Every once in a while there comes a film that truly gets under my skin, and I don’t mean by way of being annoying of frustrating. It takes a lot for me to find something offensive or so unsettling that I can’t bear to watch or even look at it. The Last House on the Left is a film that came out in 1972 and was probably viewed for the first time by me in the early to mid nineties. It was then that my early teen years were going on and my fascination with the horror genre was just finding its legs. Scream had just come out rejuvenating my now beloved genre and I already knew the genius that Wed Craven was capable of from years before. Then one day I got word of Last House and wanted to see what Craven was like at essentially the starting point of his career. Little did I know what I was in store for.
Our story takes us into the lives of two young girls, Mari and Phyllis, that have made their way into the city for a big rock concert. The night rolls on and eventually they end up being kidnapped by a gang consisting of two escaped convicts and their horribly trashy girlfriend. Bing-bada-boom the partying girls are raped and murdered making this trashy gang live up to their appearances. Through an unfortunate string of weird circumstances, the gang ends up hiding out in a house with a couple that seems extremely nice and normal but there is a unique quality about them. They happen to be the parents of Mari, one of the girls raped and murdered earlier in the evening. Word gets around as they decide to take the law into their own hands and dish out their own versions of justice.
Sounds interesting and pretty gruesome don’t you think? Oh yeah it is, but not just because of what the story entails but how the story is shown on screen. Nothing is left to imagine and you get the whole shebang shown before your very eyes. The film is strong, forceful, violent, and overly disturbing so it is definitely not for everyone’s eyes or stomachs. It will offend you and it even did me a little bit and it takes a lot to get under my skin. Craven made sure that his first movie was a doozy and that he would get notice which is what he did. He wanted to jump into the horror film ocean with a big splash and that is certainly what he did which paved the way for numerous films and plenty of iconic horror characters that would be around for decades.
The Last House on the Left recently hit theatres again in the form of a remake and I discussed a good bit of that in my column for Popcorn Junkies entitled Making Movie history. I haven’t yet seen the remake, but I’m hoping that it does justice to the original. You may watch the original Last House and think that it isn’t nearly as horrible or grotesque as I’m making it out to be, but going off my initial feelings from seeing it about thirteen years ago and seeing it again now; things still seem pretty bad to me. Yeah the seventies were a breeding ground for stretching the limits to almost a breaking point in films and seeing what they could get away with. Today the MPAA breathes down the neck of every filmmaker as well as the horrible plot killer…money. Both of those particular things end up taking horror films from the crossing the line classics they could be and turning them into watered down sequel producers.
A quick note here is to remember that this was the early seventies and some people may find the film as cheesy and even quite laughable at times. While that may be the case in some instances; if you want to get the full effect of the film then you need to realize exactly what is going on here. Two girls raped and killed before finding solace in the home of one of the girls’ parents’ home. Put that into perspective and think about what you’d do if you were involved in it and maybe that will get you past the humor and Benny Hill music playing from time to time.
The Last House on the Left is far from a perfect film and it may not be the most disturbing thing you’ve ever seen, but it is certainly a refreshing change from all we as horror fans have been given since the end of the twentieth century. It’s unique, different, and without boundaries. Craven wanted to show that he could keep up with the horror masters of the time and make a name for himself. He did a damn good job of doing that and it shows that something was obviously right if he got to where he is today. Sit back and let your morals and constrictions in life go for a little under an hour and a half just so you can see something awful happen but revel in the fact that it isn’t truth.
The film is shown in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and it looks like a film from 1972. Seriously, that’s about what you get.
Last House is heard Dolby Digital Mono sound and it also sounds like a film from the early seventies but it’s just rather awful at times. When there is an outside scene, most of the sound is alright. The times everyone is inside and talking, nothing is delivered but a constant echo.
Audio Commentary – Actors David Hess (Krug), Marc Sheffler (Junior), and Fred Lincoln (Weasel) join together for the commentary track to the controversial film. This is a fantastic track as they just have a great time talking with each other about the film and just about everything. Weasel talks the most, but none of them ever just sit back and stay quiet but are always talking. It’s kind of weird enjoying the commentary track from these guys because the whole time you’re watching the evil they perform on screen.
Still Standing: The Legacy Of The Last House on the Left – This is a sit-down interview with Wes Craven as he just talks about the film the whole time. He explains how he came up with the idea, how he wanted it presented, how he wanted it to be very serious and powerful, and how it fit in with the current time period (drugs, Vietnam War, etc…). This is a great interview to listen to because he sits there so still and speaks so calmly about this cutting edge film that brings up such taboo subjects and let’s them be seen. (14:54)
Celluloid Crime Of The Century – Craven speaks on the film as well as Sean S. Cunningham and many others. Clips of other work they worked on together is shown and simply makes way for their coming together again on Last House. A little bit of the information and a few stories are repeated in what Craven has to say, but it’s still good stuff. Fred Lincoln (Weasel), Jeramie Rain (Sadie), and others also sit down to give their views on the film and some of the parts of it they were or weren’t willing to do. Another great featurette. (39:33)
Scoring Last House – Oddly enough, David Hess (Krug) is the one who wrote most of the songs/score for Last House. He goes through some of his history as to how he got started in music and wrote stuff for Pat Boone and even Andy Williams. Hess continues and explains how he got involved with the film and ended up doing the music for it as well. Not a bad watch because as funny or out of place as some of the songs in the film may sound; every one of them actually fits in perfectly. (9:44)
Tales That Will Tear Your Heart Out – As the disclaimer explains, this is footage taken from an unfinished anthology film that was done by Craven. It was never finished due to lack of funds and was granted access for this DVD but does not contain any sound. The lack of sound kind of makes things hard to follow along with but I see it as a very zombie-esque type of film with some sex, a bar fight, and other weird happenings going on. You can recognize people like David Hess in it, but not sure about anyone else. It piqued my curiosity and I’m rather wondering where it would go next. Shame it was never completed. (11:24)
Deleted Scene – In this one scene, Mari is alive when her parents find her by the lake and she explains to them what happened to her. (1:00)
Never-Before-Seen Footage – More footage without sound, but at least it is from Last House so you have a general idea of what’s going on. It’s mostly some cut footage from the woods including more on the rape scene and Mari trying to convince Junior to let her go. (5:35)
Trailers – Pathology, Mr. Brooks, Asylum, Hit And Run, and The Betrayed
Alright so not everyone is going to enjoy this film and for multiple reasons I’m sure including boring, offensive, or just plain outdated. I for one think it is a strong and masterful film that chose to push the limits of what was acceptable back in the seventies and show it for all to see. Believe it or not, there’s a rumor that Craven had to delete a good bit of footage from Last House to try and get away from the “X” rating but just couldn’t accomplish the feat. Eventually he put all the original footage back in and presented it before the MPAA again and got the rating he was looking for. However he did it; I’m glad he got it released because it is a creepy and disturbing film that shows some people aren’t scared to cross the line. The first release of Last House on DVD in 2002 had some decent special features but nothing near as good as this collector’s edition. Almost an hour and a half of great extras make this DVD a must-have for any horror fan. Call me sick if you wish, but it’s not like I’m condoning the actions presented here but I still enjoy the film as a whole.
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MGM presents The Last House On The Left Collector’s Edition. Directed by: Wes Craven. Starring: David Hess, Lucy Grantham, Sandra Cassel, Marc Sheffler, Ada Washington. Written by: Wes Craven. Running time: 84 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Released on DVD: February 24, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
