LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT -ULTIMATE EDITION

Pretty Mari (Sandra Cassel) celebrates her seventeenth birthday by going to a rock concert with her friend Phyllis (Lucy Grantham). Mari's parents - the well-to-do Doctor Collingwood (Richard Towers) and his middle-aged wife Estelle (Cynthia Carr) - are a tad perturbed, as they don't approve of her mixing with roguish Phyllis. They think the partnership will lead to bother …

As it does, when Phyllis leads Mari down a dark street after the concert hoping to score some cannabis. What they find instead is junkie Junior (Marc Sheffler), hanging around stoned on the entrance steps of a terraced house. He invites the girls in where they become captives of escaped convicts Krug (David Hess) and Weasel (Fred Lincoln), and their fiery accomplice Sadie (Jeramie Rain) …

It's a brief synopsis because I'm fairly certain everyone who frequents this site has already seen this gem (if not there are more comprehensive reviews of the film itself in the "Reviews" section of this site, including my own review of the MGM R1 disc). What we have here is Wes Craven's directorial debut and undisputedly one of the key American horror films of the 1970s.

What follows for Mari and Phyllis is, of course, the stuff of legend - copied numerous times, most recently by David De Falco's CHAOS, a film that upped the gore (there's surprisingly little in Craven's film) but expertly demonstrated how impossible it is to match the original in terms of discomfort and sleaze.

Whatever it is - be it the raw, in-your-face handheld documentary-style camerawork or the grainy 16mm look, or the untamed performances of Hess, Lincoln and Rain, LAST HOUSE retains it's power to shock and disturb after more than three decades of offending censors everywhere.

It's message stands more timely now than ever before - all violence is deplorable, regardless of the motive behind it - and it's enduring influence lies in it's uncompromising tone as much as it's content. There is no catharsis on this road to Hell. Despite a few ill-fitting moments of mirth (a couple of bungling cops; the banter shared between the unwitting Collingwoods as they prepare Mari's birthday celebrations) and an arguably stupid plot twist midway through, this is gruelling and unremitting fare. A true classic.

But then you know that. I could waffle on about Hess's bug-eyed menace, Lincoln's aura of genuine scuzziness, the beautifully tranquil score (by Hess) uncannily juxtaposed atop scenes of humiliation and torment … its all old news. So, on to what matters with this release …

A year ago, if you'd have told me that the UK would seen an uncut 3-disc Special Edition DVD of LAST HOUSE I'd have said you were pulling my pud. Carl Daft would've most likely knocked you out. More on that later …

Disc 1 of the 3-disc set does indeed contain the full uncensored version of the film, available legally in uncut form for the first time in the UK. The film is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and looks on a par with previous MGM and Anchor Bay releases. Images are a tad soft and some grain is evident, but colours fare well and it's umpteen times better than the film ever looked on video. It is as good as a 34-year-old 16mm film is likely to look on DVD.

The English 2.0 audio track is also a sturdy affair, offering nice balance between music and dialogue. Clear and hiss-free. There are no subtitles, and those hankering for 5.1 or DTS mixes will be disappointed.

The animated main menu is an attractive affair, offering a montage of scenes from the film while "The Road Leads To Nowhere" plays over the top. From here, you can access a static scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 12 chapters.

Extras on disc 1 begin with two audio commentary tracks: the first is from Craven and producer Sean S Cunningham; the second comes courtesy of co-stars Hess, Sheffler and Lincoln. Both have been available previously. The Craven track is the more cautious of the two, the filmmakers sounding almost embarrassed at times. But now and again they allow themselves a giggle, and ultimately offer an element of begrudging respect to this "troublesome" film. Hess and co provide a much louder, laughter-filled talk track.

"Celluloid Crime of the Century" is the 39-minute documentary that was very slickly produced by Blue Underground for Anchor Bay's fine 2-disc SE a few years back. We've seen it before but it's still a great watch. Let's face it, Hess being Hess is ALWAYS great to watch. Craven is academic on screen as ever.

"Scoring Last House", again, is a BU production that's been previously available. In this 10 minute featurette, we join Hess at home (note the Christmas tree in the background!) as he sings a few tunes and discusses the film's songs. Both featurettes are presented in 16x9 enhanced 1.78:1.

