Saturday, November 21, 2009

The Last House on the Left (1972)

Director: Wes Craven. Cast: David Hess, Sandra Peabody, Lucy Grantham, Jeremie Rain, Fred Lincoln. 84 min. Rated R. Horror.

After 37 years, even by today's standards, this is a very disturbing movie to watch. Wes Craven has made a career out of making "fun" horror films, but the raw violence shown up close here is absolutely no fun - which is what makes it powerful enough to create a feeling of revulsion towards violence. Craven resonates the tension by juxtaposing the idiocies of a sheriff and his deputy, with the brutal rape/murder of the two girls; but the eerily pleasant songs played during the violent scenes was what bothered me even more. You may lose sleep over this movie.

(Trivia: "Krug", the name of the movie's main villain, later became the origin for another famous Wes Craven horror character, Freddy Krueger.)

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