User Reviews

This Italian micro-budget horror production isn't that good, but nonetheless it's not too bad for a first shot at a feature length production, as writer / director Gabriele Albanesi has created three horror shorts before it. With a title like that you'll know where it's target audience lies, and for most part it delivers on it if you just go in expecting something rather amateurishly crazy and explosively bloody in what is an all to familiar get-up. You can see its style is raw, lurid and recalls shades of 70s / 80s drive-in grindhouse exploitation. It's a total throwback. Even with this element, still it's hard to find it disturbing. It's far from it actually, as it's over-the-top hysterics (especially involving three moronic douche bags) and macabre confusion can see it fall on being darkly humorous.

A young couple, Aurora and Rino are trying to come to terms to where their relationship is at or what was, but they're interrupted by three loutish thugs that bash Rino and attempt to rape Aurora. However an older married couple driving pass saves them from that disastrous fate and takes them back to their place to recover. But unknowingly to them this couple has a secret which might put Aurora and Rino in a great deal of unexplainable trouble.

The narrative is thoughtlessly thin and dank, but cluttered with so many disjointed plot structures (some that feel like a second thought as if made on the spot) which go onto to lead to an inevitable (and perplexing) explanation to all of this demented carnage. I'm at a lost?! You can easily spot the influences from other horror films though. 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' shoots to mind. The unsubtle script was mostly horrendous.

After a plodding beginning-- setting up Aurora and Rino's rocky relationship and their early encounters with the brain-dead thugs. The whole mystery surrounding the hospitable couple and their son is what holds you, until it throws you into the ugly, explicit violence and bewildering situation. Nothing suspenseful about it, but it's flipped out with it gushing with plenty of red stuff and gore skews into camp territory, but that final closing is shockingly weak and rushed. What was going against it is that there was no one to really cheer on (yep Aurora and Rino were less than desirable characters) as they weren't painted oh so greatly.

Gabriele Albanesi's direction stays conventional with some neatly realized images and fast moving zooms, but it's considerably well shot. Even when it decides the shake the camera about a couple of times. The electronic score stays low-key with a sensitively harrowing vibe, striking back to those old features. The pacing moves quick enough and the limited resources are handled effectively (like the make-up and splatter effects).The performances are very indifferent and quite poor (thanks again to those three ridiculous thugs). Daniela Virgilio and Daniele Grassetti didn't make much of an imprint as Aurora and Rino. Gennaro Diana and Santa De Santis's stiltedly icy portrayals bordered on farcical as the mysterious couple. David Pietroni was just laudably hammy as the main front man of the trio.

Unusually ragged, but slightly amusing and outrageous Italian horror.

Usually, I depend heavily on the 'external reviews' here on IMDb; no disrespect for the other reviewers here like me of course, but I have my favourites who I rely on for my impressions of a film and whether I think I will like it.

Well, as my title suggests, I VERY much disagree with some of my 'regulars', that is for sure! Both at DVD Verdict and Dread Central they praise this film as a great return to Italian Horror. I suppose... However, perhaps it's just a matter of 'taste' in this case (no pun intended - I guess you'll hafta actually see the film to get it) Sure, there is a LOT of old fashioned gore, etc. And that can be okay IF, and I do bloody well mean ***IF*** at least it is done well. But, sadly, in this case I am sorry, but it was not. Now maybe the level of competence is expected to be lower with this kind of movie, but still, there are TONS of great low-budget Horror films that may even be somewhat stupid, BUT there is a certain charm or retro feel to them or SOMETHING for Goodness sake that makes them worthwhile. Not this one...

