Far be it for me to diss a "classic" or to rundown a visionary filmmaker, but, well, I am. Wes Craven is a hero of mine. Two of the greatest franchises in horror history come from his imagination. It was hard to see any evidence of that vision or creativity in THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. Obviously, some slack will be cut since it was his first film.
The film suffers from a total lack of subtlety. The girl proclaims that now she's "17 and a woman." Her dad points out that you can see her nipples in her shirt (what dad says nipple to his daughter?) and we learn, through a radio broadcast (worst device ever), that the convicts have: killed a dog, killed a cop, raped a woman and KILLED NUNS! So, you see, they're bad guys.
Nothing about this film appealed to me. It's pretty vile at times with girls gang raped and a girl is forced to pee on herself. Sometimes, in a film, depraved moments can work to make a compelling statement. These scenes, including when the two girls are forced to have sex, play as if Wes was trying to see chicks naked and he was lucky enough to have one of the most powerful tools available - a camera. If you can't throw a football or play a guitar, tell them you'll put them in a movie. (I used to think being funny worked to get the ladies. I was mostly wrong. But that's a blog for another day.)
I did laugh at parts of the end, wondering if John Hughes got his HOME ALONE idea from this flick.
These issues of story are then magnified because it's Wes' first film: so its poorly acted, poorly shot and poorly lit. All forgivable scenes if the story connects you. In this case, it doesn't.
I was at a festival in 2009 and I saw a film that I can only describe as vile. And I thought to myself "just because you CAN do anything as an indie filmmaker, doesn't mean you SHOULD."
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