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What it's about:
In a remake of Wes Craven's 1972 movie of the same name, itself a remake of Ingmar Bergman's Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring), comes the horrifying story of a group of convicts, lead by psycho killer Krug, who brutally assault two teenage girls in a forest, leaving them both for dead. With no means of transport, Krug and his gang seek refuge for the night at the lakehouse of the parents of one of the girls. What ensues can best be described as the most disturbing, albeit incredibly tense, movie experiences of recent years.
What we thought of it:
Is a microwave operational with its door held open? Is it possible for a waif of a teenage girl to also be a champion swimmer? And what is a bag of Snowflake cake flour doing in the kitchen of an American country house?
These and other banal ponderings come to mind, as a defensive mechanism I guess, while enduring the visceral shock and awe that is inherent in every dark frame of Wes Craven's homage to, well, himself. He acts as producer on this re-imagined version of his notorious breakout hit, alongside long-time production partner Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the 13th, Freddy vs. Jason). What they, along with Greek director Dennis Iliadis, have perpetrated is an uncomfortably realistic portrayal of sadism that pits two very different families against each other.
Krug, played with creepy charisma by Garret Dillahunt (Deadwood, No Country for Old Men) has escaped police custody with the help of his posse of crazies, girlfriend Sadie (Riki Lindhome) and brother Francis (Aaron Paul). Meanwhile, Krug's meek son Justin brings two girls to their motel room for some fun, but, in Craven's visionary hell, any young girl looking for a good time is destined for nothing but pain and
The two unfortunate girls are Mari, who's in town for a weekend holiday with her parents, and local floozy Paige. After being kidnapped by Krug, a night of unspeakable torture unfolds. It's all incredibly difficult to watch, in particular a harrowing scene of rape that will either have you burrowing your head behind the person next to you, or fleeing the theatre in hysterics. You've been warned.
Things take a vengeful turn when the gang arrive on the doorstep of Mari's parents' (played by Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter) house, and two decent, ordinary people are faced with the prospect of going to extreme means to exact a primal sense of justice when they discover just who they've allowed into their home.
Gore-lovers will revel in the movie's enthusiastic bloodshed, as each side sets about finding more gruesome ways of offing each other (hammers, shower curtain rails and butcher knives are involved). The cameo appearance of a bag of Snowflake flour, as well as a few other pieces of evidence, will alert keen-eyed audiences to the fact that the movie was not filmed in the Pacific North-West where the story takes place, but rather in a pine forest just outside Cape Town.
When all's been said and done, the movie has been so expertly plotted and edited that the helpless, claustrophobic experience of watching the nihilism unfold is almost a mirror of the events on screen. It may be low budget and feature a cast of mostly unknowns, but The Last House on the Left succeeds in its mission to leave you a changed person. Those with weaker constitutions should avoid it at all costs, but the high entertainment value of the movie cannot be denied. Believe me, I tried.
