Let me start off by saying I have never seen Wes Craven‘s original. I have heard about it, but never seen it. But the 2009 version is not scary and won’t make you jump. However, it will make you cringe and turn away from the screen in disgust. Director Dennis Iliadis‘s The Last House on the Left is not focused on scares, but on brutality and suspense.
The story is fairly simple. A family goes out to their lake house, or the last house on the left, and their daughter, Mari (Sara Paxton), leaves the house and will never be the same again. John and Emma (Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter) find their daughter practically dead after being abused and raped. Soon they find out who did this and want to get revenge. The catch to all this is the people who did it are in the family’s home.
The movie is violent and brutal. There is lots of blood and the rape scene is almost uncomfortable to watch. The people who do these attacks are sick characters who kill for no reason. You find that out right at the beginning of the movie. But since you already know what kind of movie you are seeing, the revenge of the parents is cool. You understand the people who did this to their daughter and they must suffer the consequences. And suffer they shall!
This movie is good for what it tries to accomplish. The movie tries to push the boundaries as far as violence and abuse goes. This is not for everyone. It will be tough for some people to watch. But this movie entertains and is suspenseful. It keeps building and building until the puzzle is completed and the revenge begins. Most horror fans will have no problem with this movie because it delivers on what it promises, and it doesn’t try to be anything it’s not.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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