The Last House on the Left (1972)

To avoid fainting, keep repeating, its only a movie. This is the best description to Wes Cravens 1972 debut, The Last House On The Left. Now available on DVD in its fully uncut glory. What can i say about this movie that hasn't been said already? For a film that caused such uproar upon it release, it was also a film that set the groundwork for future slasher flicks.

As you may have seen in my Cannibal Holocaust review, i spoke of an era known as the video nasties, which took place in the UK in the early 80's. This film made that list as it was refused cinema release in the UK in the 70's, but then the home video boom of the 1980's made it possible to be released in the UK, among others. This lead to the founding of the Obscene Publications Act. The film remained banned for the remainder of the 80's and 90's and only got an uncut release in 2008, and the following year a remake was made.

Mari Collingwood is off to celebrate her 17th birthday with her friend Phyllis Stone by attending a rock concert in the big city. Mari's parents show some concern at the band shes going to see and her friendship with Phyllis, but still allow her to go. Meanwhile, four violent criminals have escaped from prison. While in the city, Mari and Phyllis try to score drugs and happen to meet the criminals and ask them. The criminals then kidnap the two girls and head out to the country, where they run out of gas, ironically, near Mari's house. The horror begins when the criminals proceed to beat, rape, humiliate and eventually, and very violently kill the two young girls. After they clean up, they look for refuge in none other than Mari's parents house, and eventually the parents find out what they did and they enact a very brutal revenge.

The monsters in this movie are not Vampires, Werewolves or Zombies, but the monster within some people, in this case the criminals, and the monster that can be created when these monsters hurt a loved one, in this case the parents. This was the first time anyone dared to tackle this issue (To my knowledge) in a horror movie. The very low budget and grainy production values add to the already dark plot of the film (Some comic relief is provided in the vein of the police officers, who are very funny).

As nasty as The Last House on the Left was, it really spoke of the period of American history in which it was made. The late 60's and early 70's saw alot of darkness in the vein of The death of the flower generation, the vietnam war and the tragedy at Jackson and Kent state. It came out at a time when America was waking up to the real life horror that was in everyone's back yard. That is what makes a good horror movie, when you dwell in the fear of a society. And this movie is a very good example. highly recommended.

9/10

P.S. Look out for a review of the remake in the future.