An exciting night
Beauty and harmony are in simplicity. Dennis Iliadis' Last House on the Left, being a remake of the 1972 film Wes Craven of the same title, is the most perfect proof of this thesis. The story can be summarized in two sentences: a group of murderers, fleeing the police, rapes and murders two young girls. Then, the shelters seeking shelter from the storm unlucky end up in the family home of one of the victims ... It is worth noting that this feature pattern was used in the cinema for the second time. As one of the first, the story of bloody revenge (less impressive, because in black and white and without bloody special effects) was brought to the screen by the master - Ingmar Bergman. His "Source" (1960) is a parable of crime and punishment embedded in medieval realities.
The magnificent work impresses with its operator's skill and composition of the frame in its simplicity. In the '70s, the above-mentioned Wes Craven, in the future the leading representative of the B-class horror, reached for the archetypal plot, setting it perfectly in the American realities of the era of contestation and counterculture. His "Last Home on the Left", the prototype of the film, caused a scandal.
The director was accused of excessive escalation of violence and showing drastic events in a direct manner, without any commentary. For those times, Craven created a strong and courageous work. From today's perspective, given the development of cinematographic techniques, the debut film from 1972 strikes with a lack of professionalism, which over time will become a special sign of the "underground" variety of horror and thriller movies. "The last house on the left" was a warning to young people capable of the wildest behavior. Over time, the film was labeled "cult".
However, there is nothing to rave about.
The "cult" of this production results not so much from the originality of the idea as the way of its transposition. The 1970s showed increased portrayal of violence scenes in the film, as evidenced by the American variety of cinema - the sub-genre of "exploitation movies" - the American term for low-budget films, most often amateur, overloaded with eroticism bordering on explicit pornography and excessive violence. The genesis of this subspecies, or rather the trend in cinematography, should be traced in the United States as early as the 1960s. A well-known representative and pioneer of this sub-variety is Tobe Hooper with his "infamous" "Texas chainsaw massacre" from 1974. On the basis of the phenomenon of "exploitation" (which was very popular in Germany and Italy in the 70s), Meir Zarchi implements the self-styled "classic of the genre" "I spit on your grave."
Taking full handfuls from the current discussed above, this film falls into yet another type of cinema, often called the genre of "rape & revenge stories" ("stories of rape and revenge").
The commercial success of 'I spit on your grave' resulted in the implementation of the second part, which, unfortunately, made no sense. top streaming websites like fmovies The cinema of exploitation and "rape & revenge stories" are a cinematic (or in fact underground) response to the political instability of the United States engaged in warfare in Vietnam. "The last house on the left" could successfully promote slogans like: what would happen if there were no parents in our homes? Who would hurry to save their children then? Who would save them from the evil that lurks nearby? In this case, Thriller is the best field to express anxiety and dissatisfaction. The drastic form only enhances the power of communication (which is not the rule, because everyone reacts differently to the violence present on the screen). Nevertheless, the remake of Wes Craven's film, realized with his support (script and production), by Dennis Iliadis surprises the consistency of the action and its pace.
What's more, "The last house on the left" is longer than the original by almost 20 minutes. If we were to summarize the plot of the film, taking into account the emotions on the screen and in the audience, the proportions would be as follows: 10 minutes of introduction and setting up of the action, followed by one and a half hours of regular slaughterhouse. It is worth emphasizing, violence is shown here in all its "splendor", without cuts and pardon. Iliadis knows his stuff. His "Last Home on the Left" is suspenseful until the last minute, and the level of implementation is extremely high and beats the debut production of his co-screenwriter. "Last house on the left" A.D.
2009 is a position that you cannot pass by indifferently. Craven promotes solid and strong cinema, giving hope for the renewal of the genre and emotions at the highest level ..
