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blog, David Hess, entertainment, Film, Fred J. Lincoln, Horror, Jeramie Rain, Lucy Grantham, Marc Sheffler, Martin Kove, movies, rants, review, Richard Towers, Sandra Peabody, The Last House of the Left (original), thoughts, vacation, Wes Craven
Written and Directed by Wes Craven
Before Craven was entertaining us with teen horror done in ways that have never been able to be duplicated, he was shocking audiences with what he wasn’t seeing enough of, in his own opinion. This, his debut film of which was based on 1960′s The Virgin Spring was also sprung up from it being the time of the Vietnam War. The footage that was being released of what had been going on being truly terribly and Craven was more than surprised at how the Horror genre wasn’t really portraying that type of “real” terror.
Brief Synopsis: Mari Collingwood (Sandra Peabody) comes from a wealthy background. One day while running off with her friend Phyllis (Lucy Grantham) to go to a concert, they hear on the radio of escape convicts and there accomplishes in the nearby area. All together they were Junior Stillo (Marc Sheffler): Illegitimate son of the leader of the two escapees. Krug Stillo (David Hess): Serving life sentence for triple murder in 1966. Fred “Weasel” Podowski (Fred J. Lincoln): Long record for child molesting, peeping Tom-ism and assault with a deadly weapon. Sadie (Jeramie Rain): unknown, strong and animal-like. The two girls run into Junior when trying to “score some grass” and in turn are kidnapped, raped and tortured beyond belief in a no holds barred sadistic chronicle exploiting their sick perversion. Followed by Mari’s parents chance for payback for what had happened to their young and promising daughter.
1. Revenge: The reason to see these movies, the whole point of seeing what these poor girls go through is to witness the redemption at the end. In whatever sense we can get it. All I know is that it better be sweet. Her father, who was a doctor (and apparently macgyver on the side) rigs the entire house before they get up and notice anything. Except for Weasel who get his “private” bitten off just as soon as he was going to climax. Mrs. Collingwood for the win, I mean…what better punishment for a pedophile? The dream sequence was nice but I rather wish that had been something actually done. The main difference in the original being that their child died when that wasn’t the case in the re-make.
2. A timeless horror that can be seen as “true horror” in any era: The real terror in this story is that these are real people and can exist within any era. The fact that something can be so transcending and full of danger while actually being a possibility; that’s what stays with people through the years. Monster movies are great but it’s not something that can happen to you when walking in the middle of nowhere (for the most part). After the movie was ready for distribution, Craven had to go back and cut well over 20 minutes of the film. Country’s began banning it and one such country had wanted to consider it a snuff film. Obviously most compared to I Spit on Your Grave, both having the premise of killers who do what they want because of their enjoyment out of it. Nothing more or less. They do show a brief moment of despair from the after-effect of everything but these type of people are incapable of actual feeling empathy for their actions. The reason I state being that Craven had spoken of people getting upset and leaving when it showed them washing off the blood from everything that had happened. That the killers shouldn’t have felt remorse since they were the ways who had done the act. Which, I can see what they mean.
3. How young and un-known actors came together to create a horrific relationship with one another: All four actors had never been seen prior and some had gotten their role just by simply knowing one another. Originally they thought Rain would be a problem for the part because it was supposed to be for a 40-year-old or so. Insisting on being able to perform the role, she went ahead and I thought she did well for keeping up with three other male leads. She did still seem a bit young but nothing that interfered too much. Hess did a great job as the hot head of the bunch who took it the furthest after already having done their worst. The one I was most weary of being Weasel, mainly because of how much he got into the role and seemed like the most unpredictable of the bunch. Though Lincoln and Hess gave each other a good run for their money. When Krug convinces his druggy son to shoot himself; the lack of emotion behind his taunting proved that no person was too close or sacred to break down.
4. Seeing both killers and young girls in their environment before the incidents occur: Though the original was quite shorter than the remake, they made time to show both sides in their respected atmosphere. In the beginning as the radio is explaining the escape and each person’s background, they worked the introductions, which worked like mug shot takes nicely into the shots. It’s never necessarily needed from the antagonist’s POV but it does gives the aspect of them being within their own comfort zones.
5. How terribly cheesy the soundtrack was: The entire time I saw the movie the one thing that kept coming to my mind was how incredibly silly it seemed. An FF being that Hess as well wrote and performed all the songs. There were two songs that I think sounded fitting the most throughout but otherwise seemed as though it was some bad retro documentary type footage and could have just the same probably not have had one at all.
I do wonder how much different the film would have been if they kept it as originally intended. Overall the best part was the relationship between the sadists family and their manner of speaking with one another to the victims. When the girls are trying to score in the beginning and Weasel asks them if they were cows and starts mooing, demanding them to follow was somewhat amusing. The entire thing was shot in chronological order and it wasn’t until they had even played the movie for a couple of audiences that they found their title. More than just a classic but a bench mark for the first time doing something daring for the genre and to not be afraid. To try and obtain a portion of something besides just the immediate scare factor but really capturing something inhumane and hard to watch that was as real as possible.
I tried watching this a year or so ago and I was so irritated with the quality of the sound (voices and music) that I quit it about half way through. I also didn’t find the remake too awesome so I have shut these movies down forever : )
The music was certainly unneeded but I thought the remake was def a bit better. It was what Craven said he preferred to make the first as. They also gave them 90,000 to make the movie when Wes said he only needed 40,000 so I chalk up the first to being just a regular low budgeted film. What didn’t you like about the remake?
