If you're doing a remake of a film with a highly regarded cult status, you have to tread carefully, so as not to upset the purists. If you're going to make a film which addresses rape, then you need to walk a fine line as well. Too horrific, you risk alienating your audience and invite criticism of exploitation; using rape to 'entertain'. If you go in the other direction and make rape too inconsequential or the tone in which it's presented too dumbed down, then you could attract similar outrage. Fortunately the remake of Wes Craven's controversial shocker Last House On The Left gets it just right.
If you're not familiar with the original, which this mirrors closely, then it has Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter and all-American daughter Sara Paxton settle into their remote lakeside country house for the summer. However Paxon and her pal cross paths with escaped convict Garrett (Cromartie) Dillahunt and family. After they discover the horrors that Dillahunt has inflicted on their daughter (and now dead friend), Tony and Monica get to work...
The film is fraught with tension, first as Paxton and Martha MacIsaac slowly realise they're in over their heads and later as the threat of rape and murder increases. Once the violence is unleashed (a delicate balance of uncomfortable viewing and necessary storytelling) the tension shifts to the parents...Will they discover what Dillahunt have crew done? Will they escape or seek retribution? Of course, knowing the brutality of the bad guy's deeds, much of the tension is derived from the audience seeking the later.
There's no great depth to this or groundbreaking exploration of the violation of women in contemporary times. But it is an extremely well made thriller with a strong cast (Goldwyn and Potter sell their transformation from repressed professionals to terminator-like upholders of justice with ease) and a classy, Euro-thriller tone that's respectful of it's delicate subject matter. Oh and the final shot ranks up there as one of my all time favorites. Horror remakes seem to be notoriously difficult to pull off recently, but that doesn't seem to apply to Wes Craven remakes as this is on a similar level of quality to The Hills Have Eyes remake. Who knows, maybe there's a classy version of Shocker in our future...
2 comments:
I hated the original of this. It was horribly exploitative and needlessly gratuitous. I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and the original LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT rank as two of the most repulsive films I've tried to watch.
However I really liked this remake. Enjoy would be the wrong word, but it is a much better telling of the story and much less needlessly exploitative than Craven's nasty and poorly made original. The rape and murder here, though still rightly horrible, is less drawn out and lingered on as it is in Craven's film. Also the cast are all great with Goldwyn and Potter doing sterling and believable work as the shattered and vengeful parents.
The whole thing just plays out with more of a story and beleivable character development than the original did. It also helps that it is directed with that slightly off kilter gritty intensity that a quality Euro horror director can bring to it. A vast improvement over the terrible Craven original.
It's horrible. Simply not needed. Nothing nice or redeeming about this feature at all. Never want to watch again.
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