The Last House On The Left

The 1972 Wes Craven film The Last House On The Left is a landmark sexploitation grindhouse film, that launched the career of it's director. It's also a troubling deeply disturbing tale of rape, torture,and ultimately revenge. The film was banned in the UK for a time and was censored dramatically by the MPAA here in the states, I have a sort of love/hate relationship with the film. I don't particularly like it, but respect it's intentions and what it has created in terms of dramatic story telling and violence, the cycles of violence associated with vigilantly justice and revenge. However I hate rape and torture films so there's that issue in abundance here. Here's the original trailer, which I must admit, looks hokey by today's standards as trailers are now an artform.





Well all things are new again as the film has been remade like so many other classic low-budget horror films of the 1970s and 1980's :The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, My Bloody Valentine (in 3D no less!), The Hills Have Eyes (also a Wes Craven film) and the upcoming Friday the 13th . However I was surprised at how compelling the new version looks. It seems that in the 37(!) years since the film was made our notion of horror has changed and where this was once a statement on the death of hippie culture it's become a film about revenge for familial love and American justice. Originally i swore after Alexandre Aja's nearly unwatchable, pornographically violent The Hills Have Eyes remake that I wouldn't be seeing The Last House On The Left as the first film was so traumatizing.  I think I've changed my mind now.

-side note how manipulative is the use of a cover of Guns N Roses' sweet child of mine?

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