That has got to hurt

The Last House on the Left

So this weekend there was nothing in theatres that I really wanted to see and if I did want to see it I had seen it already. I am not a big believer in seeing a film more than once in the theatre unless there is a good reason. The movie is so great that there was a chance I missed something or the friend says they will pay for me to see it again. But I decided that I still wanted to go out and see something and the one movie that looked even minutely interesting was The Last House on the Left.

I have to say I don’t enjoy horror movies. I think the last one I saw in theatres was Silent Hill, which wasn’t very good but had some seriously creepy images in it. Like that dude that ripped off the girl’s skin and threw it at people. That was just wrong. Anyways, this movie isn’t being billed as a horror but as a suspense thriller which doesn’t seem right. It is a remake of a Wes Craven classic that was originally released in 1972. They do change up the story a little but the overall premise is the same, 2 girls tortured by crazy convicts and the parents retaliate. I never saw the original but I think the remake is kinda good.

The convicts played by Garret Dillahunt, Riki Lindhome, and Aaron Paul do an awesome job of being vicious and cruel. You really do get the I’ve-been-crazy-for-a-while-and-I-like-cutting-people vibe from them. And they bring along an unwilling participant Spencer Treat Clark, who plays a son who knows what they’re doing is wrong but doesn’t know how to stop them. The family they torture was played by Sara Paxton, Monica Potter, and Tony Goldwyn. They make a great loving family that you don’t want to mess with.

There are some scenes that I think didn’t need to be so long. There is a rape that they show from beginning to end that really didn’t need to be that long. I really could have done without it. I know it is important to show cruelty of these psychopaths but we get it after a minute the whole 5 minute sequence was just a bit much. And there is a last scene right before the credits that was just gross, that maybe wasn’t necessary.

Overall, I thought The Last House On The Left was an effective horror. There are scenes that are unsettling, gory, and violent but there is a lot of story so most of it doesn’t seem like it was unnecessary. If you like that sort of thing check it out, if not don’t.

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