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Post by The Curmudgeon on Apr 8, 2007 20:43:30 GMT 2
 Over-rated JUNK.The Curmudgeon has seen his fair share of all these "video nasties" and they're all, with the exception of previously banned standards like Clockwork Orange, Exorcist and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, complete crap. Dire acting, lousy direction - just because a film has bucket loads of fake blood does NOT make it frightening. One of the more notorious of the banned series would be Wes Craven't Last House On The Left, a charmless movie showing what happens when normal people are pushed to the extremities of survival (like Hills Have Eyes, but nowhere near as good). The problem with Last House On The Left isn't it's plot, which is pretty good (teenage girls go to a party, get kidnapped by rapists, get abused and then the parents get revenge), but the whole package is just so shoddy. The dialogue is awful, with poorly delivered lines that don't convince for one second (compare to the natural flow of dialogue in, say, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and the acting is abysmal. And let's not even get started on the totally misplaced "comedy cops", along with funny music to really get the ribs tickled. Yup, after watching teenage girls get raped there's nothing funnier than stoner cops. Hee-haw. Wes Craven would, of course, go onto far better things (Hills, Nightmare On Elm Street) but this seems to have got some kind of reputation as a long lost classic. It really isn't - it doesn't convince for a second, it's not scary and it's just another in the long line of turgid exploitation flicks. If you DO buy this movie though (those of you foolish enough to ignore The Curmudgeon's advice) you won't, like the tag-line says, be repeating to yourself "it's just a movie, it's just a movie", it'll be more along the lines of "I can sell this on ebay, I can sell this on ebay." Wretched. |
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Post by InvisibleWolfMan on Apr 11, 2007 12:19:32 GMT 2
Boy, can you really hammer these things down!
I myself have heard of this reputation LHOTL carries with it, and I decided to give it a chance. Now, mind you I can sit through alot of violence & horror...but at the risk of being laughed at....only if it's done a certain way (i.e. NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, PHANTASM, and to an extent...TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE '74). Films with realistic violence such has rape or beatings (boy, does that scene in CASINO where Pesci is beaten to death cause me to actually turn my head away while closing my eyes tight) bother me. I suppose it's because I have an empathy that is triggered when I could think "That could happen to me/a friend/a loved one."
That being said, I watched this with the commentary on to take the "sting" out of it. What I discovered was much as you described: The plot is easy and has potential, but it's wasted on needless humor and dull, needless muzac (yes, I dare to call it that).
How can your empathy build for these girls & what their going through if you are constantly cutting back to the cops? You can't invest in their situation because you can't get the antics of the cops out of you mind. I've only watched the first 15 minutes of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and it has more tension in that section of film (though nothing has happened yet) than LHOTL. Wes has been quoted as saying he wanted to give the audience relief from it.
Uh, isn't an action/horror/suspense film always based on the build-up of tension? There must be a release at a point, but Wes went about it the wrong way. So the film suffers, and most people are left wishing they'd never bothered at all.
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Post by The Curmudgeon on Apr 11, 2007 12:20:00 GMT 2
Why, Wolfy - I never realised you were so sensitive! Awwww.
I haven't seen Spit On Your Grave, I figured it would probably be more of the same shlocky garbage. I don't really shock easily, so nothing in Last House even touched any nerves.
Yeah, like I said in the review, Wes would go onto better things, and (for my money) Hills Have Eyes is his most fingernail chewing.
As for "that could happen to me" syndrome, look no further than Wes Craven's classic "Shocker." Well, we've all electrocuted ourselves shouting "give it to me" only for a giant pair of cartoon lips to appear in thin air and say "you got it, babeeee". Haven't we?
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Post by trashcanman on May 12, 2007 0:57:44 GMT 2
"I Spit on Your Grave" is, content-wise, far more disturbing to watch than even this one. However, it is a far superior film in many ways, even if it is excrutiating to watch at times. Ever seen an impotent retarded fellow try to rape a half-dead, blood-smeared woman while his friends, having all had their fill already, egg him on? Damn, that is hard to watch. "LHOTL" isn't so much a classic as it is a landmark; one of those films that is used to test just how gritty and nasty you like your horror. For me, the misogyny and the grapic rape scenes of movies like this are difficult for me to sit through. Yeah, "Last House" is amateurish (Craven's first, I believe), but it is still something to see, though hopefully not something you enjoy. And what could be more horrible than a movie like this one? How about a remake? Believe it or not plans are underway.
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Post by CW on Jul 4, 2007 20:04:38 GMT 2
This film is close to a masterpiece but I don't have the time to get into why. David Szulkin did a great book on it though. I still think it holds up and it has a lot to say. As a film that seriously messes with your emotions it is miles better than The Exorcist.
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