Review of The Last House on the Left (1972) by Ron P — 19 Jul 2009

Scenes of unintentional hilarity, crossed with moments of brutal realism, crossed with scenes of intentional humor that falls flat on its face (due to its inclusion being the definition of bad taste!) makes for a very odd experience indeed, similar in some ways to Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust. While overall too crude and juvenile to be a totally effective "real life" horror film, this benefits from its docudrama feel, some great acting from David Hess as Krug, and the occasional brilliant sequence (none of which I'll spoil here, just in case). The soundtrack by David Hess is very good on its own, and there's one genuinely beautiful and poignant piece following the rape of Mari, but most of the time it's totally inappropriate. While using upbeat music for grim sequences can lend them a certain irony, this soundtrack sounds just plain ignorant of what's happening in the film (with only the lyrics showing some relation to onscreen events).

Despite all these flaws, the film is an undeniable classic, and I can't help but feel it would make a great double bill with Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs. And as grindhouse remakes of Ingmar Bergman films go, you really can't do much better!