THE
LAST
HOUSE
ON THE
LEFT
With
Garret
Dillahunt,
Tony
Goldwyn,
Monica
Potter,
Sara
Paxton,
Aaron
Paul,
Riki
Lindhome,
Spencer
Treat
Clark,
Martha
MacIsaac
Written
by Adam
Alleca
&
Carl
Ellsworth
based
on the
screenplay
by Wes
Craven
Directed
by Dennis
Iliadis
In 1972
Wes
Craven
entered
the
world
of horror
directors
with
his
debut
The
Last
House
On The
Left,
a movie
branded
with
notoriety
across
the
decades.
Craven
perfected
his
craft
and
moved
on to
creating
‘80s
and
‘90s
hits
in the
shape
of the
Nightmare
On Elm
Street
and
Scream
franchises.
Amid
the
recent
barrage
of horror
remakes
(including
Halloween,
Prom
Night,
My Bloody
Valentine
et al),
the
re-take
on Last
House
happens
to be
one
of the
more
commendable,
and
had
its
original
creators
Wes
Craven
and
Sean
S. Cunningham
on board
as executive
producers.
While
some
of the
characters
and
events
in this
Last
House
update
have
been
adjusted,
the
same
basic
premise
is in
tact.
The
unsuspecting
Collingwood
family
visiting
their
lake
house
(a year
after
the
death
of the
son)
ends
up staring
horror
in the
face
rather
than
encountering
a fun,
enjoyable
break
together.
The
daughter
Mari
and
her
friend
Paige
cross
paths
with
some
very
bad
company
while
out
looking
for
a bit
of fun
in the
sparsely
populated
town.
The
sadistic
gang
is head
by Krug,
recently
sprung
from
custody.
This
life-altering
encounter
results
in violation
and
murder
in the
woods.
A fateful
turn
of events
has
the
gang
seeking
refuge
–
at the
Collingwood
home.
The
hospitality
soon
eclipses
when
the
Collingwoods
discover
what
the
“guests”
have
done
to their
daughter...
While
violent
and
terrifying,
the
film
does
address
our
moral
duality
in asking
the
question
whether
we are
prepared
to lower
ourselves
to the
same
level
as the
monsters
that
harm
us and
those
we love,
and
whether
we are
able
to live
with
the
results
of those
actions.
The
choice
of Greek
director
Dennis
Iliadis
was
a well-calculated
one,
as his
gritty
take
on realism
pulls
the
audience
into
the
lives
of these
characters,
unlike
the
cheap
teen-slasher
flicks
where
viewers
root
for
the
killer,
not
the
annoying
screaming
victims.
The
new
Last
House
On The
Left
was
shot
almost
entirely
in Cape
Town,
South
Africa,
the
Helderberg
area
doubling
for
the
US.
For
my extended
article
on the
movie
as well
as a
feature
on the
South
African
make-up
FX artist
Clinton
Smith
(who
created
the
amazing
and
gruesome
special
effects),
see
issue
#282
of the
international
horror
magazine
Fangoria.
PS.
Craven’s
original
movie
was
actually
based
on the
Bergman
film
Jungfrukällan
(The
Virgin
Spring),
which
was
in turn
an adaptation
of a
medieval
Swedish
fable.
4
/ C
- Paul
Blom
1 2
3
4
5 6
A -
B -
C
Click
below
for
the
original
Last
House
|