Last House on the Left

At last, one of the most important genre films arrives on DVD from France. Wes Craven's 'Last House on the Left' come from nowhere in the early 1970's and took the underground film circuit by storm (albeit not in the fastest manner!), and became a significant turning point in horror movie history.

Movie making partners in crime Wes Craven and Sean Cunningham went on to shake the genre up with their highly succesful 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'Friday the 13th' slasher series, and 'Last House on the Left' really is were it all began.

The story involves young (and innocent) Mari Collingwood and her freind, who whilst on their way to a birthday celebration rock concert are waylaid by a motley crew of deviants led by the twisted Krug (played brilliantly by the underated David Hess). The group abduct the girls, take them out to the woods and in a show of absolute warped cruelty torture and humiliate the girls beyond their worst nightmares. And that's only the beginning...

I first saw 'Last House' many years when first released on video in the UK (by Replay) and was overwhelmed by the power of the film, an experience that I can still remember vividly today. Filmed in an almost documentary style, it really is an awesome viewing experience - at moments whilst the girls are cowering in fear, there is no distancing movie soundtrack - just silence and the sound of a distant dog barking. Yeah, no doubt this was initially accidental that it turned out this way, but boy, does it add the pure tension of the film.

Disturbing, engrossing edge of the seat stuff, 'Last House' has lost none of its impact when viewing again today (even though I've seen the film countless times now). And this debut DVD release is an awesome experience that wont let fans of the film down at all. Print version fetishists may like to note that this version seems to be pretty identical to the old 'strong' Replay version, except with the addition of the bumbling cops scenarios previously missing (and boy does the picture quality look good !!).

Having only seen the old 'Replay' version which is in full screen, this was the first time I had watched the film in the widescreen format (and it's anamorphic to boot !). What a treat, the picture quality is lovely and I really felt as though I was watching it fresh for the first time once again. The audio is mono (both English and French) which comes across nice and clear too. Though you may want to note that the English version has French subtitles, which although it has been reported that some players can disable them, mine's couldn't (though this in no way ruins the viewing pleasure!). Also, though the only real extra is the trailer - wow - it's the 'Last House' trailer, and how much cooler can it get for fans of the film !!

'Last House on the Left' is a fantastic film and an important genre one. This DVD release is splendid (and it's going to be a while til MGM get their act together to relaese their US version), so pick this one up post haste - and dont forget, the road leads to nowhere...