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The Last House on the Left (2009)

Director: Dennis Iliadis

Time Out rating

Average user rating

16 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Born out of the anti-Vietnam protests and inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s ‘The Virgin Spring’, Wes Craven’s 1972 horror was an anti-establishment shocker that became infamous for its scenes of rape and violence. Dennis Iliadis’s remake retains its ferocious power and provocative themes, and thanks to a focused script that unfolds in real time, it ratchets up the suspense and sucks us into a remorseless cycle of violence and revenge.

Innocent teenager Mari Collingwood (Sara Paxton) and her wayward friend Paige (Martha Maclsaac) are abducted and brutalised by escaped psychopath Krug (Garrett Dillahunt), his aptly named girlfriend Sadie, his brother Francis and his wimpy son Justin. The captured girls are less helpless here, but these stomach-knotting early scenes are made worse by a nagging feeling that if they had only cooperated, or taken their chances, things might not have spiralled out of control. Then, in an irony inherited from ‘The Virgin Spring’, the killers seek refuge in Mari’s parents’ idyllic lakeside summer home, where John Collingwood (Tony Goldwyn) and his wife Emma (Monica Potter) – alerted by tell-tale clues to their guests’ true identities – use cunning, makeshift weapons and improvised booby traps to exact their cruel revenge.

Craven’s sub-$100,000 exploitation movie fused the sleazy intensity of the grindhouse with the piercing intelligence of an art film. Iliadis’s sensibility is more commercial, but he introduces a telling undercurrent of class hatred and never loses sight of how Mari’s parents are ultimately reduced to the same level of primal, animalistic violence as that of psychotic Krug and his cronies.

Author: Nigel Floyd 2009-06-09 10:52:57

Time Out London Issue 2025, June 11 - 17, 2009

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User reviews of this film

Stuart W said...

Posted on Nov 01 2009 11:47 The worst film i've ever seen!!!!!

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Bethan said...

Posted on Oct 03 2009 23:13 From start to finish this film shocked me; and not in a good way.
The rape scene horrified me and i could not bare to look at the screen.
As for the story line.. what was it?!

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shelly said...

Posted on Oct 03 2009 23:03 this is an appaulingly awful film this film should of not of been released in cinemas!

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bigman said...

Posted on Aug 28 2009 06:24 i was really appalled by this movie's blatant show of rape. it only furthers the desensitization of america and makes rape less of a rare, horrific act and puts it into a piece of entertainment. it pisses me off and saddens me at the same time that people can now pay to go see a realistic rape on a big screen just so hollywood can show something to capture attention. to all of you who enjoyed this movie and anything that has to do with it i really hope that you don't let it get past you that rape and torture and murder really are horrible things and not to be taken lightly or enjoyed as entertainment.

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Suz said...

Posted on Jun 24 2009 19:00 Hated this film. one of the worst films i have ever watched. it was totally sick. waste of money

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Tim said...

Posted on Jun 21 2009 09:57 Weak story, especially the ending. Gratuitous violence. I usually enjoy the horror genre, but not in this case. I wish I'd stayed at home to watch the Millionaire!

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Shap said...

Posted on Jun 20 2009 20:07 Where was the storyline??? I walked out half way through because it was so boring....

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Dave said...

Posted on Jun 16 2009 19:57 I have no objection to violent films and I love intelligent horror cinema no matter how graphic, but this is an emptily slick, crassly manipulative and morally infantile piece of work which has nothing whatsoever to say about violence, vengeance or the human capacity for barabarism. And by the way, neither this film nor Craven's original bear anything more than a perfunctory similarity to Bergman's Virgin Spring.
.....
Well said that man. That pretty much sums it up.

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Dave said...

Posted on Jun 16 2009 19:55 One of the worst films I have ever seen.

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critique said...

Posted on Jun 16 2009 08:34 Suspenseful, albeit often unpleasant, graphic revenge thriller.

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eileen said...

Posted on Jun 15 2009 12:28 i as yet have not seen the remake yet but i have to say i have never forgotten Cravens 1972 film never mind the clever jargon it was a frightening horrific movie ive often thought it was about time to reshow it or remake either way i hope im not disappointed with the new one

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jamie said...

Posted on Jun 13 2009 18:48 Thank you for that thoughtful and sophisticated contribution to the screen violence debate, Lee. Do you realise that your glowing notice has only succeeded in reinforcing my point about this film's stupidity and moral bankruptcy?
Probably not...
Now if you'll excuse me, I must go and get ready for netball practice.

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Lee said...

Posted on Jun 13 2009 13:07 You 2 need to stop arguing like a couple of school girls and just enjoy the film as a piece of brutal neo arthouse cinema.
The first half has you on the edge of your seat, hoping despite the obvious that the 2 girls can escape from the horrific brutality that the films villains inflict on them. They don't however, but the film flips vey quickly and the villains of the piece are now the victims to the girls parents...and despite the gruesome detail of the film...I personally found myself cheering on the parents and thoroughly enjoying the graphic nature of the film.
Not for the faint of hearted...but well worth a watch!

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jamie said...

Posted on Jun 12 2009 17:07 My apologies. Needless to say, we would appear to have very different ideas as to what constitutes 'piercing intelligence' in cinema, arthouse or otherwise.
And while I recognise that the excesses of Craven's original had a raw and palpable anger (completely absent from Iliadis' insipid remake), lofty claims of meaningful political relevance trotted out by the film's supporters and (of course) the film-makers themselves have always struck me as both unnecessary and entirely spurious.

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Nigel Floyd said...

Posted on Jun 12 2009 14:24 In answer to the above, Yes, I have seen Wes Craven's original 1972 film - several times. In fact, I made a point of re-watching it before seeing Iliadis' re-make. I have also interviewed Wes Craven on several occasions, starting with A Nightmare on Elm Street back in 1984.
Feel free to disagree with my informed opinions, but please do not suggest that I am unqualified to express them.
NIgel Floyd

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