The Last House on the Left

The Last House on the Left
File:Ds27.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Wes Craven
Written by	Wes Craven
Produced by	Sean S. Cunningham
Starring	Sandra Cassel Lucy Grantham David Hess Fred J. Lincoln Jeramie Rain Marc Sheffler Gaylord St. James Cynthia Carr Ada Washington
Cinematography	Victor Hurwitz
Edited by	Wes Craven
Music by	David Alexander Hess
Distributed by	Hallmark Releasing Corp.
Release dates	August 30, 1972
Running time	91 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$87,000 (estimated)

The Last House on the Left is a 1972 horror film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Sean S. Cunningham.

Plot

Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassel) plans to celebrate her 17th birthday by attending a concert with her friend, Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham). Her parents express concern both at the band, Bloodlust (Mari's father says "Aren't they the band who dismember live chickens on stage?", an obvious reference to the onstage antics of Alice Cooper) and Phyllis, who is implied to be of a lower social class. They let her go, however, and give her a gift before she leaves—a peace symbol necklace.

Travelling to the city, Mari and Phyllis hear a radio report of a recent prison break, involving Krug Stillo (David Hess), his son Junior Stillo, his girlfriend Sadie (Jeramie Rain) and his partner in crime Fred "Weasel" Podowski (Fred J. Lincoln). Upon arrival in the city, Mari and Phyllis stroll the streets, seeking someone who might sell marijuana. Eventually, they run into Junior, instructed by Sadie to bring home some girls if he wants to get high, as Krug keeps Junior's heroin to control him. Junior tells Mari and Phyllis he has an "extra ounce of good stuff," he leads them back to an apartment, where they are immediately entrapped by the group of psychopaths. Phyllis, who resists, is punched in the stomach and implied to be raped, as Mari watches in horror. Mari's parents, meanwhile, prepare a surprise party for her.

The next morning, the girls are thrown in a car trunk and driven into the countryside as the gang intends to leave the state. Their car breaks down, however, and, unable to get their car fixed "a million miles from nowhere," they decide to take the girls into the woods for "a little fun." Removed from the trunk, Phyllis is beaten after biting Krug's hand and a bound and gagged Mari realizes that they are coincidentally right near her own home. As she is helplessly dragged to the woods, her parents sit inside with two bumbling local police officers who assure them that Mari is probably fine. Ironically, the officers disregard the gang's broken-down car when driving back to the police station.

In the woods, the girls are untied and subjected to several tortures. Phyllis is forced to urinate in her underwear and straight after that both girls are forced to strip naked and have lesbian sex. At the police station, the Sheriff and Deputy realize their mistake in disregarding the car near the Collingwood's home and quickly set out. Their car breaks down en route, however, and, the rest of the film contains several comic scenes of them trying to hitch a ride (such as being mocked by a group of hippies, and falling off of the roof of a chicken truck).

Out in the woods, After Phyllis and Mari are forced to have sex, Krug pulls Phyllis away and Sadie then molests a crying Mari by giving her oral sex. Phyllis tells a terrified Mari she will make a break for it so she can escape while they are chasing her. Phyllis runs and is followed by Sadie and Weasel, while Junior stays behind and guards Mari. Mari tells Junior that he doesn't need to listen to his father and that her own father, who is a doctor, can give him drugs. In an attempt to convince him that she is his friend, she gives him her peace symbol necklace. Phyllis is ambushed by Weasel and Sadie but Weasel falls while chasing her, Sadie catches up with Phyllis and tackles Phyllis to the ground, however Phyllis beats Sadie with a rock calling her a "stupid dyke" until Weasel comes. Phyllis continues running and makes it to a cemetery but is cornered; she is stabbed in the back by Weasel and crawls away. The gang catch up with her, however, and - in one of the most controversial scenes in the film - The Killers repeatedly stab Phyllis, cut her open and Sadie reels out Phyllis' intestines for a long period of time and just plays with them. Mari eventually convinces Junior to let her go. However, as they get up to leave, they are also stopped by Krug who, after showing her Phyllis' severed hand, carves his name into her chest with a knife and rapes her. After the rape, in a disturbing scene, the killers seem to feel sickened by their actions and show signs of guilt and remorse. Mari gets up, is sick, and as she is in shock she slowly walks into the lake were the killers follow her. Krug shoots Mari in the head and she drifts away. The Killers then walk away and get washed and change. At the Collingwood's home, Mari's father (John) is told by his wife that they have guests who, in a twist of fate, turn out to be the gang, looking more well dressed than before, in an attempt to establish themselves as being in sales. The Collingwood's agree to let them stay overnight. However, a guilty Junior, who suffers nightmares about Mari and is suffering from heroin withdrawal, ends up vomiting in the bathroom, where Mari's mother sees the necklace around his neck. She and John rush out into the woods and find Mari's body by the lake. They realize that their house guests killed their daughter and set about exacting their revenge, with Mari's father setting a variety of traps and her mother luring Weasel outside, where he convinces her to tie him up as a sex game. Inside, Mari's father goes into his daughter's bedroom, where the remaining two killers stay. Despite carrying a shotgun, he does not manage to kill Krug, who escapes out into the living room, where he overpowers the doctor and is confronted by Junior, brandishing the gun. Junior tells Krug that he will kill him, but Krug manages to manipulate his son into putting the gun into his own mouth and killing himself. His son dead, Krug turns to find Mari's father missing and hears a whirring coming from the basement. Going to investigate, he finds Doctor Collingwood coming at him with a chainsaw.

