The Last House on the Left (1972)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Wes Craven

Writer:

Wes Craven (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

30 August 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

To avoid fainting, keep repeating "It's only a movie...It's only a movie..."

Plot:

A pair of teenage girls are headed to a rock concert for one's birthday. While trying to score marijuana in the city, the girls are kidnapped by a gang of psychotic convicts.

Plot Keywords:

Gang | Refuge | Birthday | Teenager | Rock Concert

Cast

Sandra Peabody	...	Mari Collingwood (as Sandra Cassel)
Lucy Grantham	...	Phyllis Stone
David Hess	...	Krug Stillo (as David A. Hess)
Fred J. Lincoln	...	Fred 'Weasel' Podowski (as Fred Lincoln)
Jeramie Rain	...	Sadie
Marc Sheffler	...	Junior Stillo
Richard Towers	...	Dr. John Collingwood (as Gaylord St. James)
Cynthia Carr	...	Estelle Collingwood
Ada Washington	...	Ada, chicken coop truck driver
Marshall Anker	...	Sheriff
Martin Kove	...	Deputy
Ray Edwards	...	Postman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jonathan Craven	...	Boy With Balloon (uncredited)
Anthony J. Forcelli	...	Ice Cream Store Clerk (uncredited)
Steve Miner	...	Hippie taunting deputy (uncredited)

Directed by
Wes Craven

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Wes Craven		writer
Ulla Isaksson		earlier screenplay (uncredited)

Produced by
Sean S. Cunningham	....	producer
Katherine D'Amato	....	associate producer
Steve Dwork	....	assistant producer
Steve Miner	....	assistant producer

Original Music by
David Hess		(as David Alexander Hess)

Cinematography by
Victor Hurwitz

Film Editing by
Wes Craven

Costume Design by
Susan E. Cunningham

Makeup Department
Anne Paul	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Larry Beinhard	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yvonne Hannemann	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Jim Hubbard	....	sound
Gary Leibman	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Troy Roberts	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Dick Donovan	....	gaffer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Anne Paul	....	wardrober

Editorial Department
Steve Miner	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Steve Miner	....	production assistant
Steve Miner	....	title designer

Production Companies

• Lobster Enterprises
• Sean S. Cunningham Films
• The Night Co.

Distributors

• Hallmark Releasing Corp. (1972) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cinema International Corporation (CIC) (1973) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Vestron Video (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• Astro Distribution (1999) (Germany) (VHS)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2001) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (VHS) (widescreen)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Future Film (2005) (Finland) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)

Also Known As:

Grim Company (USA) (16mm release title)
Krug & Company (USA) (working title)
Krug and Company (Australia) (video title)
Last House on the Left (USA) (alternative title)
Night of Vengeance (USA) (working title)
Sex Crime of the Century (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

84 min | Germany:64 min (heavily cut) | USA:91 min (original cut) | USA:82 min (R-rated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (DVD rating) (2005) (self applied) | UK:18 (re-rating: 2002) (cut) | UK:(Banned) (1984-2002) | Australia:R (re-rating: 2004) | UK:R (original rating: 1974) | New Zealand:R18 (re-rating: 2004) | Australia:Refused Classification (original rating: 1987) | USA:Unrated (uncut) | Germany:18 | Sweden:15 (uncut) | West Germany:18 (cut) | UK:18 (re-rating: 2008) (uncut) | Argentina:18 (re-rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Singapore:(Banned) | Canada:R | France:-16 | Iceland:(Banned) | Ireland:18 (cut UK version) | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:(Banned) (original rating) | Norway:(Banned) | USA:R (heavily cut) | West Germany:(Banned) | Italy:VM18 | Finland:K-18 | Germany:16 (heavily cut)

Filming Locations:

21 Street and 2nd Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Lobster Enterprises

Trivia:

When distribution companies Hallmark and Atlas International released the movie in Germany, they attempted to pass it off as an actual "snuff" film (i.e., a real murder staged for the camera).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The Collingwoods' mouths don't move when they speak after finding Mari's body (again caused by editing when changes were made to the ending).

