The Last House on the Left

Extended Version

Roadshow 2009

R4 DVD

"To avoid fainting, keep repeating - It's only a movie...It's only a movie..."

The Last House on the Left was a controversial revenge film directed by Wes Craven and released in 1972. It was the film which began Craven’s career and nearly single-handedly triggered the Video Nasty censorship debate. It was banned at the Cinema in Seventies in both the UK and Australia and was refused release on video in Australia. Its uncut Australian DVD release was only in 2004.

The problem with this response was that most critics believed it was a work of cinematic significance; violent, confronting and anti-social perhaps, but significant nevertheless. The way in which it explored how far a normal family could be driven over the rape and murder of their daughter was powerful and insightful. It really was the films significance that overtook its controversial content and allowed it to be finally released on DVD uncut. It is interesting to note that Craven actually had a much more violent version of the film in mind, which he tentatively called Night of Vengeance. This was edited down to The Last House on the Left for practical considerations.

The 2009 version of the film while technically listing the producers as Wes Craven and Sean Cunningham is pretty well a production from Cunningham alone. The director is Dennis Iliadis. While the screenplay takes inspiration from the original it has been revamped by Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth. This does not mean Craven had no input, it is quite clear that the original film was a major inspiration and many of the scenes translate “element for element”, however, the 2009 version is a very modern adaptation; we must remember we are some 37 years from the original and the cinematic world is a very different place.

It is always difficult to compare a remake with what is considered a significant work of cinema. With the new release of Last House on the Left it is doubly so because the technology of cinema has moved so much further on since 1972 and explicit violence is far more permissible on screen. To really judge a film like this I think you must allow the new version to “speak for itself”; yes it is a remake and takes many elements from the original but it is a new vision and must be interpreted and experienced as such. There are also some very major differences in plot, the central rape victim Mari survives and Justin (the main killer/rapist’s son) is somewhat redeemed, representing a slight glimmer of hope. Too many reviewers have judged the 2009 version by the original which I think, in this case at least, is a major error. You should try to experience this film as a new work of cinema and if you then want to go back and see the original, do so afterwards.

Emma (Monica Potter), John (Tony Goldwyn), and Mari Collingwood (Sara Paxton) decide to go on vacation to their lakeside house. It is both a relaxing and painful time as it seems that their son and brother drowned in the lake outside the house and it brings back many reflections memories. Mari leaves her parents so they can spend some time alone and heads into town to meet-up with an old friend, Paige (Martha MacIsaac). While Mari has grown up, Paige is much the same, working in a small local store, smoking dope and generally going nowhere. Justin, (Spencer Treat Clark), a cute young man comes into the store to buy chocolates and cigarettes, when asked for ID he convinces Paige to let him off in exchange for smoking some high quality weed. Mari and Paige go with Justin to a local hotel where Paige convinces Mari to join in with the fun and soon they are all suitably stoned.

Justin believes his family are not going to come back for quite a while, but since time flies when you are smashed soon his family returns. Krug (Garret Dillahunt), Justin’s father; Francis (Aaron Paul), Justin’s uncle; and Sadie (Riki Lindhome), Krug’s girlfriend are not amused to find he has company.

Things soon turn nasty. Krug shows Justin a local newspaper that has Krug’s and Sadie’s mug-shots as the lead article and explains how Sadie and Francis smashed into a police car to break Krug out of police custody. (Which was the impressively powerful and visceral scene which opened the film). Of course it is now far too risky to let the girls go and they are kidnapped and driven into the country side. Mari thinks fast and convinces Krug to take the winding road that leads them to her parent’s lake house. Soon Mari sees her chance and attempts to jump from the car, a violent struggle ensues and the car crashes into a tree.

Krug is very pissed off, they have a crashed car, two kidnapped girls are a storm is coming. Sadie and Francis proceed to beat Mari and Krug attempts to teach his son how to be a man by forcing him to sexually abuse Mari. Justin refuses to play and things go from bad to worse. Paige is stabbed and Mari is raped, as Mari tries to escape she is shot in the back and left bleeding in the lake.

The twist that comes next is what really makes this an intriguing film. A wild storm forces the gang to seek refuge with Mari’s parents. Mari crawls home and they find her on the porch, at the same time Justin has left Mari’s necklace on a bench to alert them to who their visitors really are.

At first they simply want to get to their boat and get Mari to a hospital before she dies, however, it becomes clear that the only way they can do this is to dispose of those who stand in their way. So begins the path of revenge. Francis is killed first when he happens upon Mari. Emma shoots Sadie in the Head and Krug is knocked unconscious then given a paralyzing drug with his head left inside the microwave. (It is active and working without security as it was damaged by Emma’s brother earlier in the film).

Unlike the original, Justin is seen as having some conscience and survives with John, Emma and Mari who take the boat to the local hospital.

This is a confronting film and many will find the violence (and medical procedures) a bit too much. John is a doctor, like in the original, but gets to use his skills in the 2009 version. The sheer brutality of much of the film is confronting and I always have issues with rape revenge films. At the same time there is far less emphasis on the rape itself, than on the overall violence of the “gang” and the family’s need to fight for their very survival. On this level it is very different from traditional rape-revenge films such as “I spit on your Grave”. The character development is solid and for a film where the monsters are all too human, it is a challenging work of cinema and worth watching.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.5 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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