiscent in subject and feel to "I Spit On Your Grave", this movie, unfortunately, has neither the depth nor the horror of this aforementioned classic. I didn't find the violence to be all that graphic. It's not directly shown, but rather very strongly implied. The criminals are impossible to take seriously. The only thing criminal about them is their sheer stupidity. The acting is sickeningly bad. I don't know what the actresses' blank expressions are meant to convey (shock, perhaps?), but they fail miserably. What really put me off about this movie wasn't the bad acting or the lame script. It was how its overall mood jumped, in a rather bizarre and completely incomprehensible way, from twisted sadism to lighthearted humor. For example, the two cops looking for the crooks are used as comic relief throughout the entire film. My only question is, WHY? Was Wes Craven not sure whether to make a dark comedy or a horror/thriller? Moot point, I'd say, because it works as neither.
WELL IT AIN'T INNER PSYCHOLOGICAL TERROR, THAT'S FOR SURE! Before you disagree with my review, READ THE WHOLE THING. Thank you! =)
"The Last House on the Left" is an exploitation movie from the mid-70s, directed by Wes Craven, and is full of violence, sexuality and shocking characters. Between the humiliating scene that occurs to the two girls including where one is forced to wet herself, the murders throughout and the cool backwoods setting that only underlines how much of an exploitation this is, you can imagine that this is NOT a movie to see if you DON'T want to be surprised, shocked and terrified.
Now as for the MUSIC during the brutality... Wes Craven wanted "The Last House on the Left" to be a social and political statement of America, and even the world, at the time. The Vietnam War was going on, where all sorts of terrible and vicious things were happening, and psychedelic, folk and progressive music was at large. If a movie aims to be a cultural impact, it must OBSERVE the culture that is dominant at the time. So YES the music is out of place, and almost adds a comedic touch to the horrid scenes, but the music was PART of that current culture. I do wonder, however, what the movie would be like without all the out-of-place, almost goofy, folk music. Because in one scene, you get disembowelment, and in another, you hear stuff literally like "Wheels turnin'!"...
Didn't wanna sound rude, but I did wanna get my point across, anyway... "The Last House on the Left" is visceral, sexual, violent, shocking, atmospheric, tense, adrenalizing and symbolic all at once. The last, twenty minutes of the movie really define the power behind it. Even the goofy cops don't take away from the power. BUT I WILL SAY... David Hess banging his wife in front of the rest of their gang as they drove their car down that forest road was VERY FUNNY because it was SO UNEXPECTED AND OUTTA PLACE! David Hess's character remains one of the most shocking and memorable horror movie villains of his era. He even pulled off being evil and sinister while keeping his cool hair. But yeah, the villains in this movie sure do leave an influential impact on horror movie villains for years to coem.
THE GATES THAT CLOSE THIS REVIEW: While most people may think "The Last House on the Left" is an unlikeable, overly brutal and unforgivably nasty piece of cinematography, us horror buffs know that, while it is brutal, gritty and nasty, it's a CLASSIC. Plus, you can't deny the impact this movie made on so many, SO MANY, future exploitation movies. And although the grittiness of the movie makes it seem more realistic, the cool, extra features remind us that, as the saying goes "It's only a movie!...Only a movie...only a movie...only a movie!". Thanks for the time, and peace.
Editor's Note 09/03/08: I gave it four stars instead of five because the pacing in some parts slowed it down a little too much. All the same, a real shocker of a film!!!
Gritty, violent, brutal...This is how it's done! I think it would be worth mentioning that I'm really not much of a Craven fan, at least to distinguish the fact that I'm not just writing this review to counter act the plethora of negative reviews here. This film of his however, The Last House on the Left, definetly has something to it. Raw, gritty, and primitive, this low budget revenge tale has a feel more disturbingly real than a good percentage of horror/exploitation flicks out there.
Two teen girls head out to see a concert and have some fun on a seedy side of town. When they try to score some grass, they get more than they bargained for when they are abducted by a band of four sleazy, drug addicted murderers. When the gang experiences some car troubles, they run off into the nearby woods where they proceed to torture, rape, and murder the two young girls. Upon taking refuge with a couple in a home across from the woods, they ironically discover that the house belongs to one of the victims they just murdered, and the couple are her parents. When the victim's parents stumble upon the truth about who these people are and what they've done, they exact revenge.
The murder scenes, for the time, are quite intense here. The killers torture, humiliate, and slaughter the two young women in an extremely ruthless and merciless fashion without a hint of remorse (three out of the four of them anyway). The sheer ignorance and lack of concern towards right and wrong demonstrated by the killers makes it all the more disturbing as they administer slow and grueling torture on the girls, and the murders themselves aren't exactly quick and painless. The gritty look and feel just makes the whole film seem much more realistic, almost as if you were a fly on the wall witnessing these atrocities first hand.
One thing I feel is necessary to comment on is the music score for this movie, which ranges from weird psychedelic music to uptempo piano music that borders on being comedic. The music is so bizarre here, it's actually difficult to decipher whether or not it was intended to be funny or if they were actually serious. Either way it does end up being rather humorous, but unfortunately it begins grate on the nerves as well as take away from the feel. Another aspect of the movie that contrasts very hard against the rest is a series of comic relief scenes involving two police officers as they travel on foot when their car runs out of gas. You end up with the very strange mix of disturbing murder sequences, and corny knee-slappers courtesy of a goofy cop duo.
Overall it's quite an effective movie, and although it may come across as dated to a jaded horror fan, it has definetly retained a lot of power for being 30 plus years old. Although I enjoyed it, The Last House on the Left is not a fun movie by any stretch. However it should be seen at least once if you're a horror or exploitation fan. Oh, and could somebody tell me why the movie is called The Last House on the Left?..
The Lame House on the Left I know a lot of people who love this movie and swear its the best thing since Suspiria. NOT TRUE!! At least in my humble opinion. I watched it when it came on demand (cable people know) and I am so glad I did not waste my money on this ridiculous movie.
Two idiot girls are chased and raped and everything else by these dumb convicts. Unless I am wrong, and believe me, I tried to give it a fair chance and watched it twice, I just don't see what all the fuss is about. Proven by the fact that every used dvd store in my area has a hundred copies. Don't waste your money unless you like low budget torture movies with a ridiculous plot.
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