The Last House on the Left (1972)
The Last House on the Left (1972)
"We don't wanna off someone first night out. I mean,
it'd be a shame to get this floor all messed up with blood." -Krug Stillo
To be honest with you this is probably one of the most brutal movies I've ever seen. The Last House On The Left, one of Wes Craven's earlier movies, is violent, realistic, and disturbing. It is about two teen friends, Mari and Phyllis, who go out to celebrate Mari's birthday. While looking for some marijuana, they are kidnapped by a group of murdering bandits, are drugged, beaten, and taken out into the woods. These woods happen to be the same woods just 100 yards away from Mari's home. After brutally murdering both of the girls, they take refuge in Mari's parents' home, the parents unknowing of who the people are or what they did.
When Mari's parents find out what they did to their daughter, they decide to take bloody revenge. This movie has many graphic images, and is very realistc and scary. In ways it reminded me of Texas Chainsaw, because of the shaky and raw filming, but this movie seemed a whole lot more realistic, it was more snuff-like than Texas Chainsaw, and was released 2 years before it.
The killers to terrible things to these poor girls, and you really feel sorry for them and wish that you could help, and their death scenes are very brutal. One of the girls is forced to pee her pants, they are raped, forced to undress in front of the killers, and violently tortured until both of them meet their fates.
It feels so real, you could almost think it's really happening. I think the success of the film is mostly from a technical standpoint. Most of the filming in this movie you could do yourself with a home video camera, but the way the film is presented is real and shocking and that really catches the audience's eye. The movie isn't perfect, it has it's flaws, but it's still effectful and gets it's point across.
Apparently the film was heavily cut because of it's intense violence, but the new MGM DVD release includes the uncut footage and additional scenes that weren't shown back in 1972.
Starring: Sandra Cassel and Lucy Grantham
Theatrical Release: August 30, 1972
Directed By: Wes Craven
My rating (out of 5 stars):
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