| One of my all-time favourites. "Last House on the Left" to this day remains a powerful, savage piece of work. Still censored (around 16 seconds is cut, which at least meant the film got a release, rather than stay on the "video nasty" list - try and get an uncut version from abroad if possible though), "Last House..." nevertheless remains unflinching in it's depiction of violence as something nasty, rather than titillating.
Great performances, especially from David Hess, and a plot lifted from Ingmar Bergman ("The Virgin Spring") keep this disturbing film from descending into the downright nastiness that Italian directors like Ruggero Deodato (see "House By the Edge of the Park" - but not the UK release, as 12 minutes have been censored - you probably won't understand why it's notorious if you see the cut version) happily made their own in imitating this film.
Admittedly the ending doesn't ring true, but this doesn't really tarnish the film. Highly recommended, but most definitely NOT one for the easily offended. Quite why people took children to see this in American cinemas in the 70s is beyond me. Were they idiots? This is a perfect example of a film aimed at an adult audience - unlike some of Craven's later work, this doesn't have monsters uttering one-liners, or an attractive cast of TV faces. |
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