The Last House on the Left [Blu-ray] | ![The Last House on the Left [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51a3E4wPW8L._SL500_.jpg) | Director: Dennis Iliadis
Actors: Garret Dillahunt, Monica Potter, Tony Goldwyn, Aaron Paul, Spencer Treat Clark
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $26.98
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Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 9410
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Blu-ray
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 61110488
UPC: 025192032837
EAN: 0025192032837
ASIN: B002DKGWSO
Theatrical Release Date: 2009
Release Date: August 18, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 18-AUG-2009
Media Type: Blu-Ray
Amazon.com
A hot-button topic in the horror community from the minute it was announced, the 2009 remake of Wes Craven and Sean Cunningham’s controversial Last House on the Left will undoubtedly leave audiences polarized in regard to both its treatment of the source material and its level of violence. As with the original film, which drew inspiration from Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring (and was itself based on 13th century Scandinavian legend), director Dennis Illadis’ film traces the downward spiral of two teenage girls (Sara Paxton and Martha MacIsaac from Superbad) who fall prey to a quartet of degenerates. The perpetrators then seek refuge in a nearby vacation home--which happens to be occupied by Paxton’s parents. Both versions spare no quarter in detailing the torments inflicted on the two girls, as well as the ruthlessly efficient revenge metered out to the killers by the parents; the difference, however, lies with the intent. Craven and Cunningham (who serve as executive producers for the remake) sought to shock Nixon/Vietnam-era audiences by showing the limits to which the "average" citizen could be pushed by violent acts; Illadis, however, is simply content to deliver a glossy, overamped thriller that neither delights in nor condemns the atrocities committed by its characters. The result is a flat, often tedious exercise in nihilism buoyed only by its cast, especially Paxton, Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter as her parents, and Garrett Dillahunt (No Country for Old Men) as the malevolent leader of the depraved foursome. Fans of the original need not bother with this version; newcomers should seek out Craven’s version, which has lost none of its power to overwhelm. --Paul Gaita
Amazon.com
The legendarily scuzzy 1972 shocker Last House on the Left gets all dressed up in this slick remake, which retro-fits the original storyline to an isolated lakeside cabin. This time out, unsuspecting teen Mari (Sara Paxton) makes the crucial mistake of going to buy some weed at a rundown motel room with a stranger (Spencer Treat Clark). It must have sounded like a good idea at the time. Soon Mari and her pal (Martha MacIsaac) are confronted by the stranger's diseased posse, and the real trouble begins. The set-up of the 1972 picture, which director Wes Craven borrowed from Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring, is a blunt exercise in brutality followed by revenge, the twist being that the revenge is as savage as the initial transgression. This structure remains in the remake, although a few key plot points are changed, with little improvement. Monica Potter and Tony Goldwyn play Mari's parents, who at some point will be called upon to put aside their merlot and their civilized constraints and get to it; Garret Dillahunt, coming off his strong work in Deadwood and No Country for Old Men, is far too qualified to be playing the stock role of the creep-in-chief. There is something distinctly strange about watching a film that took much of its original power from its cheapness, an outlaw energy that is completely lost in this dressed-up, professionally made remake. Here the scenes of rape and murder are presented not as pulpy shouts from the subculture but as necessary ingredients in a respectable machinery, which somehow makes them more dispiriting and unpleasant to watch. That this film is a technical advance on the original film on every level--acting, writing, photography--does not make it a better film. --Robert Horton
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 83
 Last House on the Left (2009) February 7, 2010
Arnita D. Brown (USA)
While being transported by two detectives in a car, the dangerous criminal Krug is rescued by his brother Francis and his girlfriend Sadie, and they brutally kill the detectives. Meanwhile Emma, her husband Dr. John and their seventeen year-old daughter Mari Collingwood head on vacation to their house nearby the lake. Mari borrows the family car to meet her friend Paige that is working in a store in the town. They befriend the teenager Justin in the store and he offers some marijuana to the pothead Paige in the motel where he is lodged. While they are smoking grass in Justin's room, Krug, who is Justin's father, Francis and Sadie arrive and abduct the girls. Krug drives Mari's car and she provokes a crash on a tree. Krug stabs Paige and rapes Mari; however Mary manages to escape, swimming in the lake, but Krug shots her on the back. They walk through the isolated road in the woods and they reach Collingwood's house telling that they have just had a car accident. Emma and John welcome the strangers until they discover what happened to their beloved daughter. The performances are on and the story is great. I would say this is one of the best remakes in years, this is not for the faint of heart though, but if you're curious about the remake, this was a very respectful movie of the original horror story of murder and revenge.
 The director of "Evil Laugh" called, he wants credit for the `broken microwave' gag January 3, 2010
R. H. Thomas (New Castle, DE)
Spoilers abound, so please stop reading if you haven't seen this remake or the original. I bought this DVD for $2.99 at a Blockbuster that was closing, and made a point of watching the original immediately afterward, since I hadn't seen it in about 5 years.
This is a remake to one of the most notorious horror films of the `70s. Notorious because of the various prints that floated around (some showed more than others), notorious because of the sexual degradation and violence in an R rated movie (originally meant to be an adult film, they decided to go with an R rating to make more money on the drive-in circuit). And notorious for its frequent tonal shifts - black comedy/sadistic violence/slapstick comedy/sexual humiliation.
This remake takes the safe route, and all but sanitizes the sexual humiliation scenes and the brutality of the murders. Yes, what remains will shock to a degree, but not to the degree of the original.
