Last House on the Left: Keep Walking Past It

There was a time, not so long ago, when horror films as we know them didn’t exist. There was the suspense genre, whose whodunit twists and turns were meant to keep you on the edge of your seat. And there were monster flicks meant to give you nightmares and make you check under you bed at the sound of each crack and creek. But the true source of horror, the capacity to which we can be cruel and sadistic to one another, wasn’t really captured on film until the early ‘70s.

That’s when a series of realistic films including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Wes Craven (who would later direct A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream movies) debut, Last House on the Left hit the screens. In Last House, two young girls are kidnapped, raped and sadistically tortured by an escaped convict and his family in the woods. One girl escapes to a nearby lake, is shot by the convict in the shoulder and is last seen floating face-up in the water.

The criminals take refuge in a nearby house, not knowing that the owners are actually the parents of one of the victimized girls. The girl’s parents believe the criminals’ “our car broke down” story and welcome them in with open arms. When they discover their near-dead daughter in the forest and put together the puzzle pieces, they begin to take revenge. 

The film attracted a cult following and now a remake, this time with Craven as the producer, is opening Friday the 13th. The story has been changed slightly. The parents are still grieving the loss of their son, in an attempt to explain the intense vengeance they inflict for what happens to their daughter. The rape scene is even more brutal, and all of the acts of violence are disturbingly realistic.

27 years ago, when the graphic depictions of rape and torture were new to audiences, the idea that a seemingly normal upper middle class couple could so quickly turn into animals and victimize the criminals who violated their daughter was shocking. Unfortunately, for a theater full of modern moviegoers numb to images of pain and cruelty, the acts of violent vengeance have to be so dramatic to ensure a reaction, there’s no way to work in any sense of internal conflict on the part of the parents. In the end it is impossible to believe the transformation from caring mommy to pistol-brandishing convict killer could happen so quickly or so completely.

And lost in the extreme violence are the questions of what level of vengeance is warranted (if any) and does violence have to lead to escalating violence? I’m not sure what kind of a person pays to watch realistic cruelty, but if the quantity of audience cell phone action during the film is an indicator, it’s a shrinking demographic.   

I guess I’d ultimately say that in this case, it’s better to keep walking past the Last House on the Left.

(Photo: Yahoo! Movies)

Comments

[will]

You pretty much gave us the history of the movie. What was so bad about it actually? Did the plot have holes? not enough suspense. I mean come on give me something here.Did you even see it yet? Im going to see it on saturday and I really want to know is it "prom night" bad?

[Adam]

Was this a review? I don't really get the point of what I just read. I'm somewhat of a fan of the original, although I admit it was crappy, but this really says practically nothing about the quality of the movie.

[El Todd]

Awesome, man! So this means I can count on my babe a. being bored enough with the flick to pay attention to me, and b., well, I guess I can NEVER count on THAT! ;-)

[kb]

I really don't understand this review.

[corrective_unconscious]

>But the true source of horror, the capacity to which we can be cruel and sadistic to one another, wasn’t really captured on film until the early ‘70s.

I don't agree with this, and would mention "M", Browning's "Freaks" and "Eyes Without a Face" as only three counter examples.

The early 70s may have marked a start of more explicit gore, and also a phenomenon noted by critic Robin Wood of teens characters in movies being slaughtered wholesale for any sexual transgression, i.e., having sex, along with teens in the movies' audiences gleefully cheering the destruction of their on screen counterparts.

[ca sober living]

Thank you for bringing up this i enjoyed reading keep posting! :-)

cletsey