Last House on the Left: An Evening of Torture, Rape and Fun Times

Posted by ScuzzBuster

March 15, 2009

If you’re one that anxiously anticipates the release of each new Hollywood offering in the “torture porn” genre you probably have the release of the Last House on The Left marked in blood on your calendar. This remake of the Wes Craven 1972 film of the same name serves up more of the emotional self-punishment that seems to have captivated a fairly robust segment of moviegoers over the past several years. While the genre is not new, something about it has nabbed a mainstream following recently, probably turning the corner with the release of the original Saw in 2004 and Eli Roth’s Hostel the following year.

It’s an interesting phenomenon. Many see it as a twisted sick style of film making with no real redeeming value. However, I find it very intriguing to come to the realization that “entertainment” doesn’t necessarily mean something that makes you feel good. I believe that it plays to a theory that sometimes the purpose of a film or other piece of art is to simply evoke a strong emotional reaction. That’s really the key with this type of film. Sometimes an intense reaction, even troubling or uncomfortable emotional responses stimulate people in an entirely different way than a basic drama, comedy or action film. One of the most horrifically twisted films I’ve ever seen, last year’s Funny Games, was a sheer displeasure to watch. At times, it took an act of will power not to simply turn and walk away from it with no regrets of seeing how the story ends.

I believe part of the draw of these films is that the emotional relief of coming back to a comfortable reality after it’s conclusion outweighs the 90 minutes or 2 hours of discomfort and pain of watching. The sense of relief it generates is a high in itself.

In the growing list of films in the genre, Last House on the Left is probably one of the tamer entries. Yes, there are certainly uncomfortable scenes including a rather brutal rape in act one, but it never really seems to find it’s footing bouncing around between torture film, thriller and even a gore flick.

The story is rather simple. Taking place mostly over the course of one day and evening, a teenage girl and her parents arrive at their vacation home at a secluded lake house. She borrows the family car to go into town to meet a friend and they are subsequently abducted, tortured and left for dead in the woods by a family of sadistic criminals.

The criminals find their way back to the parent’s lake house stating that they had been in a car accident and not realizing that it’s the home of one of the girls that had just left out in the woods to die. The evening takes a turn for the bizarre as the parents realize what’s happened to their daughter and that the group of people sleeping in their guesthouse are responsible.
It’s at this point that the film kind of morphs into a rather standard thriller with some brutal moments. It never really takes the last step into psychological hell for its audience as we see the family plot and carry out their vengeance on the killers.

Probably the saving grace for Last House on the Left is some really some solid performances from its leads that makes up for a bit of thin development. One of the other elements of torture porn that really ends up being betrayed in the final half of the film is that we are forced to root for the people dishing out the violence since we are anxious to see the bad guys get their comeuppance. This really softens the impact of the violence and the film ends up trying to replace psychological discomfort with pure brutality.

Those that tend to get a charge from this type of entertainment will probably find this a marginally enjoyable movie. If you’ve pounded you’re brains out over the last 4 or 5 years with some of the other films I referenced above and are looking for that little slice of hell that this type of movie tends to put you through you’re probably going to leave a little bit disappointed.
Personally, I like a pretty broad spectrum of films and appreciate any film the provokes intense or strong emotions that force me to evaluate my thoughts and feelings on the subject matter. In that sense, Last House on the Left is really is just a run of the mill thriller with the brutality turned up a notch.

The most disquieting scenes are definitely in the first act with the young girls. I found myself drawing many parallels to the situations and settings from both Funny Games and Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects and found that Last House on the Left visited familiar territory and doesn’t do it nearly as effectively as those two films.

Most bizarre is the seemingly tacked on final scene which really pissed on my parade because it was just a damned silly conclusion. I have to think that they toyed with whether or not to leave it in. I almost think it was added because after the “logical” conclusion they felt that they were just a tad short of on the gore and violence, but it’s almost a comical scene that left me scratching my head as well as saying to myself “come on” at the rather inaccurate presentation of what a standard household appliance can accomplish. Don’t worry if that makes no sense, if you see the film you’ll get what I’m referring to. Watch for the foreshadowing in the first 20 minutes that I guess proves that it was in the script from the start.

In any case, if this type of movie seems to be you’re cup of blood, you’ll probably squeeze your ticket price’s worth of entertainment out of Last House on the Left. You’ll probably want to take a pass on this if your planning an exciting first date with that special girl you finally got the courage to ask out last week. Otherwise, might want to save this flick for a rental on a Friday night with the guys in a few months.

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