Outside, Mari's mother, in the middle of performing fellatio on Weasel, bites off his penis. Weasel collapses in agony as she spits it in the lake. Mari's father, meanwhile, continues approaching Krug with the chainsaw. Krug tries to fend off the doctor but is eventually killed, despite the arrival of the Sheriff, who shouts for Doctor Collingwood not to go through with it. Sadie runs outside but falls over in a panic and drops her knife. Estelle (Mari's mom) comes and starts a catfight with Sadie, and after a struggle, Sadie punches Estelle into a daze and runs off but falls into a pool. Estelle then slits Sadie's throat with her own knife. The film concludes with the two blood spattered Collingwood's standing in the blood spattered living room, contemplating what they have done.

Cast

• Sandra Cassel as Mari Collingwood
• Lucy Grantham as Phyllis Stone
• David Hess as Krug Stillo
• Fred J. Lincoln as Fred "Weasel" Podowski
• Jeramie Rain as Sadie
• Marc Sheffler as Junior Stillo
• Richard Towers as Dr. John Collingwood
• Cynthia Carr as Estelle Collingwood
• Marshall Anker as Sheriff
• Martin Kove as Deputy
• Ada Washington as Ada
• Ray Edwards as Postman

History

The film started life under the working title Night Of Vengeance and the script contained much more extreme sexual violence than what actually reached the film. It was also known as Sex Crime Of The Century and Krug & Co. (some prints still exist with this as its title) before settling on the title, Last House On The Left.

The story of The Last House on the Left closely follows that of Ingmar Bergman's classic film The Virgin Spring (1960), an Oscar winner for best foreign language film.

The Craven film was controversial for its graphic violence, and for the manner in which the villains imposed their psychopathic and sadistic will upon the victims. Craven was highly influenced by news Vietnam War footage and wanted to convey that sense of violence he saw in that footage.

The film split opinion with critics, unsure whether the film is a bold artistic statement or exploitative trash, or some combination of the two. Audiences, however, flocked to see the film and, along with films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it is credited with bringing a new sense of realistic violence to the modern horror film genre.

Wes Craven has since directed many popular horror films including The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream. Producer Sean S. Cunningham, meanwhile, went on to initiate one of the biggest horror film franchises in the 1980s with Friday the 13th.

Editing

In the 2002 television special Masters of Horror (sometimes called Boogeymen II: Masters of Horror and not to be confused with the Showtime series Masters of Horror), Wes Craven admits that, due to the film being rejected multiple times by the ratings board, it had been extremely edited down. At a later point in time, they re-inserted much of the removed footage. Producer Sean Cunningham then borrowed a fellow filmmaker's print featuring R rating tag and spliced it in, allowing the film to be released uncut at least for a time in the United States.

The film was originally shot with Mari's parents finding her still alive, identifying her attackers before she dies. Editing and dialogue changes were made to depict Mari as dead when her parents find her. However, in the film when her parents find her, she can be seen moving and breathing, and her parents mouths don't match the dubbed "She's already dead" dialogue.

