Last House on The Left (2009)

The Last House On The Left is a remake of a 1972 movie by director Wes Craven. If you’re in your thirties then the original movies is more than likely to be one of the most notorious movies of our time. Banned in many countries it took until 2009 until the movie could be appreciate uncut in most countries. Following hot on the heels of the uncut release came this 2009 remake, a film that pretty much snuck up on most people.

When Mari (Sara Paxton) and her parents John (Tony Goldwyn) and Emma (Monica Potter) plan a blissful time away at their holiday home, all Mari wants is to spend time away with her lifelong friend Paige. Although a little reluctant the couple soon agree to let Mari go off to be with her friend. Joining Paige in her place of work the couple stumble across Justin, an emotionally disturbed teenager who offers to take them home and supply them with drugs on the condition that Paige turns a blind eye on age restricted products. What Mari and Paige are unaware of however is that Justin is the son of a notorious killer who while being transported to a high security prison is set free by his brother Francis, and girlfriend Sadie. When Justin’s father Krug and his followers meet up with Mari and Paige it’s a sorry tale for the two girls, with a very final ending; but for John and Emma revenge is the only solution.

I won’t deny I have never been a fan of the original movie, its okay tolerable viewing but its story was just too simplistic and combined with fairly inferior direction skills by the then unknown Wes Craven, the movie just did not rest easy with me. I just found it too over-hyped and under developed. Now I appreciate that purists will condemn me for this, but I have to say I actually prefer the 2009 remake.  From the offset it takes some of the simplicity out of the story, developing the characters and their relationships, so that you find it easier to relate to some of the characters. Things that took place in the original were often without motive, or at least so it seemed. With this remake all the actions make a lot more sense. But with these positives raised, I have to say its still failing in a lot of areas.

The biggest failing I found with the movie was the terrible continuity, I appreciate in small enclosed sets its often difficult to match up various scenes; but it seems little attention has been given at all to the movie. While continuity in the open against a woodland backdrop was fine, when the action moves to a house where Krug and his clan meet up with Mari’s parents having performed unspeakable acts on their daughter, things just lose their glimmer. Characters in close proximity often end up being a fair distance apart when camera angles change. In a by the sink fight one of the characters suffers varying degrees of being wet with no continuity between the two. Similar acts of bad matching up of shots continue to through the rest of the movie; now I know this might seem quite petty, but by the movies end it grows to become really annoying.

One thing Wes Craven did manage in the original was to disgust us with the ordeal that Mari and Paige endure. I have concerns that this remake aims to titillate more than anything else. Mari is frequently shot from up-skirt, and a lot of scenes seem to require her to be caught in her underwear. A lot of attention is spent on her getting dressed after a shower. During a rape scene the camera seems to levitate that little bit too long. While the rape scene is rather long, it feels very clinical and not a dirty sordid experience as it was depicted in the original. Krug and co. are also a little bit too clean for my liking, in the original they really looked dirty and unpleasant.

Its nice to see both Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter back on screen, it seems like such a long time ago that these two very talented actors did anything. In fairness their acting talents are fairly wasted here, but I think the big deal was that they were both one-time big names, and help draw a level of credibility to the movie. That is of course before you see it!

Yes this time round the movie is better, its more expertly crafted; but its still got a lot missing. There is still much work to be done, and I suspect that before I shuffle off this mortal coil that we might be subjected to another remake of the movie. One thing in my mind is for sure however if I had to watch either of the two again in the foreseeable future this will be the version I’d watch even despite its monumental flaws.