The Last House on the Left (2009)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Dennis Iliadis

Writers (WGA):

Adam Alleca (screenplay) and
Carl Ellsworth (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

13 March 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

If bad people hurt someone you love, how far would you go to hurt them back?

Plot:

After kidnapping and brutally assaulting two young women, a gang led by a prison escapee unknowingly finds refuge at a vacation home belonging the parents of one of the victims -- a mother and father who devise an increasingly gruesome series of revenge tactics.

Plot Keywords:

Kidnapping | Revenge | Prison Escapee | Burnt Head | Bare Chested Male

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Tony Goldwyn	...	John Collingwood
Monica Potter	...	Emma Collingwood
Garret Dillahunt	...	Krug
Aaron Paul	...	Francis
Spencer Treat Clark	...	Justin
Riki Lindhome	...	Sadie
Martha MacIsaac	...	Paige
Sara Paxton	...	Mari Collingwood
Michael Bowen	...	Morton
Joshua Cox	...	Giles (as Josh Cox)
Usha Khan	...	Maid

MPAA:

Rated R for sadistic brutal violence including a rape and disturbing images, language, nudity and some drug use.

Runtime:

110 min | 114 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44897) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | UK:18 | South Korea:18 | Ireland:18 | Finland:K-18 | Netherlands:16 | France:-16 | Germany:18 (nf) | Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/18 | Mexico:C | Australia:R | Norway:18 | New Zealand:R18

Filming Locations:

Cape Town, South Africa

Company:

Rogue Pictures

Trivia:

Over the course of a year the studio considered at least 100 directors for the film before finally settling on Dennis Iliadis after being impressed by his 2004 film Hardcore (2004).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Krug is getting Justin to feel Mari's breast before the rape, he tears Mari's bra away. Later while Krug is raping Mari, her bra is back, and Krug has to tear it away again.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Morton: [telling joke to Giles] So the next week, he's even hornier. And this time, he's got twenty bucks instead of ten. He goes back to the whorehouse, he slaps down the twenty, and tells the madam he needs to get off, but he ain't going to screw no goddamn chicken this time. She says it still ain't much, but she can help. She tells him to go to the room at the top of the stairs. This time there's just a bunch of guys jerking off, but one of the jerk off guys assures him "oh hey, it's cool, it's cool" and he waves him over to this whole toilet they're all looking through...
Krug: Oh, can we stop please? I really gotta take a piss.
Morton: Fuck you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Southland: Mozambique (#1.2)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Dirge

Best remake in years!

This is my first review on IMDb so be gentle! I was so pleased with the film I joined to let others know my views. I have seen my fair share of remakes and have been very disappointed with the majority of them, I am happy to say I found this to be a very worthy remake, I would go as far to say that it was actually better than the original in a lot of ways! I watched the original as a child and found it pretty disturbing but a very well executed horror, I recently watched it again in anticipation of the 2009 release and wasn't as impressed, I know that the grainy dated footage added something to the film, somehow documentary style and with the budget they had Wes Craven done a very good job, however I think it was let down a bit by the music which was very inappropriate and sounded like it could have been in a comedy this and the fact my girlfriend was giggling at some of the movie didn't help, particularly the two policemen and their antics, they seemed like a comedy duo which detracted from the dark story, maybe this was deliberate and was intended to give us a break from the harsh storyline? However that aside it is a classic film which I was hoping would be done justice.

Enough about the original on to the 2009 remake, the film sticks very true to the original, some people are not happy about the small changes but I think they added to the film, made it more believable, gave us more information about the characters, made us care more about what was going to happen, I wont go in to any details, I don't want to ruin it for anyone but I think the changes made this in to a much more rewarding film for the viewer. I have read other reviews complaining it went too far, that they should have left certain scenes out, are you serious? why did you bother watching it, have you lived under a rock for the past 30 years, did you not know the original storyline? It had to have harrowing scenes which made you feel uncomfortable, the film would not have worked without them! I think this is the best remake I have seen in many years and give it 10 stars, very good acting, excellent directing and a great cast, it had a lot to live up to and it succeeded when so many other films have failed. I highly recommend this film to fans of the original and newcomers to The Last House On The Left.