Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Whether this is a movie that you will enjoy, or not, depends on how you feel about watching scenes of violence, revenge, and more violence.  Because The Last House On The Left has plenty of violence.  Some of it quite disturbing.  Sure, it also has a story, but not one with a lot of substance. 

This is a remake of a 1972 movie, that I haven't seen.  So I can't compare the two movies.  What I can tell you about the modern version is that it was clearly written and directed for the "shock value" that extreme violence tends to deliver to audiences.

The Collingwoods seem like a nice family, off to a remote lake house, for the summer.  Teenage daughter Mari acts like any teenager does - she's looking for independence from her parents, leaping at the first opportunity to hang out with her girlfriend, leaving her parents at the house, without a car. 

But teens sometimes make bad decisions.  Like going off with a boy you just met, going to his hotel room, and smoking pot.  Still, it's certainly not Mari's fault that the boy's evil father and uncle come back to the hotel earlier than expected.  What follows is an intensely brutal assault of the two girls, complete with stabbings, shootings, and a horrible rape.

In a wacky coincidence, the bad guys find themselves out in a storm, without transportation.  They come upon a house by the lake and ask for assistance.  And wouldn't you know it - it's the house where Mari's parents are hanging out, waiting for their daughter's return.  Thus the Collingwoods are playing host and hostess to the thugs who just got through tormenting their daughter.  Naturally they don't know this at the time.  But, eventually they'll find out.  And when they do...

Well, you can imagine how the parents react, knowing their daughter's attackers are in their home.

This is a story of revenge - pure and simple.  Do the parents act in a logical way, given what happened to their daughter?  Or do they go over-the-top?  Hard to say, never having been in their situation.  One can certainly imagine that the need to "get back" and "make them pay" might cloud all other decisions.  Still, I felt that the parents wasted precious time, time that they could have been using to help their daughter, while they exacted their revenge.  That bothered me, and ruined the movie, to some extent.  I wanted to be completely on the side of the good guys, but I just couldn't excuse the parents wasting all that time. 

On the other hand, if watching bad guys get their comeuppance is your thing, this movie might really appeal. 

The performances were pretty good.  I thought Sara Paxton (Mari) did a terrific job.  I completely bought her performance.  She managed to display true terror and pain, without going overboard.  And the bad guys (Garret Dillahunt and Aaron Paul) were quite good, as well.  They both drip with evil, without looking "campy". 

This movie is rated R and deservedly so.  Be aware, going in, that there are scenes of extreme violence, and a horrible rape.  While no nudity is shown, there is no doubt about what is happening, and the pain being delivered. 

Recommended only for die-hard fans of violence/revenge.  Everyone else should avoid this one.

Recommended: No

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age