Primarily I just couldn't bleed'n STAND the monotonous and EXTREMELY super-extended padding in this thing. GEEZ, so he / she / whatever is running through the woods... Okay... I get it... Can we PLEASE not spend 20 frigg'n minutes watching them running and screaming, and running and screaming, and then running and screaming some more...???! PLEASE...! Literally about 20% of the dang film is made up of all these SUPER-extended reaction shots (hold on her face... Okay, now hold on his face. Okay, now go back to her face... GEEZ, just shoot me already, or hang me, I REALLY do not care at this point!) I GUESS, MAYBE, if it had just been tightened up a bit and moved along with SOME concept of pacing it probably would indeed have been a fun and enjoyable little Horror film. Man, as it was it came in at what, about 85 minutes WITH credits. I mean EVERY dang scene was dragged out, mostly with awful repetitive yelling and 'acting' I mean HOW MANY bloody times does one tough guy hafta tell his other friend to 'Shut up!' And also how many, MANY times does that same friend say 'Hey, we really should go back; we shouldn't do this, etc., etc., etc... It's just that when you add all this stuff up it ends up being HALF the damn film, really! Just a LOT, and I do mean a HELL of a lot of time wasted, totally destroying whatever possible suspense or interest that may have been generated .

I WILL say though that there were a few things about this movie that I did like. First, I REALLY liked the opening song; I mean it sounded RIGHT out of TWIN PEAKS, honestly! So, I'm thinking 'Great! This is gonna be some subtle, moody, atmospheric film a la David Lynch. WRONG... BUT, I will say though that towards the very beginning there were indeed a few shots / scenes that did remind me of Lynch's use of long, quiet shots that gave it a nice, odd feel. And also, I really noticed a very deliberate effort to copy Argento's lighting in 'INFERNO' You see blues and reds EVERYWHERE! That looked kinda neat. But, all in all whatever slight patches of style or mood that MIGHT have been there, they were TOTALLY obliterated by completely inept narrative and pacing and WAAAAAAAAAY drawn out scenes. If he could have just edited all that completely useless crap out of there and maybe brought the film in at even 70 minutes, that might have done the trick.

Now again, if this kind of film falls into the category sort of like Porn where you really aren't exactly watching it for the 'tight' direction (cough...) etc., well then, fine... Maybe this just isn't my kind of movie. But, at least as I imagine it being directed, I THINK that you really could have snipped out all the stupid stuff and just gotten to all the gore, etc., THEN you just might have had a much, MUCH more effective and emotionally striking film. Instead ALL the tension that is actually built up is completely wasted and drained away by about 20% of the footage that just shouldn't be there.

YES, there is a definite and even somewhat effective homage to Argento and Classic Italian Horror in general; but, if you are gonna do that type of thing, PLEASE do not completely ruin it by making an awful film around it...

If you look at the international title of this low-budgeted Italian flick, you automatically expect this to be throwback to the gritty and disturbing rape/revenge exploitation thrillers of the 70's, and particularly of course Wes Craven's "Last House on the Left". If you then watch the film, you'll have to conclude it's much more reminiscent to that other Wes Craven milestone of the 70's; namely "The Hills Have Eyes". But what truly surprised me here actually was that "Last House in the Woods" is one of the goriest, most sickening and distasteful recent horror films I've seen in months! During the first half hour or so, writer/director Gabriele Albanesi apparently still tried to serve some personal style and ambitious structure, but then the whole thing just turns into a non-stop nasty and absurdly over-the-top shlockfest. In the middle of a relationship crisis, young couple Aurora and Rino are assaulted by a trio of drug-addicted thugs on a remote forest road. They're about to gang-rape Aurora when a middle-aged couple drives by and comes to the rescue. At the couple's house, hidden deep in the woods, Aurora soon realizes she's in even deeper trouble as her hosts have the nasty habit of kidnapping people and serve the flesh to their cannibalistic 7-year-old son. If this isn't quite unhinged enough for you yet, there's another duo of freaks loose in the woods – one has a disgusting tumor in his neck and the other a half rotten face – and an outrageously insane climax involving a child that got lost in the woods during the intro of the film. "Last House in the Woods" is badly acted, incoherent and senseless and honestly doesn't feature any aspects that qualify as original or surprising. Still, this is guaranteed fun to watch if only for the gore and unusually high level of depravity. Moreover, in spite of the obviously very restricted budget, the makers nevertheless managed to engage Italy's most prominent and gifted special-effects guy for their film! Sergio Stivaletti is literally a wizard with blood & gore effects. He worked with Italy's greatest horror directors of the 80's and 90's (Dario Argento, Mario Bava and Michele Soavi) and already even directed two excellent but shamefully underrated himself ("The Wax Mask" and "Three Faces of Terror"). Thanks to Stivaletti, "Last House in the Woods" is a real treat for sick puppies like myself, with an overload of slit throats, bitten throats, disembowelment, amputations, chainsaw murders, close range head shots, stabbings … Shall I continue, or will you purchase the DVD already?

