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MOVIES / ON DVD / LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT
Last House on the Left

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Last House on the Left (1972)

68%
83%
67%
N/A
N/A
N/A
68 %
Reviews Counted: 28 Fresh: 19  Rotten:9 Average Rating: 5.8/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 84 mins

Synopsis: Wes Craven's nightmarish odyssey of revenge helped to usher in a new era of graphic horror filmmaking in the early 1970s. Inspired by Ingmar Bergman's THE VIRGIN SPRING (1960), THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is a parent's worst nightmare come to terrifying life. Beautiful 17-year-olds Mari... Wes Craven's nightmarish odyssey of revenge helped to usher in a new era of graphic horror filmmaking in the early 1970s. Inspired by Ingmar Bergman's THE VIRGIN SPRING (1960), THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is a parent's worst nightmare come to terrifying life. Beautiful 17-year-olds Mari (Sandra Cassel) and Phyllis (Lucy Grantham) head into the city for a rock concert, but once there, they're kidnapped by three repulsive, sadistic escaped convicts led by Krug Stillo (a menacing David Hess). After the gang drives the girls into the woods, where they rape and murder them, the disheveled crew ends up at the home of none other than Mari's parents, John (Gaylord St. James) and Estelle (Cynthia Carr). When John discovers who has unknowingly walked into his home, he exacts a revenge that makes the convicts' actions seem tame by comparison. Working on a shoestring budget and coaxing naturalistic performances out of his actors (with the exception of two bumbling law enforcement officers), Craven displays the talent that he would later develop on a grand scale with A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and SCREAM. Certainly not for the fainthearted, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT remains one of the most visceral horror films ever made. [More]

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Starring: David Hess, Lucy Grantham, Sandra Cassel

Director: Wes Craven

DVD Info

Release:

Mar 8, 2004

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary - 1. Wes Craven - Director
  • Trailer - 1. Theatrical Trailer
  • Featurette

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
3/5

Sartorially dated certainly, but still powerful, disturbing and raw.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/26/07
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

Craven's cold, flat style of filming emphasises the fact that the violence dehumanises not only the victims but the aggressors.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

One of the true classics of modern horror cinema.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/18/03
Jamie Russell
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

The film, to its credit, details both the initial acts of violation and the revenge that ensues as similarly de-humanising and reprehensible.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/17/01
David Wood
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
12/02/07
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Ratings Image
3.5/4

An ugly, disturbing, passionately conceived cult favorite, Last House on the Left is much more complex (albeit crudely made) than its controversial reputation would suggest.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/26/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

It isn't artistically adroit, but if success in this genre is counted by squirms, it's a success.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/26/07
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Ratings Image
5/5

Craven and company tap into something hot, dark and deep.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/23/07
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
2/5

if one is not disgusted enough to stop watching, one is left wishing that the movie would show more than it does

comment Comment
06/14/07
Douglas Pratt
DVDLaser
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3.5/4

It's disgusting and gripping at the same time.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
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3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
08/21/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
0/5

The party who wrote this sickening tripe and also directed the inept actors is Wes Craven.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/09/05
Howard Thompson
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2/5

No review available.

comment Comment
04/22/05
Greg Maki
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)
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1/5

A estúpida tentativa de combinar cenas de violência realista com outras de humor pedestre anula o impacto do filme e nos leva a questionar a sanidade do jovem Craven.

comment Comment
02/21/05
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image
3.5/4

A tough, bitter little sleeper of a movie that's about four times as good as you'd expect.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/23/04
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
0/5

Introduced a sadism that lurks beneath the surface of Craven's work to this day. It's not fun, as horror should be; it's amoral, and you leave it feeling sickened and dirty.

comment Comment
06/07/04
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)
Ratings Image
3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
06/26/03
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central
Ratings Image
3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
11/16/02
Nicolas Lacroix
Showbizz.net
Ratings Image
3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
10/18/02
Brian J. Arthurs
Beach Reporter (Southern California)
Ratings Image
2.5/4

a supremely schizophrenic movie, alternating awkward scenes of bad comedy with gruesome and unsettling moments of violence that reach a nasty level of documentary realism

Full Review | comment Comment
09/03/02
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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News

Through Bergman's Past, Brightly
posted by Tim Ryan July 30, 2007
With the passing of Ingmar Bergman Monday, the world of cinema lost one of its most unique and important voices. Thus, we...


A Kinder, Gentler "Last House on the Left"?
posted by Fred Topel April 25, 2007
Even Wes Craven's horror movie fans are shocked when they see his original "Last House on the Left." With...


"Nightmare" Not Part of Craven's Remakes
posted by Fred Topel April 24, 2007
Wes Craven may be on a roll producing remakes of "The Hills Have Eyes," "Last House on the Left,"...


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Under his new deal with Rogue Pictures, Wes Craven is going to continue producing remakes of his own movies like...

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