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

LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is a Lobster Enterprises/Sean S. Cunningham Films presentation. It is unrated, containing gruesome violence, rape, scenes involving torture and humiliation, language and nudity. It runs, in this reviewed format at least, 84 minutes long and it premiered theatrically on August 30, 1972.

INTRODUCTION
Before SCREAM…before ELM STREET…before THE HILLS HAVE EYES…there was one place to go to see Wes Craven in his very first outing as writer/director, called THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. This is the infamous classic that became a cult superhit, one that was daring and unseen in theatres. With producer Sean S. Cunningham, who later brought us FRIDAY THE 13th, Craven has made an unnerving and sometimes dissatisfying film. It’s the cast and the intensity of the on-screen carnage that makes it so memorable. Man, I haven’t been at a place like this ever since I saw the Vestron Video version of this film, and now MGM has purchased the mortgage for a DVD construction. I see there’s a light on in the house, let’s go in for the…

STORY
Mari Collingwood (Sandra Peabody, or “Sandra Cassel” in the credits) is just turning 17 years old and lives with kind but old-time-value-admiring parents, Dr. William Collingwood (Gaylord St. James) and wife Estelle (Cynthia Carr). They let her have the night off with her friend, Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham), and the two girls head off to New York City in order to check out a band that dismembers chickens onstage, and they’re called Bloodlust. Not just content to have ice cream, they decide to score some weed. But just when they think they find a dealer and they enter his pad, they realize they’re stuck with a quartet of psychos, including a couple of escaped convicts. They are the leader Krug Stillo (David A. Hess) and his sidekick Fred “Weasel” Potosi (Fred Lincoln), and the accomplices are the lesbian lassie Sadie (Jeramie Rain) and young junk-shooter Junior (Marc Sheffer). There is no escape, they are sedated and in the morning they are taken out on a road in the woods when the car breaks down.

They fight back the moment the trunk opens, but there still is no way out. The four crazies take the young girls into the woods and torture them. Phyllis attempts to run, while Mari is left with Junior, whom she desperately tries to convince that it’s okay to let her go. Phyllis meets a dead end, and Mari does, too. After they wash off the blood and change clothes, they decide to seek refuge in a nearby house. This is the house Mari lives, and where her parents are waiting for her to come back. But William and Estelle find out the truth, after the wife sees Junior wearing the birthday present the dad gave to Mari. They find their daughter left for dead in the woods, and they seek revenge on their guests in diabolical ways.

OVERVIEW
This, of course, was a loose adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s VIRGIN SPRING, which contained a similar story. There is also the fact that what you see on the screen is so terrifying, as we watch the two girls, at knifepoint, forced to strip, wet their pants, run for their lives and die painful deaths. This sets up a mood that is rather unsettling. The violence feels authentic and never overemphasized, and is used more metaphorically than most slasher films tend to stupefy.

This mood isn’t played straight throughout most of the film, as scenes are spliced in between the Krug & Co. carnage. The parents try to find out what went wrong, the cops are unaware that the broken down car in the woods contains the missing daughter, the cops learn about the escape of the killers and get their car stolen, only to attempt to ride a truck with a coup full of chickens. The driver is played by Ada Washington and she does a “not too shabby” job in that brief role. These scenes tend to f*ck with the viewer’s mind, as we watch the girls exposed to seriously disturbing torture and then get breathing room in scenes that aren’t that interesting or involving. It’s like a really bad cable production, and the badly done editing doesn’t help either.

The name of Hess’ memorable villain, Krug, is pronounced “Kroog” or “Krueg” to some, which would fit right into another famous Wes Craven villain and was actually based on Wes Craven’s father. Maybe in another light, Freddy Krueger would be Krug with burn scars all over his body. There is also the use of booby traps in this movie, as when William places shaving cream outside the convicts’ room and sets up some nice stalls to allow simple execution. Those touches are kind of surprising to see in retrospect. It also had alternate titles such as “Krug & Company”, “Grim Company”, “Sex Crime Of The Century” and “Night Of Vengeance.”

The scenes with the villains in the woods are played for sheer terror. Particularly the key to the intensity is the performance of David A. Hess as Krug. He’s just too despicable as the untamable psycho Krug and would get typecast in such classic international releases as HITCH-HIKE and HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK (another house movie, eh?). When we are over and done, we see them dressed up like civilized folk with blood washed from them and some hospitality from Mari’s parents. Looking like an actual social person, King Krug comments on the high-class look of the house. “Who do they think they are, anyway? People eating with sticks in China…and these creeps got 16 utensils for every pea on the plate.”

Another bizarre aspect is that violence dehumanizes people, not only the killers, but those who seek revenge. William and Estelle are a normal, upper-class couple with puritanical values and love for their child. But once the truth be exposed, the lengths they go to in order to bring the murderers down are unpleasant and sick.