Nice artwork on the DVD box and that's about it. On the cover it says, "from the people who brought you the Grudge" etc etc, lot's of hype. From Ghost House pictures, a company that usually will deliver the scares, but not in this case.

First 10 minutes of the film is shot too dark. Then there are numerous gaffes with the day for night type scenes. One scene it is dark, the next it's daylight. On par with an Ed Wood film. Horrible editing, shots of 3 guys driving in a little Fiat seen over and over with the driver never turning the wheel.

Lingering close ups, fast zooms--both in and out, shaky hand held camera to the point of it looking like the cinematographer was having a seizure.

Goofy, over the top acting, more suitable for an Italian soap opera. "Hey Enzo, we needa more blood, no?"

I bought this movie used for 10 bucks and I might as well of just flushed it down the toilet. Here's some advice for Ghost House pictures: Please don't become another Full Moon. There are already enough low budget stinkers being put out by those guys. Have some credibility and actually watch the movie before you market it --and in the case of Last House in the Woods, your marketing was deceptive and I fell for it. You got me, but now I will research a Ghost House movie before I buy or rent one.

Aurora (Daniela Virgilio) and her boyfriend Rino (Daniele Grassetti) are having a bad day-for one thing, a trio of thugs decide they want some fun, and after they are saved, it turns out that their savior's family has some really ugly secrets.

An Italian tribute to 70's and 80's Grindhouse fair, "Last House In The Woods" could best be described as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" meets "The Last House on the Left" with a dash of "Mother's Day" thrown in. The film obviously has plenty of love for old school Exploitation flicks, and also boasts an effective score and top notch gore FX by Sergio Stivaletti ("Cemetary Man.")

Yet, it never really reaches it's full potential. Sure, you aren't exactly looking for an original type of horror movie, but it doesn't help when you realize that you could be watching other, better Horror Exploitation movies from the 70's and 80's instead of this. Here, not only have you seen it before, but you've seen it done considerably better. It also doesn't help that the acting is largely poor, with the exception of Gennaro Diana as Antonio and Santa De Santis as Clara. Sure, you can throw in all the Chainsaw action, gore, and cannibalism in the world, but it doesn't make up for it.

To be fair, director Gabriele Albanesi definitely shows some potential, and could possibly pull of a good horror movie. Sadly, this isn't it, but damn it, he at least puts effort into it, which counts for something. Plus, it's nice to see a gory Italian horror flick that's recent-too bad it ends up, as James Brown once said, "Talking Loud and Saying Nothing."

I have no intention in engaging in the game of comparing this movie to those previously made. There is really nothing original in horror, so naturally, any film will have glimpses of others. I am just glad I didn't have to watch a dubbed version.

Rino (Daniele Grassetti) and Aurora (Daniela Virgilio) were jumped on the side of the road and she was just about to get raped when Antonio (Gennaro Diana) came buy to stop the action, I mean to save the day.

They soon find that there are worse things than rape. Rino ends up tied up in the boy's (Fabiano Malantrucco) room, and she is running for her life through the woods.

Soon she is back in the house, and we see why this film was also called Italian Chainsaw.

There is lots of blood and gore, and some really icky stuff.

Saved from a rape attempt, a woman and her boyfriend take up shelter in their rescuer's house, unaware of the deadly secret they hide within that is soon unleashed upon them with a ferocious vengeance.

