By Ben Bussey and Keri O’Shea
Here at Brutal As Hell, we have at least one bona fide Last House on the Left scholar in our midst: our beloved Nia, who penned a fairly epic tribute to Wes Craven’s breakthrough movie on its 40th anniversary in 2012. However, just to balance things out, the BAH staff also has at least two Last House novices: Keri and myself. Yes, the editors of a site called Brutal As Hell have, until now, been almost totally ignorant of one of the most reputedly brutal films ever made, beyond its reputation.
However, the current UK tour of a rare original print of The Last House on the Left – organised by 35mm devotees Cigarette Burns, and Psychotronic Cinema – presented a unique opportunity to not only educate ourselves, but hopefully have a viewing experience close to what was originally intended. Here, in brief – and with some spoilers – are our reactions…
Ben: So – this past Saturday night we attended a screening of The Last House on the Left at Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds, second stop of the tour that Cigarette Burns are doing with their rare 35mm print. We should get this out of the way and thereby end our horror cred forever in the eyes of many – it was the first time you’d ever seen it, and only the second time for me.
Keri: Yep – it was one of those films I knew of, could describe the plot and even name the characters, but – I’d never seen it. And, actually, I enjoyed it far more than I was expecting.
Ben: My feelings are quite mixed. It’s notorious for being one of the nastiest, most extreme films ever made – and put in the context of early 70s cinema, the horror genre in particular, it’s not hard to see how it would have been considered that way back then. But I’m not sure if it still has that sort of power today.
Keri: I still felt like it packed a punch – even though it has wildly inept moments throughout, i.e. whenever those cops are on screen. But in terms of indiscriminate, senseless violence, LHOTL certainly delivers – though I accept that I’m probably looking at the film in terms of its place in horror history too.
Ben: For me, it was less disturbing than it was disorienting – and it was absolutely the sudden shifts from wanton cruelty to slapstick buffoonery that did it. The very end, for instance (spoiler warning): Dad’s just chainsawed Krug to death, freeze frame – then end credits set to that comedy Chas & Dave-style music. You can’t help laughing – but it’s not so much from amusement as bewilderment. A genuine WTF moment, of which the film has many.
Keri: Yep, tonally I can’t see that Craven knew what he was doing. Slapstick ordeal horror? Well, that didn’t quite take off…
Ben: Yeah, it’s a very peculiar contrast. It’s one thing for a grueling film to have moments of levity, but this was pushing it. I have to assume it was intended as some sort of pointed effort to further emphasise the cruelty of what Krug and his gang were up to – showing how oblivious the rest of the world was. Maybe that was part of Craven’s Vietnam metaphor; how much of America was blinkering itself to the horror of what was going on. But that’s me rationalising it intellectually, knowing what Craven and umpteen others have said about the film since; as a viewer going in blind I doubt I would have made such an association, and the comedy elements would have just seemed a huge lapse in judgement.
Keri: It must have seemed an odd fish to viewers at the time… I mean, how recent is the common consensus that the film was a commentary on Vietnam? It seems pretty well understood/accepted now. But was it at the time?
Ben: I honestly don’t know. It mostly played flea pits and drive-ins, didn’t it? I can’t imagine it attracted too many high brow dissections on release.
Unless I missed it, I don’t remember them ever directly referring to Vietnam in the movie. Though they do make more explicit reference to the end of flower power, what with the girls going to see a band called Blood Lust, and the mother saying, “I thought you were supposed to be the love generation? What’s with all the violence?” Or words to that effect. Obvious Alice Cooper reference there too – the mother mentions chickens being killed onstage, I think.
Keri: Dr. Collingwood mentions ‘being in the barracks’, though it’s not clear for which conflict – could easily have been World War II, considering he looks to be in his fifties. I always wonder how much these social commentary ideas develop over time, rather than being purposeful.
That said, I did think that Phyllis’ near-escape and then how she’s cut down in a cemetery – where others have had decent burials but where she will not – is telling. That could relate to a lost generation. Like, the old rules or ways of doing things surrounding death had to be forgone in Vietnam – no headstone, nothing. But then, again, is that me making that fit with the film? That’s one of the issues around dissecting films of this nature, I guess!
