The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Films

Last House on the Left 1972

Yet another Wes Craven remake is released this weekend, this time being his 1972 film “Last House on The Left.” While I am a big fan of Craven’s overall, I did not care for the original Last House – the prolonged rape and torture scenes were tough to stomach, and then there seemed to be a separate wanna-be comedy going on with the police officers that was just out of place in a film so grim. Yes, it can be argued they were there to provide relief from the rougher material, and relief would have been welcome, but it was just as unfunny as the rest of the film was unpleasant.

Surprisingly though, Roger Ebert championed the film stating “LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is a tough, bitter little sleeper of a movie that’s about four times as good as you’d expect…” I dunno about that Rog!

That being said, I am not as up-in-arms about this remake as I sometimes am about remakes – after all, the original was a quasi-remake of Bergman’s “The Virgin Springs” to begin with. What I am curious about though is how this material will be handled in 2009.

The (original) plot consists of two girls being raped, humiliated, beaten and murdered by a band of convicts (ex, or escaped, I don’t recall), who then in turn find themselves in the home of one the girls’ parents who systematically torture and murder them. Murder and torture is definitely on the Hollywood menu these days, so I see that aspect of the film being amped up and grisly as can be.

It is the sexual violence in the  film that I see being being the problem in the remake. It is no longer 1972, and rape in Hollywood films has been pretty much absent from horror movies for a long, long time. (An exception being the remake of Craven’s “The Hills Have Eyes”) It had been an element in exploitation films back in the day, but the subject is now mostly only touched by serious dramas that give the subject the gravity it should be given.

Last House on the Left 2009

I can not see the remake having the exploitative, prolonged scenes of sexual violence the original has. And i really hope it doesn’t. The movies has been Rated R for sadistic brutal violence including a rape and disturbing images, language, nudity and some drug use. The fact that it received it’s R is pretty indicative the rape scene will not go on and on as it did in the original. And who really wants to see that anyhow? Then again, I would not have thought we would ever see the exploitative prolonged scenes of torture and mutilation that is so common in horror films anymore either, and yet films like “Hostel”, “Saw” and even the remake of Craven’s” The Hills Have Eyes” have all done very well.

I hope a strong box-office weekend for Last House doesn’t convince any half-witted producer that the time for remakes of “I Spit on Your Grave” or “Ms .45” has come!

Ratings:

• Wes Craven –
• The Original Last House on the Left –

Oops! Seems the half-wits are ahead of me… While searching for links I came across an IMDB page for a 2009 “I Spit on Your Grave.” No details on it yet though. One can hope it’s not a remake but something with the same title – a Disney production perhaps?!? ¦¬)