The Last House on the Left

Starring:Sandra Cassel, Lucy Grantham, David Hess, Fred J. Lincoln, Jeramie Rain, Marc Sheffler, Gaylord St. James, Cynthia Carr, Ada Washington, Marshall Anker, Martin Kove, Ray Edwards, Jonathan Craven, Anthony J. Forcelli
Director: Wes Craven
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
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.

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

Description

Bold, powerful and starkly realistic, this chilling cinematic debut of horror master Wes Craven (Scream) is a shocking journey into the heart of evil. Written and directed with almost unbearable dramatic tension (Chicago Sun-Times), The Last House on the Left will make you deadbolt your doors and frantically mutter: It's only a movie it's only a movie it's only a movie! Easy-going Mari Collingwood and her fun-loving friend Phyllis are on their way to a Bloodlust concert to celebrate Mari's 17th birthday when three escaped convicts kidnap and torture them. But Mari and Phyllis are fighters, and although they are drugged and beaten into unconsciousness, stuffed into a car trunk and driven into the woods for even more brutality, they are still alive...but for how long?

Customer Reviews:

Shame on you Wes Craven.......2007-06-01

for making such a god aweful movie that's based on real facts.

The last Dvd on the shelf.......2007-05-29

This movie came unrated, but if i was going to put a rating on it today it would be R13 Max. The movie left everthing to the imagination and failed to deliver on any real Horror/Violence level.

Classic.......2007-05-14

Like many horror films - the cover and title have nothing to do with the film. Its not about a haunted house whatsoever.

A nice creative mix of The Virgin Spring, Godard's Weekend and the short story Wiseblood. It seems to have been an influence on Deliverance.

Ive never been a Wes Craven fan and wondered how he made his rep - Im glad I saw this film. Its very inventive and has a disturbing sadistic quality thats enhanced by its low budget realism.

THe music was mysterious and both enhanced and detracted from the film. interesting. It reminded me of Charles Manson's syrupy sweet and bizarro country/folk/pop recordings from the 60s (in contrast to the Tate murders).

this film is truly a horror classic.

Taboo porn.......2007-04-11

This movie has nothing to do with a house. Its really just a low budget rape porn. I tossed it in the trash about 20 minutes into it.

My Friend & I saw this in the 70's..............2007-02-18

...and I can remember some of the scenes to this day (i'm 49 now). I was 16;my friend,17 at the time. I used to hitchhike to and from her house a lot in those days,and after that movie, I didn't-for a long time. At the time it was a really scary film,and the urban legend at the time was that it was based on a true story,which only added to the starkness of it. Of course,as some have opined here, what is perceived as horrifying then and what's considered horrifying now is like comparing oranges and rutabagas."Horror-and-brutality technology" in films has definitely-and I use this word wryly-evolved.

Average customer rating:

Shame on you Wes Craven
The last Dvd on the shelf
Classic
Taboo porn
My Friend & I saw this in the 70's.......

Last House on the Left [Region 2]
Starring: Sandra Cassel , Lucy Grantham , David Hess , Fred J. Lincoln , and Jeramie Rain
Director: Wes Craven
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000094P3T

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Shame on you Wes Craven.......2007-06-01

for making such a god aweful movie that's based on real facts.

The last Dvd on the shelf.......2007-05-29

This movie came unrated, but if i was going to put a rating on it today it would be R13 Max. The movie left everthing to the imagination and failed to deliver on any real Horror/Violence level.

Classic.......2007-05-14

Taboo porn.......2007-04-11

This movie has nothing to do with a house. Its really just a low budget rape porn. I tossed it in the trash about 20 minutes into it.

My Friend & I saw this in the 70's..............2007-02-18

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