This movie was shocking in 1972. At least that is what those who saw it say. I was one of them. However, in this day and age of blood, guts and horror, this movie is not going to satisfy the modern filmgoer's desire to be shocked.

The premise for "The Last House on the Left" is straight forward. Two girls, Mari and Phyllis, go into town to celebrate Mari's 17th birthday and run into four criminals who have bad intentions. They end up taking the two girls into the woods with intent to rape and murder them. By pure chance, they end up getting taken to the woods across the street from where Mari lives, where her parents are worried waiting for the arrival of there daughter from the previous night. After getting raped, Phyllis tries to escape, get help and get three of the four bad guys away from Mari since she is still a virgin. However, the girl gets caught and is brutally stabbed to death, hacked up by the three. Mari tries to have the fourth guy help her escape. He is the only one with a conscience, but she gets caught, raped, told to walk into the lake in the woods and shot in the head.

The four bad guys--when I say "guys," I do mean three guys and a girl--clean themselves and go to the nearest house to rest. Well, it turns out to be Mari's house, and the parents for some reason, even though they are unacquainted with the visitors, let the killers in and have dinner with them.

Later, the mother sees one of the bad guys wearing Mari's birthday present, a peace symbol on a necklace, and the parents go into the woods and discover Mari's body along the lake. The parents go on a vengeance spree and kill the bad guys.

The movie has a few things which bring it down. Why would the parents be entertaining anyone, let alone strangers, while their 17 year old daughter is missing? How did Mari's body get so far away from the lake? Not to mention, how did her parents find Mari in these woods, even though Phyllis runs for quite sometime and never finds the house or the road before getting killed? Why do you make the cops so completely inept? It makes the movie sappy. If the cops are smart and still unable to get the bad guys, then it gives some credibility to the bad guys and their smarts.

The one actor of note is David Hess, who portrays Krug Stillo, the evil guy who does the rape scene with Mari, played by Sandra Cassel, then shoots her. He is excellent in this role, and quite terrifying in his portrayal of this rapist. He alone keeps this movie from being campy.

I can only imagine the two scenes which made this movie shocking were the rape scene of Mari and the murder of Phyllis. Both have a sense of realism which is unnerving, adding to the fact it was shot in such a way it makes the film look like a documentary. This also adds to the disgust you have for the scenes.

However, there is nothing else in the movie which makes this a horror flick. I don't know how else you can classify this movie, but it is not scary. I will say, the fact these are ordinary people committing these crimes does allow you to realize this is a possible scenario. That is scary.

Commentary on the DVD is provided by Wes Craven, his first movie by the way. It is actually very humorous, and you discover this movie was made with his statement being the peace movement, while a wonderful ideal, is nowhere near reality. His commentary during the rape scene is also very well stated, and I agree with him whole hearted.

This movie will not scare you. I do not advise women to watch this movie for the realism factor, especially if this has happen to you. However, this is not a gore scare, but a psychological scare. By our modern standards, the film's scare factor is mild at best.

Brian - the Naked Gun