Review of Last House on the Left, The

Introduction

Sometimes referred to as the mother of all horror films, The Last House on the Left was responsible for paving the way for innumerable horror/slasher films in the 70s and 80s. Even more surprising is that this is Wes Craven`s first feature and it`s become a cult film amongst collectors.

So at long last it`s been passed by the BBFC with minimal cuts and now those of you who haven`t seen it can see what all the fuss is about. Not only do you get to see the film, but you also get an alternate cut of the film on disc two and a plethora of film supplements to boot.

Let`s roll on with this notorious exploitative revenge movie...

Video

The DVD is presented with a 1.78:1 16:9 enhanced transfer and for a 30-year old 16mm film it`s not too bad. It certainly won`t be the cleanest looking film you`ve seen and you could pick out flaws in every frame, but it doesn`t take anything away from the film, quite the opposite in fact. The harsh looking video adds something more brutal to the film. Krug and Co, while 16:9 enhanced, isn`t in the same condition as the main feature and has some more print damage with a few skipping frames. It`s still watchable though.

Audio

This gets no less than three audio soundtracks: Dolby Digital 2.0, 5.1 and DTS 5.1. The film has more dialogue than anything else and it`s the 2.0 sound mix, which sounds better than the 5.1 tracks. There`s no real use of the surrounds in the 5.1 or 2.0 mix but the sound is clear. It`s a nice effort on Anchor Bay`s part to provide 5.1 soundtracks, but the reverberating dialogue can sound unnatural.

Features

There`s tonnes of stuff here spread on two discs, so where to begin with all the extras?

Disc one:
• 2 Audio Commentaries - The first features director Wes Craven and producer Sean Cunningham, while the second features a trio of badness with David Hess, Fred Lincoln and Marc Sheffler. The first commentary track is surprisingly good as there`s plenty of back-and-forth banter between Wes and Sean covering a lot of ground in the film. The second track is more of a freeform affair with all manner of things being discussed and like the first commentary it`s interesting to listen to.

• Celluloid Crime of the Century (39:33) - A documentary made by Blue Underground, this covers a wide range of the films aspects quite comprehensively including its origins, censorship and the film`s influence on cinema. You`ll also find out why one of the film`s stars denounces the film. It`s an interesting retrospective.

• Scoring Last House (9:43) - The music was scored by none other than David Alexander Hess (he plays `Krug` in the film) since he was a musician before acting in the film.

• Trailers (4:09) - A series of US trailers.

• TV Spots (0:29) - A nice sensationalist TV spot for a double-bill of Don`t Open The Window and LHOTL.

• Radio Spot - 6 radio spots, and like TV Spots, these are sensationalist radio trailers.

• Cast and Crew - These are bios for 14 members of the cast and crew. This proves to be quite interesting, if you can stand to read static pages.

• Behind the Scenes Gallery - 38 stills with cast and crew.

• Stills/Publicity Gallery - Literally dozens of stills, posters and other film publicity material.

Disc two:
• Krug and Company (1:20:02) - This is a slightly different cut to the main feature presented here with the only difference being some dialogue. To be honest it`s not worth sitting through this film just for an extra few lines.

• Forbidden Gallery - This is where you can see still images of the footage that the BBFC cut. If you step forward through the images it creates a flipbook enabling you to see the cut scenes.

• Out-takes and rushes (17:22) - There`s a 7-page introduction to how these outtakes and rushes came about and even though there`s no sound, it`s still interesting to see.

• Krug conquers England (24:33) - Last House finally gets its first UK cinema screening at Leicester`s Phoenix Arts cinema and this is a film of that event. This film covers the BBFC and censorship as well as memories of the film.

• Tales That`ll Tear Your Heart Out (11:30) - This was a horror anthology made by Roy Frumkes but which was never completed due to lack of financing. As part of the collection, Wes Craven`s contribution is presented here, albeit without any sound. There`s a 6-page background to the film here as well.

This is an incredible amount of supplemental work and is something the collector will really adore.

Conclusion

LHOTL is about the revenge of murdered daughter Mari, by her parents on her killers. When it comes down to it, that`s all it is and as a film, it`s only mildly interesting. The kidnapping, humiliation and murder takes place in the first half, with discovery and bloody revenge in the second. It`s ironic that the girls, Mari and Phyllis, are going out to see the band Bloodlust, a distasteful band by all accounts, and would love nothing more than to `make out` with members of the band. And here they are being brutalised by convicted killers. It`s great to see them get their dues from Mari`s parents in due course, but even by the end of the film you`re never really satisfied or engrossed by the film. Added to the background of this is music from Krug himself, David Hess, but it doesn`t hit the mark and leaves the film falling flat. The film is dated and doesn`t hold appeal for anyone except perhaps for the horror collector.

The BBFC lists this as having the original 31s of cuts (to humiliation of woman forced to urinate, violent stabbing assault on woman and removal of her entrails and woman`s chest carved with a knife) plus additional distributor edits that may have been made to soften the blows of sudden film edits.

Anchor Bay have pulled out a lot of stops to compile a top notch collection of extras here that should just about quench most cult appetites. The documentary and two commentaries are two examples of quality extras and despite not being a fan of the film I did find them interesting.

The Last House on the Left has its moments but is sorely lacking in anything really interesting to say. The hardcore collector will doubtless already have a version of this film, which leaves those that are curious. Rent it to satisfy your interest, but don`t buy it blindly unless you know you`ll get some enjoyment from it.