The Last House on the Left (1972)
Having never before seen the film and feeling like it was my duty as a connoisseur of horror, I ordered The Last House on the Left (1972) on Netflix and squirmed my way through.
The film holds up remarkably well as a work of horror, exploitation, and revenge while at the same time being completely compromised by its wood paneled interiors, acid trip soundtrack, and heavily sideburned actors.
Watching this film, I also quickly realized the truth to the Wes Craven maxim: “A horror film should make you feel like you are in the hands of a madman.” Unlike any of Craven’s other films, with the exception perhaps of Deadly Friend (1986) in which a hot teenage girl becomes a maniac killer when she receives the brain of a robot, The Last House on the Left feels like it was made by someone completely deranged.
Although one might point to the sexual sadism in the film as the sign of a lunatic at work, I found the juxtaposition of extreme violence with over-the-top silliness just as unsettling. While driving with two girls tied up and gagged in the trunk of their car, the criminal gang frolics while the soundtrack plays some of the downright dorkiest music ever to disgrace perforated film.
Likewise, when the girls are further brutalized in a downright sickening series of rape and murder scenes, the jaunty local law enforcement is having Hee Haw-style arguments with a local yokel before attempting to ride to the rescue on the top of a truck filled with squawking chickens.
Ultimately, what I found most mind blowing about Last House on the Left was that it was based on the Bergman film Virgin Spring (1960). I have never seen Virgin Spring (now in my Netflix queue), but the films I have seen by Bergman, like Wild Strawberries (1957) and The Seventh Seal (1957), seem like they came from anywhere but the mind of a lunatic.
Craven, apparently, liked the Bergman story (based on a Swedish folk tale) enough to use it as a structure for his own horror tale in which parents become ruthless killers to avenge the loss of their daughter; then he and producer Scott S. Cunningham (who went on to direct Friday the 13th, 1980), used their fledgling film abilities to shoot it.
I watched a bit of the behind the scenes featurette on the DVD, and Craven admits to being stoned through much of the actual production. Well, that might explain a thing or three. On the other hand, The Last House on the Left is a surprisingly well-acted, well-structured, interestingly styled, and painfully effective film with dozens of remarkable yet utterly horrible cinematic moments – a film I will thankfully never watch again.
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I can tell your age since you call it “The Last House on the Left,” and not “Last House…Left”… (20-early 30s) By today’s standards, the film is as you described it, but it pulled in audiences to drive-in triple- and 5-film bills and midnight showings for 15 years (it was paired with “Amityville Horror” at drive-ins in 1979). The uncomfortableness sold the film! The posters, which would be banned from newspapers today, sold the film! “Can a movie go too far?” one asked. “To avoid fainting, keep repeating, It’s Only a Movie! Only a movie!” Sensationalism sold it! And keep in mind that back in the ’70s there were not 500+ cable channels (3 networks where I lived; in the nearby city there were about 10 channels, including the NYC cable channels), and people relied on the radio and theatrical/drive-in movies for entertainment. Radio ads promoted this film, and people asked, “Can a movie really show that?” They had to see for themselves. Ditto with the posters, which were clearly exploitive — and effective!
The film is sickening. Martin Kove, who plays a cop, told me at a convention that he regrets starring in it now that he has 2 daughters. He and his coworkers are trying to sue for residuals, as it made millions sickening people…and still is!
“Last House” spawned a generation of advertising that promised audiences to keep repeating “it’s only a film” or some such (1978’s Hills Have Eyes, 1972’s The House that Vanished). The film was also part of drive-ins’ pairing like-titled films for maximum appeal: Last House on the Left with Apartment on the 13th Floor; Last House w/Don’t Look in the Basement; and my fave: Last House on the Left w/The House that Vanished and Don’t Look in the Basement. (As a kid I thought that was a long title to a movie!) Should you see the other 2, Basement is the best; Vanished is very tense, but quite frustrating (I’m betting that one chase scene influenced 1980’s Prom Night). Both are very ’70s. Don’t forget, that was the mood back then….
Thanks for the comments. Amazing it’s being remade, but I guess the producers figure the familiar title will sell tickets. I actually met Sean Cunningham recently and asked him about the new movie. He promised me the chicken truck scene is NOT going into the remake. Not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.
Just watched Cabin Fever again the other night and noticed the creepy “The Road Leads to Nowhere” song from Last House on the Left.