This was one of the more impressive and enjoyable Italian slashers in the scene. One of the better elements in here is the general sense of unease and discomfort found within here as it details several different tactics quite successfully. While hinted at somewhat with the early scenes after the rescue, the film begins to really get into the discomfort when it brings their deformed child into this. Looking suitably distressed and gruesome, there's enough off about his behavior and appearance to lead to quite a distinctive feature here, and even more to that point is the discovery scene where they find him hiding in the bedroom after one of the many escape attempts. That fact that there's some rather decent ones in here is another rather enjoyable feature, providing this one with some enjoyable action that keeps it flowing along nicely. Starting with the main escape attempt, where the group is able to get out onto the dirt road which is pretty dark and chilling here, and a secondary attempt here through the woods leads to some pretty chilling stalking scenes in the bushes. This one also manages to set-up some rather intriguing action in here as not only are those thrilling yet there's a lot of other fun times featured elsewhere with these alongside such scenes as the opening car-crash on the highway, the assault in the motor home off in the woods and the final retribution against the gang-members which takes up the entire final half in the house which is over-the-top gory, brutal and just a lot of fun featuring the chainsaw action, cannibal attacks and tons of suspense here with the encounters in the child's bedroom and down in the basement. That all of the action scenes result in tons of gory, bloody and rather inventive kills tops off the film's positives here, as these are enough to hold off the relatively few flaws. The main one here is the rip-off nature of the film during the dinner sequence, which is cribbed so heavily that it never manages to stand on its own because so much of it is shot-for-shot that prevents it from being enjoyable. Beyond that, there's minor problems that don't really amount to much such as the shaking camera preventing a lot of the action in the woods from being clear or the brawl in the garage looking incredibly lame with the weak choreography really taking the sting out of it. Otherwise, this one proved to be a lot of fun and really enjoyable.

Rated R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, a rape scene and children-in-jeopardy.

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.

(2007) The Last House In The Woods/ Il Bosco Fuori (In Italian with English subtitles) HORROR/ SUSPENSE

Made in just 18 days, is not a bad effort except that those other influences that the director had made a homage to are still better. Centers on a ghoulish family located in the woods with some twists. Written and directed by Gabriele Albanesi who was inspired by Argento's "Phenomena", Lucio Fulci to Mario Bava as well as many others including Craven and Hooper of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movies. What's scary is not when viewers know that it's going to happened, but what is unexpected. And although, there's plenty of gory scenes, it's just disgusting.

I've been on quite a gore kick of late with some zingers like Day of the Dead (1985), High Tension, Land of the Dead, and May. I'd put this one in amongst them in terms of gore alone. Some "Unrated" movies I'll get done with and ask myself why they were branded with such a rating. Some of the above, including Last House, left no doubt as to why they deserved to be beyond Restricted (R).

The story, acting, soundtrack, and ambiance initially was enough to make me want to stop the film and get to bed early. It is very poor quality in all of the above. That must have been the point as a direct homage to some of the 70's and 80's films of the same nature. They were bad, but yet had an undeniable power to them with their disturbing scenarios, gratuitous gore including many gross-out scenes, and overall non-PC actions.

The crazies in this one initially played it straight, and seemed like a loving family as do many in such films at first. I wish they had kept this demeanor and tried to be somewhat sympathetic instead of turning into completely sadistic psychopaths - it would have made the crazy setup more disturbing than the generic looney pastiche that I'm so accustomed to.

So if you're looking for a thought provoking and well acted film with a great storyline, then go elsewhere. If you have a bit of a horror vice for being disturbed and grossed out without any of the aforementioned in tow, then pour yourself a tall one and get ready for a stomach churning experience...

I have read some real negative reviews on Last House In The Woods, and I did'nt have high hopes...but I actually thought it was a good time.

If you like the old-fashioned Italian flicks (Argento...Bava) I think you will probably get something out of this.

It has some pretty nasty moments, arms and legs getting ripped off, nasty bites, bashed in heads and more!!! It reminded me of House On The Edge Of The Park and TCM Also on the Ghost House DVD, it has English dub or Subtitles, we watched it with the dubbed language, which is fine (quite funny at times too!) All in all I had fun time watching Last House In The Woods, watch it without any expectations and I'm sure you will too.

The Last House In The Woods (2006) is a slasher thriller horror film originating in Italy, the film was released on October 6, 2006 and directed by Gabriele Albanesis telling of a young couple who was attacked by three mysterious men suddenly there was someone who saved them, eventually they Join the house of the couple, and it turns out the couple has a dark secret and a small child cannibal who eat human flesh .. Can they run from the house ??? The Last House In The Woods (2006) a pretty fun and sadistic Italian horror movie .. The acting of the cast is pretty good .. The gore scene is pretty scary ...