Review of The Last House on the Left (1972) by Shawn B — 20 Nov 2012

"The Last House on the Left" is a movie that was very far ahead of its time. When it was first released in 1972 it was attacked by both critics and moviegoers for the extreme violence and gore it displayed. That is not really suprising considering that quite a few other violent movies were made around that time and suffered a similar fate(such as "Night of the Living Dead", "The Exorcist", and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".).

The reason this one stands out though is because A. It is the only one of these four movies that is not now considered a masterpiece of horror, instead it is nothing but a cult classic with a slow growing following ,B. This one is by far the most violent of these movies, and C. This is not nearly as good as the other three.

By that I do not mean that this movie is bad, but that it is no where near as good as the others. The story is original, the acting is pretty decent for a horror movie.

No, the only real problem with it is age. The dialogue that was once normal has become chessy and out of place. The music isnt as bad as people say, the only real problem with it is that it is not consistent and is not always used at the right time. The horrible attempt at comic relief with the two cops is even worse than most people say.

Overall it is a good movie. And I get the feeling that if it had been released now days it would be attacked a lot less. And as long as you can understand that it hasnt aged as well as certain movies you should be fine watching it. Not a must see, but something you should check out if you get the chance.