The Rough Guide To The Last House On The Left

Posted by on March 13th, 2009   Filed under: Horror, Remakes

To avoid fainting, keep repeating, it’s only a remake… of a remake… of an Ingmar Bergman movie…

With predictions coming in that Watchmen is set to take a tumble this weekend, it’s looking good for those movies opening today that would have otherwise had to deal with a blockbuster in their midst. One such movie is The Last House On The Left, which many may have shrugged off as just another derivative horror film. While a review is forthcoming, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about some of the more interesting aspects of the film’s legacy for the uninitiated.

Some people are probably aware that The Last House On The Left is a remake, but what they may not know is this latest iteration is actually a remake of a remake, if only a slight one. The blueprint for The Last House On The Left was actually Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring, a critically acclaimed drama released in 1960, though the source material was obviously heavily altered.

While many critics of the time slammed Craven’s 1972 version for being pornographic in its violence, what they weren’t aware of was just how close that was to reality. It may be hard to imagine now with the consolidation of theatres into megaplexes and the homogenization of theatrical releases, but there was a time when a low-budget exploitation filmmakers would reap their profits by making the rounds in drive-ins and grindhouse, catering to even the most specialized tastes. One such sub-genre was the ‘roughie’, a type of film that combined hardcore pornography and violence in a way that would make today’s audiences reconsider the misuse of the term “torture porn”.

Various crew members from the 1972 version of The Last House On The Left have come forward with the shocking claim that the movie was originally intended to have hardcore pornography in it, while others have denied it. This theory is supported by the fact that various members of the cast and crew had performed in porno. Instead, a decision was made to stay just shy of hardcore pornography and treat The Last House On The Left as a relatively straight-forward, if controversial, revenge film, a decision that changed the course of horror film history.

From Swedish art house to near-porno to mainstream Hollywood, over the span of five decades, it’s been one long, strange trip to The Last House On The Left.



  • The original LHOTL is one of my favorite movies, it’s campy, cheesy and fun at moments. But at others its dark, gritty, and horrifying. Saying that I still think the remake has alot of potential to make this into a REALLY scarey movie. Dark all the way through, no balding police officers over acting to a hilarious extent. Just a really dark story about what someone would do for revenge if they came face to face with the one that hurt there loved one. LHOTL may be another horror remake, but i’m gonna go out on a limb and say this will be nothing like Friday the 13th. This movie dosen’t catter to the audience that those movies do. It’s a timeless tale of revenge that I think can be told over and over and over. I’m very excited for this movie.

  • It is so surreal to me to think that Wes Craven intended hardcore porn scene in the original, but its deffinetly true. There is the ambigious lesbian scene that was eventually cut never to see the light of day again. I guess his conscience got the best of him.

  • swarez

    Not so surreal since Craven started out in porn.
    There were some sex scenes filmed, well maybe more nudity rather than sex scenes but were never used, images from those scenes were used in the promotional material for the film overseas.

    Interesting note to Kurt, Baltasar Kormakur wrote a treatment for the remake and he was in talks to direct, even borrowed my copy of The Virgin Spring for the job. I guess his take was too arthouse for the production company.

  • Trent Ames

    Wintle…have you seen chaos?

  • I haven’t seen Chaos, Trent, though I’m familiar with its connection to The Last House On The Left. I didn’t include it because if I did I felt I would have to include other Last House knock-offs. Is Chaos any good?

  • Trent Ames

    No it’s not good lol but It’s something that I watched just because of its connection. Chaos is literally a complete rip-off. It was originally a Last House remake but the director thought it was strong enough on its own. Check out the poster, it’s the last house poster down to the tagline of It’s Only a Movie.

  • Did Craven really start in porn? That’s crazy. I watched the behind the scenes for last house and he said he regreted filming the lesbian scene. I wonder how he feels about his porn days.

  • @Swarez:”Interesting note to Kurt, Baltasar Kormakur wrote a treatment for the remake and he was in talks to direct, even borrowed my copy of The Virgin Spring for the job”

    That is pretty bloody awesome, I’d have loved to see an art house take on things (a la Funny Games), and I do dig Kormakur’s particular style. Not meant to be I guess. Anyone seen the remake? Part of the original Appeal of Last House on the Left is its verite vibe. I can’t imagine that that survives the ‘glossing up’ treatment the 2009 version is getting. One of the curious things about the 1972 oringial is that the blood looks pretty damn real, and not like fake movie blood. It looks more casual, mundane, and twice as horrific in the way the original two victims go down.

  • JD

    I thought remakes have the same name