Quotes:

[first lines]
Postman: [to dog] Hello, Cassie! Hiya, girl! Hello there! Now, let's see.
[looks through mail]
Postman: Ah, it looks like Mari's getting cards from half the civilized world. Mari Collingwood. Mari Collingwood. Mari Collingwood. You'd think she's the only kid to reach the age of 17. Of course she is probably the prettiest piece I've ever seen.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in DeadHouse (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Now You're All Alone

A bit over-hyped, but fairly good and certainly important historically

While I think that people tend to get a bit hyperbolic when they talk about The Last House on the Left, I do think it's a fairly good film, especially given what the filmmakers were trying to do and considering their lack of experience, the era and the budget. Also, despite a filmic precursor, it just may be the earliest example of the horror subgenre of "brutal, realist tragedy" (that's more a description than a name, but I haven't spent much time trying to come up with a catchy moniker). However, it has flaws that would be difficult to overlook in a "distanced" (rather than "objective" or "unbiased", neither of which I think are possible) assessment of the film.

The story, although claimed as true, is an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's Jungfrukällan (aka The Virgin Spring, 1960). Roughly, it is the story of Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassel). We see Mari at home with her almost-hip parents. Mari is about to head out to a "Bloodlust" concert in New York City with her new friend Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham). Mom and dad are harassing her about her clothing, which is thin enough to show off a bit of flesh, but they're not so un-hip as to make her change. Meanwhile, we learn from a radio that four convicts--"murderers, dope-pushers and rapists"--have just escaped from prison. At the same time, director Wes Craven slowly reveals the quartet--Krug Stillo (David A. Hess), Junior Stillo (Marc Sheffler), Fred "Weasel" Podowski (Fred J. Lincoln) and Sadie (Jeramie Rain). They're holed up in a New York City apartment. Sadie seems to be group property, and that causes some tension. It is suggested that they look for a couple more women. Mari and Phyllis end up at the wrong place at the wrong time. They're kidnapped, and mayhem ensues. But there's a twist that arrives when the convict's car breaks down in an ironic location.

"Frightening", "disturbing", "sick" and various other terms are frequently employed when describing Last House on the Left. Since I find no films scary, I can't vouch for the first term, but the other two would perhaps apply proportionate to how many horror films you regularly watch, and just what kinds of horror films. If you're not used to the genre in its grittier and gorier post-1960s instantiations, you'd likely find The Last House on the Left shocking. If you've seen a large number of films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Cannibal Holocaust (1980), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) and so on, don't pay too much attention to the hype. You're not likely to be very disturbed by anything you see here.

That doesn't mean that you'll not enjoy this film. After all, it has been a major influence on the films mentioned above--there is even an important chainsaw scene here. That's especially remarkable when we consider that it was only Craven and Producer Sean S. Cunningham's second film. They had been approached by a consortium of exhibitors who said that they wanted "something as appalling and exploitable as Night of the Living Dead (1968)".

Maybe largely by accident, Craven and Cunningham (along with others, such as assistant producer Steve Miner, who later became much bigger "names" in horror--between these three, we have the helmers of a number of films in the three major 1980s/1990s franchises--Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street) happened upon an unusual cinema vérité style that made the horrific situations depicted seem much more immediate and real. Combined with occasionally graphic and always intense situations of violence and control, the final effect is akin to watching a home video/snuff film. In fact, it was promoted as such in some areas, and the effect was disturbing enough in its time that the film initially received an X rating and was banned for many years in some locales.

But again, focusing on that amounts to hype now, and shouldn't be taken too seriously, lest it lead to inflated expectations. Just as surprising on a first viewing is that The Last House on the Left has an intermittent goofy sense of humor and a "groovy" attitude that is firmly mired in the early 1970s. The two policemen are really comic relief characters (and very funny at that), but there is also a lot of humor surrounding the criminal quartet--this almost becomes a "black comedy" at times. These sensibilities even extend to the music, which has a frequent hillbilly edge and lyrics that supply ex-positional material. Surprisingly, Hess, who plays Krug, wrote the music.

Despite the simplicity of the story and the fact that the 2002 MGM DVD release is the "most complete cut ever" according to Craven, there are problems with the story, whether due to the script or the editing. Too many segues between major plot points are "jumpy". The chase(s) through the woods seems a bit random. It's not very well explained how the convicts end up at a home looking as they do. Two characters find another who was missing, and it seems more like a dream sequence because of its arbitrariness, and so on.

But overall, the story is effective enough. Although many subtexts can and have been read into the film, the most interesting theme to me was that it's largely a "tragedy of happenstance". Craven seems to be expressing a strong belief in chance and coincidence and focusing on the dark side of it. Under that reading, we can maybe excuse some of the narrative jumps more easily.

Although there are a number of similar films that I think are better than The Last House on the Left, including Ruggero Deodato's House at the Edge of the Park (aka La Casa sperduta nel parco, 1980)--also starring Hess in a similar role, curiously enough, this is a must-see for serious horror fans because of its historical importance.