The Last House on the Left, 2009.
Directed by Dennis Iliadis.
Starring Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Aaron Paul, Sarah Paxton, Martha MacIsaac, and Spencer Treat Clark.
SYNOPSIS:
A pair of teenage girls are raped and one of them murdered, with the gang responsible ending up at the house of the parents of one of them.
When discussing movies, and remakes in particular, the word ‘classic’ is often bandied around, usually in a sentence that goes along the lines of “They shouldn’t remake the classics” or “They shouldn’t touch that – it’s a classic”. This is true in some cases, with established classics like Psycho, The Hitcher and The Omen all getting makeovers with varying results. The Last House on the Left just about gets away with it because Wes Craven’s 1972 original was a very crude piece of filmmaking and was more groundbreaking than it was actually any good.
The word ‘classic’ implies that it is universally loved and appreciated, and Craven’s film certainly wasn’t that; it was a movie that split audiences down the middle – those who saw it as a slightly arty commentary on how cruel society was, or those who saw it as cheap exploitation – but whatever side of the argument you went with, one couldn’t deny its power and the fact that it was probably one of the first notable movies that fell into the horror category without having aliens, monsters, vampires or zombies as the central antagonists, its power coming from the fact that the monster in the movie was a person, or group of people, and that the events really could take place.
The plot of this 2009 remake is essentially the same as the original with a few minor cosmetic changes, but for those who haven’t had the pleasure it goes something like this – John (Tony Goldwyn) and Emma (Monica Potter) Collingwood go to their lakeside summer house with their teenage daughter Mari (Sara Paxton). After arriving Mari takes the family car and visits her friend Paige (Martha Maclsaac), who works in the local convenience store. Overhearing the girls talking about smoking pot, a teenage boy called Justin (Spencer Treat Clark) invites the girls back to his motel room to indulge in a little narcotic usage, but just when Justin, Paige and Mari are starting to enjoy themselves they are interrupted by Justin’s escaped convict father Krug (Garret Dillahunt), his lover Sadie (Riki Lindhome) and his brother Frank (Aaron Paul), and they are not happy about having the girls in their room.
Not wanting to risk being caught, the gang kidnap the girls, steal their car and head out into the country where Krug and his cronies proceed to torture and rape the girls before heading off the seek shelter from an oncoming storm. Unfortunately, the house they choose to seek shelter in belongs to the Collingwood’s, and once John and Emma twig what has been happening the fun really starts…
As previously stated, the basic plot differs very little from the original (except for one major detail regarding the two girls, but you don’t get a well-known actor for that role without a reason) and as far as remakes go this one is pretty solid. The actors are all fine in their roles, with particular credit going to Goldwyn and Potter as the distraught parents forced to go against everything they believe in to exact revenge on their daughter’s torturers. The character of Krug was very interesting, as Dillahunt plays him with appropriate coldness and cruelty, although he does lack the wicked charm of the David Hess from the original, but he is less obvious than Hess and his approach – in some ways – is more chilling.
The rape scene is as uncomfortable to watch as you would expect but the other tortures dished out on the girls don’t seem quite as degrading, in as much as although you are still watching innocent young girls getting punched and stabbed, nobody is forced to piss themselves as they were in the original. The violence that is dished out once the Collingwood’s find out who they are sheltering is suitably grisly, especially Krug’s ultimate demise, although whether it is possible to do what John does to him is questionable, as is addressed by co-producer Jonathan Craven in the special features. To say any more would mean spoilers so you’ll just have to watch, but due to its unlikely plausibility it does detract slightly from the overall flow. Visually fun, but just a bit too absurd to make sense.
Released by Arrow Video on 4K UHD and standard Blu-ray, the disc comes with a few new extras to add some value, namely interviews with actors Sara Paxton and Garret Dillahunt – who, much like his predecessor in the role of Krug, comes across as a really nice guy – plus screenwriter Carl Ellsworth and co-producer Jonathan Craven, who neatly sums up the difficulty of remaking a movie that was never going to appeal to a mass audience as well as The Hills Have Eyes. Both formats include two versions of the movie – the Theatrical Cut and the Unrated version – but buyers beware – if you get the 4K UHD version, for some reason only the Theatrical Cut is in HDR, with the Unrated version on a standard Blu-ray, so this isn’t quite a definitive set if UHD is your preference.
Overall, though, The Last House on the Left is a well made, well acted and very watchable thriller. Due to it being a remake, and a remake of a movie over fifty years old, it could never have the shocking impact of its source material but that probably isn’t the point. The late Wes Craven often stated that his original movie was made by a bunch of people not really knowing what they were doing so this was his chance to do it properly, and he did (to a point) by doing the same thing as he did with the 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes and hiring a younger director to add a different flavour to his vision, and Dennis Lliadis certainly brings a more colourful sense of style to proceedings.
Some may bemoan it being more polished and slicker than the original, but that is the point of a remake; taking something that wasn’t that great to start with and making it better, and even though are a few continuity and editing errors, this is one remake that updates its source material nicely whilst retaining most of the edge and threat of the original. It isn’t groundbreaking like that movie was – and it was never going to be – but it is easier to watch and, unlike the original, will withstand repeated viewings.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
