The Last House on the Left [Blu-ray]
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 18-AUG-2009
Media Type: Blu-Ray
My husband and I enjoyed this movie. It was full of supense and a wonderful illustration of how fair one would go to protect themself.
rape has NO place in film – A. Hendrix – USA
the revenge is sweet but its a bit violent in the wrong way and the rape scene is something movies should NEVER depict
the subhuman people get some sweet revenge, the garbage disposal and microwave were the highlights of the film. Other than that its extremely violent and not a healthy thing for one to watch.
i saw it twice and probably don’t need to watch stuff like that but its a good revenge movie…..and if u like that type of theme the crow is 10 thousand times better and MUCH more action and body count
In some ways, it’s better than the original. In other ways, not so much. – Saint Thomas – Kent, Ohio
Personally speaking, I was never a fan of the Wes Craven original film. I first saw LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT when I was younger and I think my expectations were a little high at the time. I heard great things about it from many different Horror fans over the years, so imagine my disappointment when I saw the final product. If anyone has seen the 1970′s Wes Craven original, most of you know what I’m talking about. Unless of course you are fan of the Wes Craven version. If that’s the case, I’m sure you couldn’t disagree with me more.
To say that LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was an imperfect film is putting it lightly. The original film is riddled with many problems, some bigger than others. Being the fact that we’re here to talk about the new “remake”, I’ll keep my summary short and sweet. My biggest gripe of the original movie is the lack of suspense and awful dialogue.
Some people would argue my point by calling LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT a “Grindhouse” type of movie that isn’t supposed to be taken seriously. Granted, I’ve taken that perspective into consideration. Yet, when people boast that the original is one of the best Horror movies of all time, one might expect some serious nail biting terror! Not a cheesey “Grindhouse” type of Horror film. So if you ask me, that point is rather invalid. I know and love true “Grindhouse” Horror films. I consider myself to be a “Horror connasure.” Movies like HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, DEEP RED and DAWN OF THE DEAD are true and well done “Grindhouse” films.
Fast forward to the 2009 remake of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. When I heard they were going to remake the original movie, my interest was peaked. I always thought the idea behind the Wes Craven version was a good one, it just needed to pack the type of punch that all the hype behind the original boasted. This new remake gets the job done (more or less) than I expected.
If you don’t know, the plot of both versions is pretty straight forward. This remake keeps things pretty close to the original. Basically, it’s a story about a young girl who goes out for a night on the town with one of her old Highschool friends. The parents of this young girl seem to be pretty liberal and open minded. They don’t mind loaning her the car for the evening or giving her some pocket money as well. This “remake” of the movie makes the parents seem like young teenagers within themselves.
We’re introduced to the parents first thing in the movie. The Mother is pretty cool chick who doesn’t seem to mind listening to Rap music with her Daughter in the car (oh’ those darn new age “hip” parents) and the Father is lying down in the back seat, snoring away asleep. Meanwhile, the Daughter is the one driving the car. These scenes are done to express to the viewer that these parents aren’t your typical, 1950′s Mother and Father. For the most part, it works as a character study.
Soon, the Daughter is going out with one of her friends for the evening. Her friend of course is the “edgy” rebellious one, who is always looking for a party. Fast forward some dialogue and we’re eventually introduced to a young sleazy kid who offers them a “good time.” They all make their way back to this strangers hotel room and start smoking pot. Suddenly the fun night takes a quick turn for terror when the family of said stranger comes back and see’s two young girls in their hotel room. As it turns out, these people are on the run from the law and now they have two young hostages.
A lot of psychological torture ensues, which eventually leads to the rape and killing of these two young girls. Or so it seems. The young girl of the parents we were introduced to at the beginning of the film survives her ordeal. Meanwhile, the gang of rapists and murderers decides to take refuge after the killings (an oncoming thunder storm approaches) in a seemingly innocent middle class home with two nice parents. Eventually the raped young girl (beaten and bloody) makes her way home after being left for dead in the woods and is found by her parents.
The rest of the movie is spent following the parents as they exact revenge on the gang of hooligans, in a series of horrifying deaths. The plot might seem like it’s all over the place (and it is) but for the most part, it works and to a much better degree here in the remake. That isn’t to say this movie doesn’t have it’s faults. For one thing, I didn’t like how the victim survives in this version. I could be wrong but I recall the girl in the original film dying in front of her parents. In my opinion, that would have been a much better turn of events for the movie.
Over all, this isn’t a bad little remake. I know that these days most people don’t like remakes (for whatever reason) but that really isn’t a problem for me. Sometimes a remake can top the original, like the Alexandre Aja version of THE HILLS HAVE EYES. Sometimes it doesn’t work so well. THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is more or less better than the original but that might not be enough to satisfy some people.
The “old school” fans are dedicated to the original no matter what the movie is. These days it’s more fashionable to claim you liked the original and only the original, otherwise people might view them as “newbies.” Golly gee folks! We wouldn’t want that now would we!?! That’s just stupid. I’ve been a Horror fan for almost my entire life. I love the “classics” and I love the “new wave” of Horror. I can watch NIGHT OF THE DEMONS and end the night with Rob Zombie’s remake of HALLOWEEN. In my eye’s, a fan of Horror should be just that. A fan of the scene.
Gore Hounds, check it out for nasty scenes of torture and death! People are stabbed, chopped and hacked in every conseivable way imaginable. The ending of the movie does have a sickening scene involving a microwave oven. I won’t go into details but lets just say that things end with a “bang!” The casual Horror fan might want to be cautioned. Some people aren’t comfortable with the subject of rape and this movie doesn’t hold back on the offensiveness.
In the end, this wasn’t a bad little remake. Check it out!
Got the item in a timely manner – Flavia Vieira-austin –
Haven’t watched the DVD yet, I hope it is in good condition. The delivery time was great. Thank you.
Available at Amazon Check Price Now!
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Add comment December 13th, 2009
