At the time of its release in 1972, Last House on the Left traumatized moviegoers. The tagline, advising viewers to keep repeating “It’s only a movie, it’s only a movie” only served to enhance the illusion that the movie was based on true events. Surely, only a documentary could be this disturbingly graphic, right? Well, in a true testament to how jaded my generation is thanks to the modern-day slasher movie, the movie fails to scare. Specifically, it fails to scare me. Make no mistake, though — the story of two teenage girls who come across violent criminals who torture, rape, and kill them, is without a doubt very disturbing; at times, the movie is hard to watch because the violence aimed at the girls is convincingly visceral. The parents’ revenge is almost as hard to watch in the last third of the movie. While this kind of story can take place at any time, the movie’s soundtrack kept reminding me (annoyingly so) that the movie was made in the early ’70s; a lyricless score would’ve fared much better over the years. But for a low-budget movie, the film definitely makes an impression.
Last House on the Left is probably most notable since it was Wes Craven‘s first writing and directing effort. Craven, of course, has continued to contribute to the horror movie pantheon, bringing us Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street series and the Scream trilogy. While die-hard fans of the modern horror movie scene (like myself) will likely approach the movie with the same jaded attitude I had, it’s definitely worth watching to see how a director as influential and creative as Wes Craven started out.