Advertising campaign

One of the more memorable aspects of the film is the advertising campaign. The film underwent many name changes, including Sex Crime Of The Century (from the characters' dialogue in the car ride scene), Krug and Company (a version included on the DVD release) and The Men's Room (simply because one poster showed a men's bathroom). None of these names were particularly successful. Someone then came up with the-rather irrelevant-title The Last House On The Left, along with the infamous 'To avoid fainting, keep repeating-it's only a movie...' advertising campaign. [In actuality, it had been used twice before: first in gore-meister H.G. Lewis's 1964 splatter film "Color Me Blood Red," and then in William Castle's "Straight-Jacket" the following year.] Despite the irrelevance of it, the film under the Last House... title proved to be a massive hit. Stories as to where the advertising campaign originated vary somewhat. Sean Cunningham claims that the person giving the idea for it was watching a cut of the film with his wife, who continually covered her eyes, prompting him to tell her that it was 'Only a movie...'. Other origins have been suggested, however. The tagline was so successful that many other exploitation films later used it, sometimes with own spin. The title was sometimes imitated, as in the case of Last House On Dead End Street.

Music

The film's soundtrack was written-and partially sung-by David Hess, who also played the main antagonist Krug. It is particularly notable for being heavily contrasted with the events on screen. For example, as the gang drives the two girls out into the countryside, the upbeat, almost comical, tune Baddies Theme plays and, after the rape scene, a soothing ballad plays. This counterpointing was also used elsewhere in the film, with the slapstick antics of the two police officers occurring in between scenes of torture.

Although the soundtrack was released commercially around the same time as the film, it did not sell very well, although it has recently become available via David Hess' website.

Controversy

The film had problems with censorship in many countries, and was particularly controversial in the United Kingdom. The film was refused a certificate for cinema release by the BBFC in 1974 due to scenes of sadism and violence. During the early 1980s home video boom, the film was released uncut (save for an incidental, gore-free scene with the comedy cops, and the end credit roll) as a video that did not fall under their remit at the time. This changed when the "video nasty" scare which started in 1982 led to the Video Recordings Act 1984. This in turn banned the film as one of the infamous Department of Public Prosecutions list of "video nasties".

The film remained banned throughout the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s. However it had built a cult reputation in the UK, plus critics such as Mark Kermode began to laud the film as an important piece of work. In 2000, the film was again presented to the BBFC for certification and it was again refused, though it was granted a license for a one-off showing in Leicester in June 2000, after which the BBFC again declared that the film would not receive any form of certification.

In June 2002 the BBFC won against an appeal made to the Video Appeals Committee by video distributor Blue Underground Limited. The BBFC had required 16 seconds of cuts to scenes of sexual violence before the video could be given an ‘18’ certificate. Blue Underground Limited refused to make the cuts, and the BBFC therefore rejected the video. The distributor then appealed to the VAC, who upheld the BBFC's decision. During the appeal, film critic Mark Kermode was called in as a horror expert to make a case for the film's historical importance. However, after his report, the committee not only upheld the cuts but doubled them.

The film was eventually given an 18 certificate with 31 seconds of cuts on the 17th July 2002 and was released in the UK on DVD in May 2003. The cut scenes were viewable as a slideshow extra on the disc, and there was a weblink to a website where the cut scenes could be viewed.

The BBFC classified the film uncut for video release on the 17th March 2008.

Associated works

Mario Bava's A Bay of Blood was re-released as The Last House on the Left, Part II in an attempt to cash in on the success of The Last House on the Left, despite the fact that Bava's film was made before Craven's film. In 2005, producer/writer/director David DeFalco directed the film Chaos, which directly borrows poster art from The Last House on the Left and featured the famous "it's only a movie" tagline, while it contained a similar plot. Chaos received wildly varying positive and negative reviews and was not a commercial success theatrically, though picked up a substantial DVD cult following. Hitch-Hike and The House on the Edge of the Park is similar to Last House on the Left, with David Hess playing a character very similar to Krug. David Hess considers The Last House on the Left, Hitch-Hike, and The House on the Edge of the Park to be a trilogy.

Remake

In August 2006, Rogue Pictures finalized a deal to remake The Last House on the Left with original writer and director Wes Craven as a producer. The company intended to preserve the storyline of the original film. Craven described his involvement with the remake: "I'm far enough removed from these films that the remakes are a little like having grandchildren. The story, about the painful side effects of revenge, is an evergreen. The headlines are full of people and nations taking revenge and getting caught up in endless cycles of violence." Craven formed Midnight Pictures, a shingle of Rogue Pictures, to remake The Last House on the Left as its first project. Production was slated for early 2007. Screenwriter Adam Alleca was hired to write the script for the remake. In May 2007, Rogue Pictures entered negotiations with director Dennis Iliadis to direct the film.

External links

• The Last House on the Left at IMDb

Reviews

• Internal Bleeding