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Rating of
3/4
To avoid fainting,keep repeating-it's only a movie
gideon43 - wrote on 05/21/2010
Last House On The Left is a sadistic and exploitive nightmare that can also claim to be the earliest shot video nasty. Benefiting from a superb ad campaign " To avoid fainting, keep repeating-its only a movie" LHOTL offers a brutal, ferocious and cruel revenge movie that fails to offer any hope for mankind.
The director Wes Craven tips his hat to the political agendas dominating America at the time, referencing (in a subtle way) the Vietnam War and the counter culture that could spawn such an atrocity as depicted in the movie.
Its difficult to defend LHOTL as many revered film critics seem to want to do, its a fairly amateurish affair shot almost documentary style, the acting is mediocre at best and the pace is erratic and in- cohesive at times.
Where LHOTL succeeds is in its demand …
Rating of
3/4
Cult-horror classic
filmfan09 - wrote on 03/16/2009
This 1972 verison is Wes Craven's debut film that was inspired by the Swedish art-house classic 'The Virgin Spring' (Oscar winner for best foreign language film), which I own and seen many of times. Many people say that Craven's movie was a remake of 'The Virgin Spring' but it's not. 'The Virgin Spring' was set in medieval Sweden and was a revenge tale about a father's merciless response to the murder of his daughter. 'The Last House on the Left' loosely follows a silmular story with a girl Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassel) celebrating her 17th birthday by going to a concert with her friend, Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham). Lured to an apartment by claims of marijuana for sale they are immediately trapped by escaped convicts. The criminals drive them out to the woods and kill them. Before …
Rating of
2.5/4
Carnage, Revenge to the Depths of Hell
Chris Kavan - wrote on 03/12/2009
A low-budget cult horror classic, Last House on the Left takes the story from The Virgin Spring, removes any religious context, and turns it into an ultra-violent murder/revenge story.
Being the horror fan I am, I was waiting for a better version of Last House before I watched it. Although I still think the new uncut version is probably missing some of the more graphic scenes, it got the point across.
While Virgin Spring explores the nature of God and has you feeling sympathy even for the bad guys at some point, Last House offers no redemption. The evil here is not a trio of herdsman, but escaped convicts (one a murder of nuns and a priest, the other a pedophile and peeping tom) along with a drug addict and bisexual wild-woman girlfriend.
Our victims are not an innocent …
Rating of
2/4
Classic Slasher, But a Victim of Time
Franz Patrick - wrote on 10/14/2008
Even though this was released in 1972, it’s still really disturbing compared today’s standards (or lack thereof some might argue). This is Wes Craven’s first film and though it may seem really dated, it shows a lot of promise when it comes to its story. It’s a horror film and a revenge movie wrapped in one. There are three factors that holds this movie back: the comical scenes regarding the police, its low level of cinematography due to its low budget, and the amateur acting. The script is fine because I thought some of the dialogue was interesting to listen to; the direction and pacing are not that bad. I’ve had my share of violent pictures but when this movie’s teeth started to show, I couldn’t help but wince. After watching this film, it became apparent to me why this …
