#11. The Last House On The Left [2009]

" If bad people hurt someone you love, how far would you go to hurt them back? "



USA [110m] Directed by : Dennis Iliadis, Written by : Screenplay: Carl Ellsworth, Adam Alleca 1972 Screenplay : Wes Craven Music : John Murphy Cinematography : Sharone Meir Starring : Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Spencer Treat Clark, Martha MacIsaac, Sara Paxton

The Last House on the Left is a 2009 American horror film directed by Dennis Iliadis and written by Carl Ellsworth and Adam Alleca. It is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name, and stars Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, and Sara Paxton. The film follows the parents of Mari, who attempt to get revenge on a group of strangers that have taken shelter at their home, and whom they learn have shot their daughter and left her for dead. This film was released on March 13, 2009.

Plot
Two detectives are escorting a criminal to prison when they are ambushed and brutally murdered.Meanwhile, Mari, a 17-year-old student, is on vacation with her mother Emma and her father John, who is a doctor. Mari asks to sleep in the guest house rather than the main house. Mari's brother, Ben, had died a year earlier, and the family is still trying to adjust to his absence; Mari wears a necklace he had given her. She decides to go into town to see her friend Paige, even though Emma is worried. Mari meets Paige at the store where she works. A boy named Justin attempts to buy cigarettes, but Paige does not sell to him because he is underage. Justin says that if they join him at his motel room, he will give them marijuana, so Paige agrees to sell him the cigarettes. Later, they drive to Justin's motel room and Justin and Paige go in, promising Mari they won't take too long. Mari waits in the car, but eventually goes in to find them getting high.

While they are still high, Krug, Justin's dad and the escaped criminal, enters with his accomplices, Sadie and Francis. Krug says it is too risky to let Paige and Mari live. The criminals steal Mari's car and kidnap Mari and Paige. While they are driving, Mari tells Krug to take a route which passes her house. Mari and Paige attempt to escape by burning Sadie with a cigarette light and trying to jump out of the car, but this causes the criminals to crash the car injuring Francis in the process. Paige attempts to escape again, but is stabbed to death. Krug then beats and rapes Mari. After being raped, Mari grabs a rock and hits Krug with it and runs to the lake. Mari begins to swim away from them and all Krug can do is shoot at her. After several shots he hits her in the shoulder and assumes she is dead.

John and Emma are dining when they hear a knock at the door. Krug explains that their car crashed and they need help. Justin goes into the kitchen and sees a picture of Mari on the refrigerator, realizing that the couple are her parents. He leaves Mari's necklace on the counter to warn her parents. Emma shows the guests their room and returns to the house, where they find Mari on the front porch. They rush her inside where John cauterizes her wound and performs surgery on her. Emma finds Mari's necklace while getting towels and realizes the guests are responsible. John also discovers Mari has been raped and they decide to get revenge.

John rushes to the boat house to grab weapons. Francis comes into the house while Emma is gathering more weapons. Emma realizes Mari's picture is still on the fridge and seduces Francis in order to distract him. He then walks into the living room and sees Mari. As he realizes that they are her parents, Emma breaks a bottle over his head. He fights back but John walks in and together they attempt to drown him in the sink. They finally turn on the garbage disposal while his hand is in the sink and hit him with a hammer, killing him. They then go to the guest house where Justin gives his gun to John. Krug and Sadie awaken when John cocks it, but John manages to wound Sadie. Krug escapes but Sadie is killed by Emma. Emma then helps Mari out of the house and onto their boat to hide.

When Krug realizes why John and Emma tried to kill him he taunts John. Justin then holds a gun to his father's head. Mad at himself for being too timid to stop what happened to Paige and Mari, Justin tells his father that he is ending it. However, the gun doesn't fire and Justin is stabbed by Krug. John, with Emma's aid, seem to kill Krug. John and Emma take the boat to get Mari and Justin immediate medical attention. The following morning, Krug wakes up to realize he has survived, but John informs him that he is paralyzed from the neck down. He puts Krug's head in a microwave and, as John leaves, Krug screams while his skull burns and his head explodes.



Of all the horror remakes in recent years -- Friday the 13th, Prom Night, My Bloody Valentine, etc. -- The Last House on the Left seems the least likely to revisit. Not only is its controversial content -- including rape, torture and murder -- difficult to watch, but it also wasn't a huge hit, earning about $3 million in 1972. And unlike the similarly uncomfortable The Hills Have Eyes, which was remade in 2006, there isn't a clan of inbred cannibals to lessen the realism. But as Hollywood eyes every horror film of the past 40 years, I guess it was only a matter of time before they reached an unlikely choice like this.

The Last House on the Left isn't a great film, but it's a worthy retread that offers enough to justify the existence of a remake. It thankfully eliminates the odd slapstick-y element of the original that involved police officers seemingly culled from Hazzard County, and the acting and overall production value is, of course, much more professional.However, it's the gritty, low-budget nature of the original that helped make it so realistic and impactful. The polished remake isn't nearly as grim as the original, but it manages to at least be uncomfortable, if not truly disturbing.

One aspect that hurts the film's impact is the decision to leave Mari alive. In the original,the hoodlums kill her,making her parents' vengeance all the more poignant, powerful and appropriate. Having Mari survive undermines the Collingwoods'motivation for revenge; wouldn't they be more willing to commit murder if they had no children left alive and thus nothing to live for? As it stands, they could be sent to jail, leaving behind a minor daughter to care for herself.

In addition to a certain grit, the remake misses the original movie's reflections of then-contemporary social turmoil, including feminism, class conflict and "white flight" from the cities to the suburbs. The 2009 version is, as remakes tend to be, more shallow, but it deserves credit for not going the total Hollywood route and turning the parents into MacGyver or the A-Team, building extravagant traps out of popsicle sticks and Lemon Pledge.

That said, the parents' actions actually could've used some of Hollywood's typical heavy-handedness. One of my biggest complaints with exploitive revenge flicks like The Last House on the Left is that the villains' comeuppance rarely seems on par with the initial assault, and this remake is no exception. Lacking the hyper-realism of the original, the remake would've been more open to flourishes of over-the-top violence. A tacked-on ending strives in that direction, but by then, it's too late and actually cheapens the film's finale.

Still, the film's structure is refreshing. Though not a unique experience, it's fun in this era of torture porn to see the tables turn on the villains, with the hunters becoming the hunted, the tortured, the maimed and the murdered.