Blog Monster Movie Monday: The Last House on the Left
The Last House on the Left (1972)
Starring: Sandra Cassel, Lucy Grantham, David Hess, Fred J. Lincoln, Jeramie Rain, Marc Sheffler, Richard Towers, and Cynthia Carr
Directed by: Wes Craven
Written by: Wes Craven
Production Company: Lobster Enterprises, Sean S. Cunningham Films, and The Night Co.
I generally enjoy the “older” horror films from like the 70s. And it’s interesting to see how horror films developed and how they influence others. Like how the slasher flick really originated with Black Christmas in 1974. But two years before Black Christmas, there was The Last House on the Left.
Last House is not a slasher flick. What it is a realistic horror. And those of you who noticed my qualifier “generally enjoy” won’t be too surprised when I say that I did not enjoy this film. It was too realistic. It was too horrific. I am not a squeamish man. People talked about how graphic Hostel was and it didn’t bother me. Last House, however, disturbed me.
It’s the story of four escaped convicts who abduct, rape, torture, and kill two young women. The scenes of the rape and torture were truly disquieting. When the distribution companies Hallmark and Atlas International released the film in Germany, they attempted to pass it off as an actual snuff film, which lets you know just how graphic and distressingly realistic the film is. A zombie-esque killer in a hockey mask, a burn-scarred teen killer…these fantastic horrors I enjoy, but you get too close to reality and I don’t enjoy it.
There were some odd things that I had trouble with as well…like the musical score. For such a dark topic, the music used was strangely upbeat, which made it hard for my mind to reconcile the disparity between what it was hearing with what it was seeing. One scene that I feel would have been more effective with darker music was when they cut back and forth between the convicts torturing the girls and one of the girl’s parents relaxing and waiting for her return after putting up birthday decorations.
Also, the comedy relief of the sheriff and his deputy was far from effective. The inept duo doesn’t bring laughter, it brings anger. It’s not just that they don’t notice what’s going on until too late, it’s that even after realizing, they still screw up as they leave in a car without enough gas to make the trip. Knowing the gravity of the situation, such an oversight isn’t humorous, it’s infuriating.
The ending is satisfying, however, as the killers find themselves in the house of the aforementioned parents. Realizing their guests had something to do with the disappearance of their daughter, the parents set out to get their retribution by killing their daughter’s attackers. However, the realism and depravity in the first half are too much to make the conclusion satisfying enough.
There are some elements which Wes Craven will return to in later A Nightmare on Elm Street: parents seeking vengeance on a teen killer, booby trapping one’s house to catch the killer off guard, and the name of Last House’s killer Krug becomes Krueger in Elm Street.
It was too graphic for me, too realistic, too much.
Starring: Sandra Cassel, Lucy Grantham, David Hess, Fred J. Lincoln, Jeramie Rain, Marc Sheffler, Richard Towers, and Cynthia Carr
Directed by: Wes Craven
Written by: Wes Craven
Production Company: Lobster Enterprises, Sean S. Cunningham Films, and The Night Co.
I generally enjoy the “older” horror films from like the 70s. And it’s interesting to see how horror films developed and how they influence others. Like how the slasher flick really originated with Black Christmas in 1974. But two years before Black Christmas, there was The Last House on the Left.
Last House is not a slasher flick. What it is a realistic horror. And those of you who noticed my qualifier “generally enjoy” won’t be too surprised when I say that I did not enjoy this film. It was too realistic. It was too horrific. I am not a squeamish man. People talked about how graphic Hostel was and it didn’t bother me. Last House, however, disturbed me.
It’s the story of four escaped convicts who abduct, rape, torture, and kill two young women. The scenes of the rape and torture were truly disquieting. When the distribution companies Hallmark and Atlas International released the film in Germany, they attempted to pass it off as an actual snuff film, which lets you know just how graphic and distressingly realistic the film is. A zombie-esque killer in a hockey mask, a burn-scarred teen killer…these fantastic horrors I enjoy, but you get too close to reality and I don’t enjoy it.
There were some odd things that I had trouble with as well…like the musical score. For such a dark topic, the music used was strangely upbeat, which made it hard for my mind to reconcile the disparity between what it was hearing with what it was seeing. One scene that I feel would have been more effective with darker music was when they cut back and forth between the convicts torturing the girls and one of the girl’s parents relaxing and waiting for her return after putting up birthday decorations.
Also, the comedy relief of the sheriff and his deputy was far from effective. The inept duo doesn’t bring laughter, it brings anger. It’s not just that they don’t notice what’s going on until too late, it’s that even after realizing, they still screw up as they leave in a car without enough gas to make the trip. Knowing the gravity of the situation, such an oversight isn’t humorous, it’s infuriating.
The ending is satisfying, however, as the killers find themselves in the house of the aforementioned parents. Realizing their guests had something to do with the disappearance of their daughter, the parents set out to get their retribution by killing their daughter’s attackers. However, the realism and depravity in the first half are too much to make the conclusion satisfying enough.
There are some elements which Wes Craven will return to in later A Nightmare on Elm Street: parents seeking vengeance on a teen killer, booby trapping one’s house to catch the killer off guard, and the name of Last House’s killer Krug becomes Krueger in Elm Street.
It was too graphic for me, too realistic, too much.
posted by Bodog at 7:01 PM
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