To sum it all up, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is unpleasant, twisted, brutal and goes beyond the limits of graphic for a film around its time. “It’s only a movie…only a movie…only a movie…only a movie…”

DIRECTION
Wes Craven made this independent sleeper with an eye for tension and intensity, but he throws in some unnecessary comedy that kind of sidetracks it. The grit of this movie remains, though, through the simple camera tricks, poor cinematography and uneven script tends to bring it down. Still, this is his FIRST directorial movie…and karo syrup is still a Craven favorite.

ACTING
David Hess is the king of all exploitation film madmen! There is no torture too low, no act too degrading and nobody higher than what Krug thinks. He possesses a calmness in his delivery that only makes him more creepy. I tell you I had nightmares about this guy when I first saw this movie! I also liked the dazed performance of Marc Sheffer as the junkie creep with a conscience. Jeramie Rain as Sadie is not that commanding of a psycho, but she’s one b*tch I really wouldn’t give a knife to. And Fred Lincoln also has the skills to use a jackknife like a true criminal, and he looks kind of like a weasel to me, albeit a demented, psychotic, sexually-charged weasel to me. Pauly, eat your heart out.

Sandra Peabody and Lucy Grantham star as the two victims, and they have chemistry together in the friendship scenes and fearsome sympathy once they reach the woods. This was before THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and the hell they go through feels genuine. That’s something that really heightens the sleaziness and open-mouth reactions of such scenes. Marshall Anker and Martin Kove, who play the duo of policemen, provide comic kookiness in the wrong movie, and I was kind of unsure about laughing at them. Gaylord St. James and Cynthia Carr underplay their roles as the vigilante parents. Ada Washington is also in the mood to provide comedy, and somehow I was able to laugh at her.

MUSIC
Steve Chapin and David Hess made the music for this film, and it ranges from organ melodies, string flourishes, banjo plucking, pianos, and David Hess’ own “The Road Leads To Nowhere” and a couple other songs. Those Hess-penned songs sound better than some of the music in the film, most definitely that dopey country song which plays as the gang drive through the woods and spills the guts about the plot of the film. This chicken’s been fried too long, buddy.

VIOLENCE/GORE
The knives are always leading a trail of gore, and there’s some unsettling gunshots, castration, and a chainsaw attack. Gorier than the previous release and restores the beginning of Sadie’s infamous “intestinal pull” scene.

SEX/NUDITY
Grantham and Cassel are nude in all the most disturbing scenes, there’s some intense rape, and a fellatio scene that goes wrong.

CONCLUSION
$90,000 dollars and much controversy later, Wes Craven’s feature debut is well worth the watch by anybody curious about the myth of the film. It also has been given some nice touches by MGM DVD.

DVD DETAILS
MGM DVD presents us with a brand new widescreen presentation (of the unrated director’s cut version) formatted for 16X9 TVs. There is also the full frame version of this movie, on the other side of the disc. The picture isn’t given any digital transferring, and there are fuzz, scratches, grain and other print problems. It’s a hell of a lot better than the video versions of this film, though, and probably won’t get any better. The mono soundtrack also improves upon other versions of the movie in America, and is also in the finest shape that will see the light of day. The subtitle options include English, French and Spanish.

But even if the film transfer leaves much to be desired, there are a bounty of extras you can’t go wrong with. All of them are on the full frame side unless otherwise noted:

- “It’s Only A Movie” featurette. A brand new half-hour documentary detailing the movie’s conception and notoriety. Interviews include Wes Craven and Sean S. Cunningham, who discuss how they met and got into making movies together. “Not a slasher film at all, a folk tale!” is how David Hess stands up to this movie, and this is the one that made him a sociopath superstar. Hear cast members Marc Sheffler, old “Junior” himself, Fred “Weasel” Lincoln, Lucy Grantham, Martin Kove discuss how they got involved in the movie and how they felt about the movie. Lincoln himself turned it down before he got in! Hess got involved in this through Kove’s connections! Audiences’ reactions! The ending is also pretty funny, as Craven admits to his inspiration…I won’t tell. (THIS FEATURE IS ONLY ON WIDESCREEN SIDE OF DISC)

-Audio commentary track by Wes Craven and Sean S. Cunningham. Wes Craven dominates the commentary with a mix of information and self-critique, even some good humored fun as well. They talk plenty much about the production, the settings, the actors, the music, the alternate versions of the film, and the fact that “no chickens were harmed during the making of this film…most of them were eaten.” There are dead spots, but nothing that they can’t pick up on. “We’re not supposed to be just watching this,” Craven notices.

-Vintage outtakes and dailies from the production of the film. There is no sound because the track was lost, but for 14 minutes you get vintage material. You even get to see Jeramie “Sadie” Rain playing with fake entrails!

- “Forbidden footage” is more documentary footage (about eight minutes) talking about the film’s notorious violence and humiliation scenes. There are clips from the movie, photos, interviews with the cast and crew, and some outtake footage (intestine pulling all the way).

-The classic theatrical trailer. Remember: “To avoid fainting keep repeating, It’s only a movie…only a movie…only a movie…”

-An option to play the movie with a brief introduction by Wes Craven is available, as he describes that this is the most uncut version available to the masses.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age