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Last House on the Left, The (1972)

*** (out of 4)

Craven's notorious shocker is a remake of Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring and deals with two teenage girls going to the city for a concert but being kidnapped by four crazed criminals. The girls and raped, tortured and eventually murdered but the killer's end up spending the night at one of the girl's houses where the tables are turned. I've seen this film countless times in my life and it always disturbed me to the point where I hated the movie with a passion. I always felt the movie was rather poorly made and in the end it was nothing but an exploitation show meant to disturb you. I still feel that way but I've actually doubled my normal star rating because the film actually worked with me this time. My stomach was still being turned and I was disgusted in its vile nature but I reckon that was the whole point. There's still a lot that I don't like about the film including the stupid comedy relief from the two idiot cops. Why Craven decided to throw this slapstick in is beyond me because it really feels out of place especially when it pops up after watching two teens get brutally murdered. Another issue is that the film looks incredibly cheap (it was a low budget) and amateurish but this adds some to its atmosphere and makes the film seem all the more real. The now legendary tagline that "it's only a movie" is something to really keep in mind as the film comes off very realistic as if you're watching a documentary. The performances are all rather mixed but they all suit the film fine and that includes David Hess as the leader of the gang and Marc Sheffler as his heroin addicted son. The dialogue in the film, especially the opening ten minutes, is downright awful but there's still no denying that this is a highly disturbing film that manages to be vile, disgusting and just downright evil.