Another reviewer (see Dan Grant, below) has already vividly described the effect of seeing this film for the first time. There is no doubt that Last House on the Left is one of the most affecting films I have ever seen. However, integrity demands I shave off a number of points simply because the film doesn't entirely overcome the obstacles presented by a very low budget and a callow director.
I saw this exploitation flick while working the graveyard shift in a home for retarded adults. I'm not sure why I watched it all the way through since splatter movies are not my cup of tea -- maybe I was ready for a change from late-80s MTV or maybe something in the film itself held me, but for most of the time I was watching it, I was thinking: this is the worst film I've ever seen (hadn't yet seen Plan 9).
Then, when the action came to its climax it hit me that this movie is actually a re-make of one of Ingmar Bergman's black-and white religious films. I was stunned! I found it hard to believe Craven had even seen any film before, let alone based one on a work by perhaps the greatest master of world cinema.
But Last House stayed with me. Not a year goes by that some unbidden image doesn't pop into my head while I'm driving or trying to fall asleep. Wes Craven, despite having made this movie with little money and less experience, hit on some awful truth that for the longest time was nameless for me.
Now, of course, I realize that the truth is simply one of Evil, American style. While Bergman spent perhaps three minutes total screen time on the violence in his narrative, with the rest of the movie involving the characters' inner landscapes, Craven spends MOST of the film on acts of violence (both physical and psychical, to quote Bergman) using them as windows into his characters' interiors.And the evil we see, especially that of the film's sociopaths, is pure.
Yes, we know there are folks out there without a shred of mercy, who would do to us or our children the things done in the film, just for a lark. We read about them in the newspaper. But knowing something and seeing exactly what it would look like are two different things entirely.
That is why I was wrong at first about this movie. More than any other film I've seen, this one brought home to me the vulnerability of my all-too-human flesh and civilized thought-patterns. I (and probably you) would be no match for the life-sized evil encountered in this film -- evil that's so much easier to believe in than the over-blown monsters Craven served up to us later.
If you like horror flicks, don't miss this one. If you don't, check out the Bergman inspiration (look it up -- I promised no spoilers). Either way, you'll be hit with a truth you need to know about.
I saw this exploitation flick while working the graveyard shift in a home for retarded adults. I'm not sure why I watched it all the way through since splatter movies are not my cup of tea -- maybe I was ready for a change from late-80s MTV or maybe something in the film itself held me, but for most of the time I was watching it, I was thinking: this is the worst film I've ever seen (hadn't yet seen Plan 9).
Then, when the action came to its climax it hit me that this movie is actually a re-make of one of Ingmar Bergman's black-and white religious films. I was stunned! I found it hard to believe Craven had even seen any film before, let alone based one on a work by perhaps the greatest master of world cinema.
But Last House stayed with me. Not a year goes by that some unbidden image doesn't pop into my head while I'm driving or trying to fall asleep. Wes Craven, despite having made this movie with little money and less experience, hit on some awful truth that for the longest time was nameless for me.
Now, of course, I realize that the truth is simply one of Evil, American style. While Bergman spent perhaps three minutes total screen time on the violence in his narrative, with the rest of the movie involving the characters' inner landscapes, Craven spends MOST of the film on acts of violence (both physical and psychical, to quote Bergman) using them as windows into his characters' interiors.And the evil we see, especially that of the film's sociopaths, is pure.
Yes, we know there are folks out there without a shred of mercy, who would do to us or our children the things done in the film, just for a lark. We read about them in the newspaper. But knowing something and seeing exactly what it would look like are two different things entirely.
That is why I was wrong at first about this movie. More than any other film I've seen, this one brought home to me the vulnerability of my all-too-human flesh and civilized thought-patterns. I (and probably you) would be no match for the life-sized evil encountered in this film -- evil that's so much easier to believe in than the over-blown monsters Craven served up to us later.
If you like horror flicks, don't miss this one. If you don't, check out the Bergman inspiration (look it up -- I promised no spoilers). Either way, you'll be hit with a truth you need to know about.