The Magicanada Project

Michael Kras

THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (2009)

I confess... I love a good gorefest. Aside from magic, my secondary passion is for extreme horror or thrillers, and the more gore the better. Being a fan of the original, I was excited to see the new treatment of Wes Craven's debut movie from the 1970s, The Last House On The Left. The original Craven shocker is banned in some countries and considered one of the most relentlessly brutal movies of all time. Many Last House fans were probably a bit disappointed to hear that a more modernized remake was on the way.

The idea of remakes is, to me, very understandable. A director sees a movie that he loves, and wishes to give it his own spin and make it the way HE would have wanted it made. Unfortunately, many remakes do not come close to surpassing the original, and that's what makes The Last House On The Left remake so special. This is a seriously good remake.

The opening scene sets the tone... a criminal on the run finally captured, being taken away in a police car. Then, in an obviously planned attack, this criminal escapes from the cops with the help of his still-free partners. Both cops suffer a brutal death in a scene disturbing enough to set the tone for the rest of the movie. At this point, a rasther talkative lady next to me in the theatre remarked "I didn't think it was going to be this violent".... oh Lady, this is nothing. I was curious to see what she would say when the REALLY brutal stuff started happening.

We are now introduced to the Collingwood Family, a husband, wife, and 17 year old daughter making their way to a remote vacation house in the woods. Mari Collingwood, portrayed by young actress Sara Paxton begs her parents to let her meet up with her best friend Paige, take the car, and spend the remainder of the day with her. The parents reluctantly agree, give Mari the keys to the family vehicle, and send her on her way.

Paige has got ideas. Mari is an athletic swimmer with a bright future, and Paige is a rebellious teenager with a love of marijuana. Paige pressures Mari into buying some marijuana with her, and they find the perfect guy for the job. Justin, a quiet, almost timid young man, promises them a good time with some grade-A stuff he's got back at his motel room. The girls join him, and what happens next sends us spiriling into another hour and a half of relentless sadistic and brutal behaviour. As it turns out, Justin's father is quite the familiar face. Remember the criminal in the police car and his partners I was talking about earlier? Yeah...

As the movie progresses, we witness some gut-wrenching performances by the whole cast, especially in the Forest Scene which features torture, brutal violence, and the famous and often discussed Rape Scene. The rape scene, in particular, was strong. As I've said, I love extreme movie violence and gore... my mind literally knows no limit when viewing this sort of thing. The rape scene bothered me. It seems to go on forever, and was brilliantly constructed... Sara Paxton as the victim of this act is excellent, proving she can take on such a challenging scene with admirable skill. Her desperate cries for help and of helplessness are nothing short of chilling, and really make us care and feel for what we are seeing. Cinematography-wise, this scene was well done... nothing explicit is shown at all, yet it's more disturbing than an explicit rape scene would be. This is primarily thanks to the incredible performances of the cast. I know it sounds very bizarre to speak about rape with praise, and it is... to applaud a scene of this nature normally WOULD sound disgusting, but in this case, the scene was executed with such precision skill that it's hard not to praise it. Still, there is not one sane person on this planet, I'm sure, that will not be bothered by this scene. At the screening I was in, there were multiple walkouts. Be forewarned. The lady next to me (remember, the talkative one?) was sitting there, repeatedly muttering "stupid movie, stupid movie" during this scene. She was clearly bothered.

What happens next, I'll leave generally for you to experience for yourselves. I WILL say this... the sociopaths in this film don't get off easily. What would YOU do if you were Mari Collingwood's parent, blindly let the people who raped and tortured her into your house, then discovered the truth? In the case of this movie, they do things involving knives, long wooden objects, and sink garbage disposals. That's all I will say.

Overall, being what it is, Dennis Iliadis' intense remake of a classic exercise in brutality is admirable. Very well shot, skillfully directed, and increasingly unsettling, this deserves praise. The excellent cast also deserves lots of praise, the standouts being Sara Paxton (who has taken a HUGE leap in her acting) and Garret Dillanhunt as Krug, the sociopathic criminal. He's frighteningly realistic in his role.

This being my first movie review, I hope it was clear enough. On a One to Ten Scale, the 2009 remake of The Last House On The Left get's an 8 from me. Very well done.

Michael Kras

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Michael Kras
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Reuben The Great · Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 245

This was your first? What about all the thousands of--

Oh right, that was for Bruce Springsteen

I honestly didn't read any of it except the rape scene part, I hate scary movies in general, hate being on the edge of my seat to watch people get cut up or raped, doesn't seem right to me.

PS: How do you honestly find time to write reviews this long?!
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Michael Kras · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:45 am Post subject:

I for one LOVE that stuff... not the idea of it, obviously, just to watch it in movies Smile

. Something so thrilling about over-the-top sadistic violence, call me crazy.

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Michael Kras
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