The Last House on the Left

1972 "Mari, Seventeen, is Dying. Even For Her the Worst is Yet to Come!"
5.9| 1h24m| R| en| More Info
Released: 30 August 1972 Released
Producted By: Lobster Enterprises
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

On the eve of her 17th birthday, Mari and friend Phyllis set off from her family home to attend a rock concert in the city. Attempting to score some drugs on the way, the pair run afoul of a group of vicious crooks, headed up by the sadistic Krug.

Genre

Horror, Thriller

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Director

Wes Craven

Production Companies

Lobster Enterprises

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The Last House on the Left Audience Reviews

Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.
Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Tweekums To celebrate her seventeenth birthday Mari Collingwood plans to go to a concert in the city with her friend Phyllis Stone. On the way the radio reports that dangerous criminal, Krug Stillo, has escaped from jail along with his drug addict son, Junior; they are helped by psychotic Sadie and Fred "Weasel" Podowski. Before heading to the concert Mari and Phyllis decide to buy some cannabis; unfortunately the person they ask is Junior. Once they are in the flat with the criminals things soon get very bad. The next morning the two girls are drugged and bundled into the boot the thugs' car. They drive out into the country where, following a breakdown things get much worse. While this is going on Mari's parents are concerned that she is very late returning home so contact the police.This film may be over forty five years old but it still has the power to shock and disturb thanks to the fact that it feels quite real for the most part. The antagonists the sort of criminals we hear about on the news not supernatural fiends. The use of pleasant music and some ridiculously comic moments, usually involving two police officers, just serves to make the nasty bits seem even more disturbing. Once the girls are in the clutches of the criminals there is a constant sense of threat; sometimes the violence is physical and sometimes sexual. The film does rely on one very unlikely coincidence involving just where the criminals' car breaks down but that is needed for dramatic reasons. The final act, which relied on that coincidence, does go over the top somewhat but even this doesn't feel too out of place. The cast does an impressive job making their characters believable. Overall I'd say this is a must see for fans of classic horror films but it certainly won't be for everybody.
pgsmollen Lots of nonsense is said about this film. Yes its filmed in 'I was there watching style' but its really not very graphic (not that I have any real desire for it to be given its subject matter). Its still 'nasty' but more in its tone and bad acting than anything else. I'd just loved to have heard how Wes pitched this film to anyone prepared to invest in the same!
Fella_shibby I saw this first on a VHS in the early 90s. Revisited recently on a DVD. I own the dvds of the original n the remake. Its directed and written by Wes Craven, produced by Sean S. Cunningham. Two big names in horror fraternity. This is a film in which we get to watch a trio of men and a woman abuse two young girls for fun which is shocking and awful. Its about unendurable pain and suffering meted out to two innocent girls by pitiless human monsters. A wave of nausea fell over me as I watched the young girls being brutally raped and savagely murdered. It's one of the most realistic depictions of true sadism and has proved to be one of the most shocking scenes in cinematic history. The film is a harrowing ordeal that isn't about suspense, thrill or adventure. Its about agony n revenge. Revenge in a non stylized manner. I prefer the revenge killings from the remake.
Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki "The events you are about to witness are true. Names and locations have been changed to protect those individuals still living"Ha! Already the filmmakers have over done the comic elements.With the opening credits seemingly censoring the nudity in the opening scene, we're off to a really odd start, and it gets even weirder, in this early slasher about a mother and father taking brutal revenge on the group of thugs who killed their 17 years old daughter and her friend. Brutally horrifying, almost impossible to watch scenes of pedophilic, thieving killers Krug and Co. (one of this film's alternative titles) taunting, torturing the two girls, before killing them, are juxtaposed with the most inane, idiotic hillbilly banjo music, and super lame country hick humour. Mary's slow, hypnotic walk into the lake, resigned to her fate, as Krug takes aim, fires, the fatal shot piercing the silence and ringing in the air, is a genuinely terrifying moment, exactly what every horror film wants to achieve - immediately followed by a hillbilly jamboree, as the parents (unaware of the horrors committed) cheerfully plan their daughter's birthday party.Even after the crimes have been discovered, and the parents are exacting their revenge, the hillbilly banjo music and local yokel cops seem to commandeer every other scene. Between that, and the theme song, I wonder if this was originally two separate films, edited together by someone who hadn't watched either cut?Even the theme song itself (written by Krug himself, David Hess) seems to be begun by one writer with one tone in mind, but completed by someone else who hadn't listened to its beginning: "And the road leads to nowhere" All right, that is appropriately dismal and bleak, but the next lyric: "And the castle stays the same" What? What castle? "And the father tells the mother, wait for the rain" So, in the midst of all this horror, there is still room for the weather report.I can't honestly rate this from 1 to 10, nor can I recommend it, but if you have a strong stomach for things like this, maybe give it a go, just be prepared for some unbearably tense moments, and jarring changes in tone.I watched an old Vestron VHS tape of this, getting another early start on my 31 days of Halloween, and the tape includes a post-credits text: "Coming soon to a theatre near you. From the producers of Last House On The Left, and the director of Friday the 13th Part V, ... The Last House On The Left, Part II. You won't believe your eyes!" Apparently, due to an injury Friday the 13th part V's director suffered, the sequel never happened.