The latest Hollywood horror flick is a remake of the cult classic, The Last House on the Left, but it’s far less brutal and graphic than the original. This isn’t a bad thing; I’ve never been a fan of the “Show the most f***ed up, gory things to scare the audience” horror genre: too much “shock,” but not enough scare.
For those who haven’t seen the original, the plot follows a family on vacation at their lake house. When they arrive, teenage daughter Mari (Paxton) asks to go see an old friend, Paige, in town. They meet Justin (the son of the recently escaped Krug). He invites them over to his motel room to smoke some “Grade-A bud.” They enjoy a nice shindig . . . that is until Justin’s dad, Krug (Dillahunt), his brother, Francis, and Krug’s girlfriend, Saddie, show up angry both that Justin has brought outsiders to the room and the fact that their faces are now in the papers (from the Krug escape and murder of the two police officers).
It soon dawns on both the criminals and the girls that the only way out of this situation is to kill Mari and Paige.
Paige tries for an unsuccessful escape attempt and the group forces the girls into Mari’s SUV. After another failed escape attempt, the SUV careens into the woods. Infuriated, the group begins to abuse the girls, physically and sexually. Now this is supposed to be the paramount scene in the film, but it hardly lives up to the original, in both length and brutality. Like I said, brutality for its own sake is a cheap way to make a “horror” movie, but the way this plot device is used in the movie, it’s really not that “disturbing” (at least compared to the rape scene of The Hills Have Eyes remake). Anyhow, Krug and Co. ironically make their way to Mari’s house. Her parents let them stay the night because of the fierce storm. Mari, however, isn’t dead and manages to swim home. Her parents eventually figure out that the group they just let into their home raped and almost killed their daughter. Violence ensues.
This remake was produced by Wes Craven, so it comes off as more of a “slasher” movie than a “shocker.” Hardcore fans of the original will be disappointed, but taken as a stand-alone horror movie, it isn’t too shabby. With the garbage horror movies coming out lately, The Last House on the Left is actually worth seeing.