You know – I don’t really remember… funny – maybe because it wasn’t very memorable? Let me give it another watch and I’ll get back with you : ) Did you ever get a hold of a copy of Sauna?
No problem and I’m doing the remake right now so we can compare =D I never got a copy that had subtitles I could understand though I did watch 30 minutes of it. Liked the way it opened up but it made me frustrated to not really know what was being said at all times haha I will watch it though.
I have yet to watch this, but i do want to so it’s on the list
Did you actually put the title of the film as the post title?! Breaking tradition
=P no with my “old school” horror I put them that way. As well it was difficult to find a quote I actually liked for this film. haha BUT that’s only for the original or my VS ones. I’d almost argue this film would be better to watch without any sound; not sure it would hurt it in anyway. It was just so terribly cheesy!
Oh I see haha
Terribly cheeses suits me fine ;D
I just could not believe that the girls were kidnapped in NYC and the bad guys drive upstate and just happen to wind up near Mari’s cabin – NY is a HUGE state. Also, the bad guys looked like they should have been serving me a pastrami sandwich at a corner deli in Brooklyn – not threatening at all. They had no motives, I didn’t believe their characters. Liked the remake MUCH better, see my latest post, I review the remake.
True but “movie magic” never needs to make too much sense in my opinion. There are lots of things I overlook at the hope of enjoying something in front of me. In the 70′s I could see them being intimidating, we’re just so desensitized now. Killers don’t need motives, they just do what they know I feel. Though I do agree the remake was definitely better.
Not a very good first effort from Craven. The remake was a much better film, though I know many people love this film to death.
I thought it great intentions that thankfully Craven was able to go back to and “fix” the second time around. Thank you for reading =)
Oh man – lots of brutal comments about this movie. I can see why. But I am a genuine fan of this film, and I HATE the remake (I’ll save my comments about the remake for the post where you reviewed the remake).
The first time I saw this movie, I was really annoyed that the killers coincidentally wind up at the house of one of the victims. BUT the killers do remark on how it’s such an unbelievable coincidence. Since the characters make that acknowledgment, I can overlook that annoying aspect of the film. It’s not like the filmmakers were trying to insult my intelligence (as many movies nowadays always try to do).
As for the killers, I thought they were pretty good. Certain killers don’t need to be intimidating, even though these killers were supposed to be. I thought David Hess delivered an intimidating performance. As far as movie killers go, they’re more sadistic than most of the killers I’ve ever seen – and that is what makes these characters so good. The actions of these characters left an impression on me. And I can’t say that for many movies, and I CANNOT say that for the remake of this film.
The movie doesn’t bother saying what the killers’ motives are, but I like to think I know. Being a pervert that is hopelessly addicted to pornography, I will say that there is a lot of porno out there for people that love to see women humiliated, degraded, dominated, and roughed up. While the porno actresses have given their consent, it often LOOKS like they aren’t consenting – and there seems to be a VERY large audience for that kind of porno. The killers in this movie would’ve downloaded that kind of porno non-stop, if they were around today. The killers wanted to have their way with some unwilling women, and the killers had a great time. In my opinion, if they had access to today’s internet porno, those killers probably wouldn’t feel the need to use actual women to satisfy their sadism. All they’d have to do, is watch a porno, masturbate, and feel content – for about a day or so. Although, they seem to enjoy consensual sex as well (probably a little moreso than unconsensual sex). As for actual murder – well, no porno can address that. Some people just have the urge to kill – but I’d have to watch the movie again, before guessing on whether of not these killers fall in that category. It seemed to me, the women were murdered just to keep them from going to the cops. It was murders of necessity.
And David Hess was better in The House on the Edge of the Park – that movie is AWESOME. Ruggero Deodato + David Hess = a wonderful pairing.
And Jeramie Rain – she was HOT. In fact, she was better looking than the two murder victims. Seriously – I’m not kidding.
Haha! Yup, your MacGyver joke was quite amusing. Someone had to make a MacGyver joke, and I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve heard one about this film! It’s funny that the hardcore fans (and haters) of this movie take the film so seriously. It’s too bad the father’s traps didn’t backfire, and end up killing him, instead of the killers. There’s a movie called Chaos, which is pretty much a remake of this film. Chaos was a lame movie with an AMAZING ending – because the parents, and the cops all end up dead at the end. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAH! Lovely.
Funny thing about monster movies – since I live in a rural setting, I rarely think about being attacked/killed by humans or animals. I’m always thinking about getting jumped by a monster. Yup, I’m still a kid at heart.
Overall, you did a nice analysis of the film. I already reviewed this film, but you’ve brought up some points that got me thinking about stuff I should add to my review the next time I watch the movie.
Somehow I knew you would like this movie haha, and no I didn’t think the killers were certainly “scary” enough.
I can see that being the reason behind the madness is you will; and well, snuff, but I’d rather not address that at the moment. Makes me always think of 8MM, you ever seen that? I looked up Chaos, saw that it had the late Sage Stallone in it, was he any good?
Ah… you know me too well!
Yup, I wrote a review of 8MM about a year ago, but I haven’t posted it on my blog yet. Peter Stormare was AWESOME, and the character called “Machine” was also really cool. As for Nicolas Cage, he annoyed the hell out of me.
From what I remember, Sage Stallone didn’t get much screentime, or do much of anything interesting in Chaos. As far as I know, that was the only movie I’ve ever seen him in. In Chaos, you can’t tell if he’s a good actor, or a bad actor.