Review of The Last House on the Left (1972) by Tyler M — 31 Mar 2012

It's only a movie... It's only a movie... It's only a movie.

So today, it's LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. Wes Cravens first feature, is one of the most grizzly movies I've seen. It's scary how real this seems even today...Just keep telling yourself "It's only a movie"...

The Story: Two young women are abducted and taken to the woods by a group of criminals. After torturing and killing them, the criminals take refuge in a near by house...Little do they know, the people that take them in for the night are the parents of one of the victims. The parents find out what's happened, and exact their revenge on the criminals in a grizzly and extremely violent manner.

The Cast: I'm going to be perfectly honest here, I don't know any of the actors here. And I'm too lazy to go check. And I don't know if they've really moved onto bigger and better things. But they're good, at what they do. There's moments where the acting isn't all that great, but there's also moments when it is. Nothing too incredibly spectacular but still better than what you'll get from Saw. The difference here is that you'll actually find yourself caring about these people. You'll hate the filth that the criminals are, you'll feel sorry for the two girls, and be rooting for the parents all at the same time. Not great, but not terrible.

One to Five Scale: 3.

The thing really keeping this from a 4 is the story, when you break it down, it's pretty much only about revenge...That's it...Revenge, no incredibly deep message here. But lets face it, watching this for it's message is like buying a Playboy for the articles, it just doesn't happen. You'll more than likely be watching this for the violence, and to see how Wes Craven really got started. But over all, it's another case of too much for too little. So, rent first buy later...Unless you're a big Craven fan, then you'll probably end up buying it anyway.

Tyler.

6/24/2005.