Next up is "Krug Conquers England", the interesting home-movie-style 25-minute featurette from a few years back that marked the film's first legal uncut screening theatrically in the UK. Hess is on hand to sign autographs and speak some more about the film's eternal appeal, as is Gunnar Hanson (Leatherface) who has a few choice wise words to share on the matter of the UK censors.

As with the above, the following 11 minutes of silent footage from Craven's early unfinished project "Tales That'll Rip Your Heart Out" has also been previously made available on Anchor Bay UK's fine set. Still, as grainy and soft as it is, it's still a welcome addition here.

15 minutes of outtakes/dailies footage is next. Although unfortunately this silent footage does not include the infamous "entrail-ripping" footage (the R1 MGM disc does though).

Finally, we get the original American cinema trailer, a TV spot and two radio spots.

Disc 1 is defaulted to open with a trailer for French horror THEM.

Disc 2 opens with the same nice animated menu that graces disc 1. Here we get the uncut version of KRUG AND CO - an alternate workprint cut of the film that previously featured on the Anchor Bay SE. Presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 with English mono audio, it's in considerably worse shape than the version on disc 1 - although the specks and grain don't harm a grindhouse film of LAST HOUSE's stature.

For completists only, KRUG AND CO is basically different only in title, and a brief scene where Mari is found alive by her parents. A static scene-selection menu allows access via 12 chapters.

Now, for the exclusive extras that have piqued the interest of fans:

First up, "Never Before Seen Footage". Copyrighted 2008 and credited as having been sourced from Roy Frumkes' archives, this is 5-and-a-half minutes of silent footage presented in full-frame. Most of it is outtakes and alternate takes of Mari's ordeal in the woods. And yes, most of it involves Sadie performing cunnilingus on the helpless teenager. It's not particularly graphic - we basically see the back of Sadie's head rummaging around in Mari's hairy bush. Phyllis is also forced to have a go.

The other exclusive extra is a 21-minute interview with Carl Daft, he of Blue Underground/Exploited/Severin.

Daft talks to the screen about how he first came across LAST HOUSE on video in the late 1980s, how it left a huge impression on him. The enduring influences it carries and - of course - his woes trying to get the film released uncut a few years back in the UK. He's not a big fan of the BBFC, shall we say.

Disc 3 offers the superbly produced documentary GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER FILM.

A slick and tightly edited celebration of mainly US-bred slashers (the instrumental Giallo genre gets an all-too-brief nod), this offers a plethora of interesting "talking head" interviews with top genre bods - Tom Savini, John Carpenter, Stan Winston, Greg Nicotero, Wes Craven, Rob Zombie, Sean S Cunningham etc - alongside plenty of clips from the films we love so much.

With this being a documentary focusing on slasher films, you'd expect those clips to wallow in gory highlights, right? And, for the most part, they do!

Not only does the film devote time to recognised classic such as A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH, it also broadens it's horizons and takes in smaller gems such as PIECES, THE PROWLER, WHEN A STRANGER CALLS and MY BLOODY VALENTINE.

It's an immensely entertaining ride, and clearly a labour of love for its creator Adam Rockoff. My only quibble is that perhaps the equally enjoyable THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE would have been better suited to this set.

Presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 and with English 2.0 audio, the film looks and sounds great. Optional English Hard-of-Hearing subtitles are also available here.

A static scene-selection menu allows access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

Extras include an enthusiastic filmmakers' commentary track; extended interviews with sex genre luminaries (the most notable being Bob Clark and the aforementioned Winston); two quizzes related to slasher films - one easy and one "harder"; a true or false quiz; a written message from Rockoff (5 pages of text); the original trailer.

But … almost all of the stuff in this set (including GOING TO PIECES and it's own extras) has been previously released. What's more, one of the extras that featured on previous releases is conspicuous by its absence: where's the dailies footage of the infamous entrail-tearing scenes? But what we do have is THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, finally available uncut in the UK - in a 3-disc Ultimate Edition package, no less. The cover artwork is simply lovely and the inclusion of the superb GOING TO PIECES is most welcome.

Review by Stuart Willis