Last House in the Woods, The (2006)
** (out of 4)
Original title: Il bosco fuori
The Italian horror film has been dead for nearly two decades now but director Albanesi tries to bring it back with this piece, which is getting mixed reviews to say the least. A woman and her boyfriend are in the woods when they are attacked by three thugs. Thankfully an elderly couple rescue them and bring them back to their house. Soon the young couple wish they had just stayed with the thugs because these elderly folks have a secret of their own. The title would make you believe this is yet another rip of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and while there are elements of that film the main draw here is THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE so in the end we have an Italian throwback to both of those. This is certainly exploitation 101 but without the sex and nudity, which was a little shocking. As far as the film goes there's certainly plenty of gore and violence but in the end it really didn't work for me. The low budget nature is put to good use as we get some very raw scenes but at the same time the film's third act is so over the top that you can't take any of it too serious. I'm not sure why the tone of the film changes but there are a couple extra characters thrown in, via CHAINSAW style, that just don't work. One deformed guy with some sort of thing growing on his shoulder eventually gets that thing popped and watch out. The gore is flowing throughout the final act but by that time I had grown pretty bored with the entire set up. If you want a throw back to the grindhouse days of the 70's then you'll probably want to give this a try even though the final results aren't a major winner and I doubt this kickstarts the Italian horror genre.
** (out of 4)
Original title: Il bosco fuori
The Italian horror film has been dead for nearly two decades now but director Albanesi tries to bring it back with this piece, which is getting mixed reviews to say the least. A woman and her boyfriend are in the woods when they are attacked by three thugs. Thankfully an elderly couple rescue them and bring them back to their house. Soon the young couple wish they had just stayed with the thugs because these elderly folks have a secret of their own. The title would make you believe this is yet another rip of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and while there are elements of that film the main draw here is THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE so in the end we have an Italian throwback to both of those. This is certainly exploitation 101 but without the sex and nudity, which was a little shocking. As far as the film goes there's certainly plenty of gore and violence but in the end it really didn't work for me. The low budget nature is put to good use as we get some very raw scenes but at the same time the film's third act is so over the top that you can't take any of it too serious. I'm not sure why the tone of the film changes but there are a couple extra characters thrown in, via CHAINSAW style, that just don't work. One deformed guy with some sort of thing growing on his shoulder eventually gets that thing popped and watch out. The gore is flowing throughout the final act but by that time I had grown pretty bored with the entire set up. If you want a throw back to the grindhouse days of the 70's then you'll probably want to give this a try even though the final results aren't a major winner and I doubt this kickstarts the Italian horror genre.