The road leads to nowhere

As I said last week I wanted to rewatch The Last House on the Left before the remake comes out this friday. Managed to finally get down to it last night, which was a strange toss up between that or Slumdog Millionaire (if you can pick 2 more films that conflict with each other you win a prize).



Now I haven't watched The Last House on the Left for a while. I remeber being about 15/16 years old and there was amazing shop in Glasgow called Collectavision, basically if you slipped them a £5 you got your own copy of films that were hard to find or banned at that time. So I remember paying them £20 and I got The Last House on the Left, My Bloody Valentine, Black Christmas and I Drink your Blood. I had seen all the others but I hadn't seen The Last House on the Left. That night I watched it, well I got 20 mins into it and switched it off. I remember thinking it was hokey and badly made. A couple of days later I rewatched it and was pretty much blown away by it, but it had made me feel kinda hollow. I was glad I went beyond the first 20 mins as it get less "Russ Meyersie" and more brutal, not that I'm saying thats what I wanted to see but the tone of the film changed into something that's completely different from it's campy opening.



I totally appriciate the psychology of the film and I think its very much a film of it's time and I think it has the same deep down message that Texas Chainsaw Massacre does (America destroying it own youth) but it does it in a less subtle way. Watching it now I love how the tone changes back and forth between out and out nastiness (rape, murder, guts getting pulled out) to complete slapstick (bumbling cops, chicken coops, cake decorating), it can be a jarring expirience as it crosses over in a way thats like watching 2 films. Also forgot how amazing the music is in the film and had to download the soundtrack straight after.




I know everyone talks about the scene that the killers seems to find remorse in what they have done but it is such a good scene, very powerful. It's rawness is something that I love and miss sometimes. This, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Pink Flamingos have the same vibe. Just this raw creativity behind them. And the thing about Wes Craven, I mean I do like his movies. But for every good one, you get like 12 bad ones. For every Last House, The Hills Have Eyes, Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, Red Eye there is a Hills Have Eyes 2, Deadly Friend, Shocker, Vampire in Brooklyn, Cursed. He can be way to inconsistant. He doesn't respond well to a budget! Like alot of horror directors.

So I'm actually looking forward to the remake as I think it is going to take all the flaws from the original and keep it gritty, nasty and smart. Well I did say I hope