The tag line for Wes Craven’s 1972 classic Last House on the Left asks the viewer to repeat, “It’s only a movie. It’s only a movie.” The film is supposedly so disturbing and so shocking that you can’t sleep, can’t think and can’t eat for hours or even days afterwards.
Perhaps in 1972 it was, but in 2008 the flick doesn’t seem nearly as shocking or devastating as the MPAA made it out to be. Sorry.
Plot Summary:
Also referred to as Sex Crime of the Century, Last House on the Left follows the last day, night and morning of Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassell) and her friend Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham), two teenagers looking to score some weed and head out to a concert.
Unfortunately they make a fatal mistake and ask the wrong guys – they’re escaped convicts (gasp!) for a fix. They wind up being raped, beaten and driven out into the woods, ironically enough behind Mari’s house where they are once again violated, humiliated and then finally murdered.
The Plot Sickens:
Craven, who not only directed this film, but also wrote it, uses the convention of a broken down car and two bumbling policemen who could’ve stopped this whole tragedy from occurring to annoy the viewer. In addition mom and dad somehow figure out that the people who land on their doorstop killed their only daughter…and enact a Shakespearean (and very bloody) revenge.
Blood, Guts and Disgust…Oh My! :
Dear old mom and dad, a doctor and a housewife, who probably ran quite a few PTA bake sales in her day, go from bereaving parents to cold-blooded killers in a blink of an eye. They rig up some sweet traps and dispatch of their daughter’s killers, one by one in a most horrific way. For example, mom trades punches with the lone female of the bunch and even bites the tip off the you-know-what of one of the men who raped her baby girl.
How’s that for payback?
Final Thoughts:
Okay. Last House on the Left may not be as horrifying as Wes Craven originally intended it to be, but there is a true gross out factor. There is some seriously disgusting depravity going on, and the parents do get their revenge on the killers. It’s a brutal form of justice in a brutal society. In a way, Last House on the Left is a modern take with very old-fashioned props and tools. If it doesn’t scare you, then…maybe that’s the most frightening thought of all.
Note: The film is currently being remade and is due for release in 2009. Check out the IMDB page for more information!
Deanna Couras Goodson - I am a freelance writer and content contributor to several online sites such as Tourneyblog, Bettingpro and more. I am a web content ...
