The Last House on the Left (2009)
September 28th 2009 07:28
The Hollywood remake, from the same producers who gave us the re-boots of The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and Friday the 13th (2009) is surprisingly well-made. It has excellent production values, a solid atmosphere and good casting and acting. The tone is consistent, the pivotal rape and murder scene is suitably disturbing, and the scenes of violent retribution are well executed. Overall I was impressed, but I don’t think the movie is very memorable. It doesn’t have that cult zing factor, even with charismatic Garrett Dillahunt playing notorious thug Krug. Plus, there are nagging moments of silliness that so many horror movies are prone.
Garrett Dillahunt as Krug
Tony Goldwyn as John and Monica Potter as Emma
Sara Paxton as Mari
Martha MacIsaac as Paige
Aaron Paul as Francis, Krug, Spencer Treat Clark as Justin and Riki Lindhome as Sadie
The wine Emma poured Francis is gonna give him a real headache
Craven’s movie is genuinely more upsetting and reprehensible, I’ll give it that. But Illiadis’s remake is a more “entertaining” horror movie (if I can be so bold and provocative). Still, neither movie comes close to the nightmarish power of I'll Never Die Alone (2008). Rape revenge movies are a difficult sub-genre to recommend, and they’ll never make decent date flicks. The morals are float in a most dubious grey area. The Collingwood parents make some curious decisions.
I find it curious as to what criteria decides whether a movie will get a theatrical or a straight-to-DVD release. Why should this movie end up on surfacing on the DVD shelf down under, yet the remakes of Friday the 13th and The Hills Have Eyes get cinema releases? Why does so much crap get viewed on the big screen, and numerous gems get relegated to the small screen? I’m gonna check out the remake of (The House on) Sorority Row (2009)at the movies (is that because Bruce’s daughter Rumor Willis is one of the leads??), yet I’ll have to rent the Oscar-nominated Austrian revenge drama Revanche (2008) on DVD. Go figure.
Here's the trailer:
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Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
It has to be an improvement on the original. To be honest, I despise Craven's early films, they're so utterly shoddy and pretty much unwatchable for the most part.
The talk of another Scream trilogy is laughable. How hard up must those actors be?
Comment by Natalina
My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog
I'm going to give it a whirl in short order.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Cinema Rat
Rat Chat
I reviewed this film myself and hated it. The rape seen was overly long and the acting was woody and the plot predictable. I wouldn't recommend it and certainly not to women.
-CR.
http://www.cinemarat.com
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I find it curious how rape-revenge movies still hit raw nerves with so many people. It doesn't matter if a woman is tortured ad nauseum in a movie like Hostel: Part II or one of the Saw movies, but sexually assault her and it's immediately taboo.
The sub-genre has its place as long as it's directed effectively and it has context in the movie's bigger picture. Movies like Ms.45 (aka Angel of Vengeance), Irreversible and I'll Never Die Alone are all very intense and disturbing movies, but all are directed with cinematic verve and have powerful contextual impact.
Comment by Cinema Rat
Rat Chat
However its desired impact was achieved right - we're talking about it !
- CR
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
So I gather you had never heard of Wes Craven's 1972 original then? A lot of its notoriety is because it centres around the rape, mutilation and murder of two teenage girls. I think Irreversible, as brilliant as it is, is one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen. The tone and atmosphere, the mise-en-scene, the way the movie is constructed. The graphic murder by fire extinguisher is more horrific than most things I've witnessed in my many years of horror movie viewing, and the extended rape sequence is a nightmare unto itself, yet powerfully directed; rather than the camera taking a subjective stance as is most often the case, it takes an objective stance from a distance and remains that way for the duration, so the viewer is forced to feel more like a witness rather than a participant.
The rape scene in LHOTL is necessary as it is about pushing the envelope of utter corruption of evil over good. You don't expect it, which is why it is shocking. The girls are smart, but naive, playful, but a little mischievous, and we see their world completely destroyed, but the ruining extends to Mari's parents, and when they learn that she was raped as well as beaten then it sends them over the edge. The movie then blurs the line between good and evil as the parents become judge, jury and executioners. Morality, as is the case in real life, is a very grey and often abused area of the conscience.