Dennis Iliadis’ revenge film in 2009 “The Last House on the left” talks about husband (Sara Paxton), a young woman who, while dragging with her friend Paige (Martha Macisaac), is brutally kidnapped by a group of prisoners recently escaped (Garrett Dillahunt, Aaron Paul, Riki Lindhome, Spencer Treat Clark). The prisoners are trying to leave with their victims, but there are a crash in the car when husband and paige begin to retaliate, having them accidentally crash into a tree. By avenging, the prisoners stabbed, sexually attack, then shoot their captives.
In search of a shelter, prisoners arrive in a local lake house … Not knowing that it belongs to the parents of husband (Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter). Of course, this is only a matter of time before this last duo discovers what is happening and discovers what the prisoners have done to husband (who, in the end, is still alive). Will parents have the temerity and the means to apprehend or kill their daughter’s attackers?
“The Last House on the left” was a remake of the film of the same title of Wes Craven in 1972, updated for a modern aesthetic. The film by Iliadis is smooth and pictorial, while the low budget release from Craven is hard and grainy and generated a lot of controversy at the time. The two films were also extrapolated from Ingmar Bergman’s film in 1960 “The Virgin Spring”, in which the parent characters were placid, pacifist Christians and their daughter was murdered. Bergman’s film transforms blood revenge into a moral dilemma, which is not a requirement for supposed horror film. Craven’s film, in comparison, has an element of moral indignation and nihilism, stressing that horrible people hurt others without reason. The film of Iliadis, however, is more a potboiler and ends with someone who sautés their heads in a microwave oven.
Consequently, it was a bit surprising when the horror author Stephen King scored the remake of the “last house on the left” as one of the best films of 2009 in a room for which he wrote Weekly entertainment. He did not stop there either, going so far as to compare her favorably to the he’s his own controversial horror of Jonathan Demme, “The Silence of the Lambs”.
Stephen King likes the remake of the last house on the left
King, as mentioned, was asked by EW to write a list of the best films of 2009, and his choices were … unconventional. Some of his films have received critical praise and even drawn the attention of prices; He loved “District 9” and “The Reader” and even wrote that the best possible film by Kathryn Bigelow Oscars “The Hurt Locker” was the best film of the year. But it was clear that King also loved salar exploitation films and general gender films, because he also sang the praises of silly Clunkers like “Law Enpial Citizen”, “2012” and the remake of “The Take of Pelham 123.” King is perhaps a master of horror, but he does not always have the most refined taste.
That said, he defended “the last left house”, arguing that it improved considerably on the original Wes Craven film. He appreciated that there was no moral dilemma in remake, loving his philosophy that blood revenge is natural and expected. He also praised Sharone Meir’s cinematography and Paul’s game, writing:
“Easily the brightest remake of the decade, and not only because the original of 1972 was such a crapfest. This beautifully photographed film – but difficult to watch – is the norm by which all horror / suspense films should be judged: the game is superior (Paul is particularly good), the story does not make sense, and, above all, moral places of the last house, we do not want these sequences.The silence of the lambs. ‘”
King seems to have missed the point of Craven’s film, which is that blood revenge is neither easy and expected nor a moral necessity (which was also the thesis of “The Virgin Spring” by Bergman). But he certainly loved the dark horrors of the film and the Catharsis to watch the bad guys being slaughtered. However, he was one of the few criticisms to take advantage of it; The film has only 42% approval on Rotten tomatoes Otherwise.