Ben: I get your point. And yeah, I do wonder sometimes if having an interest in film history is actually a hindrance in approaching some films, because it keeps you from engaging on a basic viewer level. I don’t mean that as a slur on less informed viewers, but rather that we should be able to engage with a film on our own terms – and on the film’s own terms for that matter. However, with something like Last House, we’re immediately considering its role in bridging the gap between Night of the Living Dead and Texas Chain Saw Massacre, ushering in the new era of horror; we’re immediately relating it to the later works of Wes Craven and producer Sean Cunningham. (Heh, I said ‘I get your point’…)
Keri: Nice work! * But yes, it can be hard to disengage horror genre mode – and just watch the damn film…
Ben: Staying in horror genre mode – it is interesting to note the differing paths Craven and Cunningham went on to take, notably in creating the two dominant horror franchises of the 80s in Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Cunningham’s franchise was just pure blood and sensationalism, whilst Craven’s was more interested in the subtle nuances of terror, and symbolism. Last House could, I suppose, be said to balance those elements.
Keri: Yeah I guess so – LHOTL was where two different disciplines got going. It’s notably not a bloody film, either – a bit like Texas Chain Saw. You assume it’s grisly, but it’s assumption only.
Ben: That said – I gather it wasn’t an uncut version we saw, nor was it uncut when I saw it however-many years ago. I’ve seen clips which showed intestines being pulled out, and that moment definitely wasn’t in there.
Keri: Ah, yes, I remember you saying about this on the night… Still, considering the screentime many slashers dedicate to gore, it’s still a case of less is more generally. (Slashers as an example of what followed, of course.)
Ben: It’s more about the psychological cruelty. I don’t think it has quite that same relentless heart-thumping quality that Chain Saw has – but I think it tops it in sheer mean-spiritedness.
Keri: ‘Mean spirited’ is a good description.
Ben: I mean, the one really horrible moment that sticks in my head is Krug saying “piss your pants.”
Keri: Yeah – humiliating someone, that always has more of an impact than anything else. And of course Hess does it so well.
Ben: Oh yeah. Again falling into horror geek mode (kinda hard not to, what can I say), one can sort of see the roots of Craven’s Freddy Kruger there, in that for all his repulsiveness there’s something strangely, unnervingly compelling and attractive about him. (Plus the fact that the name ‘Kruger’ was indeed derived from ‘Krug.’ Dig that, trivia fans.)
Keri: Gravitas, definitely. And then he went on to more or less play the same role again in The House on the Edge of the Park, so he cornered the market there.
Ben: And of course he did the music too – the gentler, more haunting stuff as well as the comedy Chas & Dave number. The soundtrack seems to have almost as big a cult reputation as the film itself in recent years.
Keri: It was cool to see a LHOTL merch stall at the cinema! There’s something so cool about incongruous horror soundtracks. I’ve been humming ‘The Road Leads to Nowhere’ for days…
Ben: I thought it was ‘the road to nowhere ends in Leeds…’ Thank you, I’m here all week. But seriously, I agree! Far better than the crash-bang-wallop soundtracks we so often get nowadays; soothing music against horrific material can have such an eerie effect.
Alas we’re running low on time, so we best wrap this up simply: when all ‘s said and done, did you like Last House on the Left?
Keri: I did. I thought it had more going on than I’d anticipated, and above all else it was great to see the film as it was intended – a late night screening at a cinema, so kudos to Cigarette Burns for making it so.
Ben: Agreed. Getting to see a film from a pre-video era in its original format, and on a big screen, is a sadly rare treat these days, and one we should embrace when the opportunity arises. While my feelings remain mixed about the film itself, I’m definitely grateful for the experience.
Keri: Amen to that!
Cigarette Burns’ Last House on the Left tour continues with screenings at Duke of York’s, Brighton on the 13th September; Cameo, Edinburgh on the 18th; the Showroom, Sheffield on the 23rd (in association with Celluloid Screams); and the GFT in Glasgow on the 30th.
* If you think this is childish, you should have heard how loudly we sniggered when the end credits revealed the father was played by an actor named ‘Gaylord.’