Here are some changes (mostly politically correct crap that has overtaken contemporary horror films):
'72: Krug's son lures the girls to the lair so Krug and company can "have some fun", and in perhaps the most disturbing scene in the film, Krug's son briefly retaliates by pointing the gun at him, but Krug has so much control over him (by hooking him on heroin), he tells him to kill himself, and he obliges.
'09: Krug's son is a stereotypic pothead/victim who innocently invites the girls back to smoke, thinking Krug won't come back until later, and actively helps out the family towards the end.
'72: the girls are typical teenagers of the time who smoke.
'09: Mari's friend smokes, Mari evidently does not (coughing when she takes a hit), and this relegates the film to the current morality tale of pot smoking=death; see "Chainsaw" `03 when Biel expresses disgust over their trip to get pot, then flicks a joint out of the window when offered one, and "Friday the 13th" `09 that has pothead dolts getting killed by Jason.
'72: Mari is shot, manages to crawl out of the lake, and is found dead. Realistic and devastating.
'09: Mari is shot, and manages to swim, then crawl out of the lake and to the house in a rainstorm that is described as so bad, even a tow truck won't come out - politically correct nonsense to the extreme. And I'm sorry, but foreshadowing this by showing her holding her breath under water at the beginning doesn't cut it.
`72: The killers are depicted as "animal-like" (Sadie), killers of a priest and two nuns (Krug), and sadistic child molestors (Weasel).
'09: Sadie has a mascara tear fall from her eye when Mari is shot, and Weasel is neutered by being renamed "Francis" and cries like a baby when his broken nose is fixed. Contrast his crybaby behavior with Mari's stoic silence when her father stabs her in the back twice to treat her. And Krug is just another typical killer/rapist that could have been in any crime-themed TV show or movie.
'72: The family is sympathetic in their revenge for their dead daughter.
`09: The family is initially sympathetic in their revenge for their *still living* daughter, but sympathy turns to incredulity during the final scene that shows the father becoming Dr. Butcher M.D. when he kills Krug in a set piece taken directly from an obscure slasher film called "Evil Laugh". This scene could have worked if it was a nightmare scene (like the chisel nightmare from "Last House" '72) but it does not work in the context of a real scenario, but instead lowers it to the level of a stupid `80s slasher film, like one called "Evil Laugh".
A technically well-made/well-acted film, but not a good remake.
If you like this sort of thing and know what you're getting into January 1, 2010
Jenny J.J.I. (That Lives in Northern Nevada)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've seen the remake of Wes Craven's original and it was pretty good plus disturbing. Having seen my fair share of disturbing films like "Cannibal Holocaust." After watching this up to date version it seems a bit unbalanced and tame along with the unrated version. I say unbalanced because it seems to want to be two different films, in terms of genre and style. The last act and the only parts worth watching, seem to fall under the 'torture porn' genre, for example "Hostel," "Saw" and countless other horror films that rely on gross out gore to entertain the audience. Nothing wrong with this of course because I love my gore in horror flicks. This film does have some great deaths, even if they are a bit over the top. Hammers, garbage disposals, microwaves, all these are great death scenes. Yet the rest of the film (save for the rape bits) seem to belong to another film all together.
The acting is by the numbers, yet I found Dillahunt and Goldwyn are the stand out performances. Dillahunt, from Deadwood, plays Krug, the lead gang member. He walks the line of being nice, at least to me. He plays it nice, yet his actions are despicable. I say he played it nice because Aaron Paul, who plays another member of the gang is pretty "evil" and over the top. Goldwyn plays the father and has intense moments that is all played through his eyes. The two of them have a fight scene that was not in the original and it seems too fake, just to fill some time.
The story is predictable, even if you haven't seen the original and is by the numbers. In a film like this, I was expecting more shock moments. The final act had two, yet this film cries for more. As a remake, I'd say I've seen worse (Prom Night), but there are certainly better (Dawn of the Dead) remakes out there. Another thing that struck me was the flow of the movie, if you could call it that. While there are some strong emotional scenes, the movie doesn't know (or want) to emotionalize until the end. May be that's just my feeling here. At the end I didn't feel bad, but I certainly didn't feel as relieved as in "Taken."
Director Illiadis has a passion for blood, his shots of flesh cutting and his close ups in general but it's not enough to sustain a large amount of interest in what is, essentially, a film supposed to be actually about something. "Last House On The Left" is a well made film, don't get me wrong. If you're into this type of horror stuff then it might satisfy you.
 Visible Gore low & rape shown from afar-lots of Killing thought December 16, 2009
TJ-STL (St Louis)
See the other reviews for details about the movie. I took the time to comment since the film was well developed. They did logical things. I hate it when someone you think is dead comes back to fight again. These characters when dead are dead! Every thing the good and the bad "guys" and gal did is what you would properly expect. For this reason I gave the film a high rating. Good acting, great story development and 4 or 5 flashes of T&A in the unrated verion to keep the guys wanting more...Sorry I had to say that, she was really cute, mean but cute.
rape has NO place in film December 10, 2009
A. Hendrix (USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
the revenge is sweet but its a bit violent in the wrong way and the rape scene is something movies should NEVER depict
the subhuman people get some sweet revenge, the garbage disposal and microwave were the highlights of the film. Other than that its extremely violent and not a healthy thing for one to watch.
i saw it twice and probably don't need to watch stuff like that but its a good revenge movie.....and if u like that type of theme the crow is 10 thousand times better and MUCH more action and body count
Showing reviews 1-5 of 83
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