Screen Rant » the last house on the left

Wes Craven Talks ‘Last House On The Left’ [Spoilers]

Sabrina Cognata — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:55:20 +0000

Wes Craven is synonymous with the horror genre. From Freddy Kreuger to the mutant monsters in The Hills Have Eyes and everything between, he’s been making nightmarish movie magic for over 40 years.

And now the film that catapulted his career, The Last House On The Left, has being remade with Craven as producer and newcomer Dennis Iliadis directing.

There are some spoilers below, so consider yourself warned…

The story line remains similar: A young girl is brutalized by a group of convicts on the lamb, who leave her for dead and after an accident of their own, seek refuge in her parents’ home. Once the parents realize who they’re boarding they decide to get their revenge.

Craven spoke to Sci Fi Wire about the remake and the differences between the two films, including the daughter making it home in the remake:

“Well, I think there are a bunch of things that happen that are different. To me, the fact that she makes it back just makes it not only into a revenge [movie], but a protection-of-the-child film, which I think is very powerful. I don’t think it spoils. I don’t think it’s like a soft ending or anything like that. There’s certainly no feeling that any of those people are going to be the same again, but, to me, it adds a complexity to it, because it’s not only a revenge but it’s protection of her. I’m sure everybody will know at a certain point everything about the film, so I don’t think it’s giving away some big secret.”

In addition, he added:

“In this one, it’s more about the child somehow survives, and they have to do something to protect the child. The element of revenge comes at the very end, where the father does something he doesn’t have to, just to get revenge “

Craven also talks about the merciless ways in which Iliadis has the parents take out their revenge. He says that during a scene where a garbage disposal is used that it was “just inspired, just visually” and that the sequence will eventually be looked upon as a classic example of the horror genre.

Speaking of the horror genre, Craven talked about how the remake in both the acting and storytelling is just so powerful that is aptly blends the horror genre with the drama genre saying, “Dennis describes it as drama with horrible things in it, and I think that’s kind of what it is. It’s a horrific drama.”

Without giving too much away, I think Iliadis’ remake of Craven’s classic horror film has enough new elements in it to give the film a much fresher and updated feeling to it, without losing the sense of terror, anger and grief. Although, there is the added bonus of the protection of the child, as she makes it home in the remake. It’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out, as well as, seeing exactly how Iliadis’ has the parents take out their revenge on the convicts, which sounds like it will be all sorts of awesome!

The Last House on the Left opens this month on Friday the 13th.

New Pelham 123 & Last House on the Left Remake Posters

Ross Miller — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:21:36 +0000

Today we have new posters for a couple of upcoming remakes, The Last House on the Left and The Taking of Pelham 123. Both are effective in their own ways…

Check them out below (click for high res versions):

A well designed poster (whatever constitutes that), can be an effective and powerful advertising tool. A well done one will grab the passer-by’s attention, be clear enough about the feel of the movie and who stars in it – but isn’t so obvious and generic that it comes off as bland.

And I think these two are examples of well designed posters, with The Last House on the Left being effectively simple and The Taking of Pelham 123 one being decisively fuller but certainly attention and interest grabbing.

The Last House on the Left poster is effective because of the lack of imagery in it; the marketing people clearly know you don’t need a lot to advertise the film other than the name and just the house on its own. It’s certainly an improvement over the last poster we saw (although it was pretty well done as well).

The Taking of Pelham 123 poster has, like I said, a lot more on it but the combination of the train blended with the city near the bottom and the stylishly done depictions of the two leads make it stand out and work very well, neither being too showy (which would make it hard to look at) or too subtle (which would leave people confused as to what the film is supposed to be).

So what do you make of these two posters? Do you agree they’re really effective or have you got another opinion?

The Last House on the Left is set to be released on 13th March 2009 and The Taking of Pelham 123 on 12th of June 2009.

Sources: ShockTillYouDrop and Joblo

‘Last House on the Left’ Remake Has A Trailer

Ross Miller — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:32:58 +0000

Today we have the brand new and first trailer for the remake of the ’70s horror flick The Last House on the Left. The film will be produced by horror masters Wes Craven and Sean Cunningham, and will star Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Sara Paxton, Garret Dillahunt, Rhys Coiro, Martha MacIsaac, Riki Lindhome and Aaron Paul.

The plot is as follows:

Mari (Paxton) and her friend are kidnapped by a prison escapee and his crew the night she arrives at the remote Collingwood lakehouse. Terrified and left for dead, Mari’s only hope is to make it back to parents John and Emma (Goldwyn and Potter). Unfortunately, her attackers unknowingly seek shelter at the one place she could be safe. And when her family learns the horrifying story, they will make three strangers curse the day they came to The Last House on the Left.

Now I can’t lie and say I’ve seen the original - I haven’t. But being an avid film fan I’ve kept it on my “to watch” list and read up about it and its impact. Word is (and if you’ve seen it please let me know if this is true) that it’s a particularly gruesome film involving graphic scenes of assault, rape and murder. It’s not a particularly appealing thing to sit through, and the film is hailed (because of it’s willingness to “go there”) and hated in equal measure.

And just in case you didn’t already know, the original was banned in the UK throughout the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, repeatedly being refused by the BBFC to get a certificate as it was deemed too graphic for even the maximum age rating. And it was only finally in 2002 that it was granted the UK rating of an 18 (which constitutes an NC-17 in the US) on the condition 16 seconds of a particularly gruesome scene could be cut.

So that just goes to show how controversial it was and still is.

But what will the NEW one be like? As the title of the post promised, here is the trailer:

[See post to watch Flash video]

In my opinion the trailer for the remake doesn’t look anywhere near as gruesome and graphic as the original is said to be. It carries the interesting premise from the original into the 21st century, but from what we see in the trailer it’s not going to “go the extra mile to shock” as the 1972 one did.

However one thing that has me interested is that Garret Dillahunt plays one of the murderers and after his stellar performance in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (my favorite film of 2007) and a small but great one in No Country for Old Men he’s firmly on my radar. And he’s obviously playing a completely different character than he’s done before. So even if the movie sucks I can at least enjoy watching him on-screen.

As for the film overall; am I looking forward to it? Not with great excitement – the trailer isn’t the greatest (nor the worst). But as an avid movie fan I’ll probably still end up seeing it. As much as Hollywood needs to stop remaking old horror films (particularly), I always try to give them a fair shot. Who knows, especially considering writer/director of the original Wes Craven is producing it, maybe The Last House on the Left will surprise and be terrifying.

One can only hope….

Have you seen the original, how does this trailer look like the new movie will compare?

The Last House on the Left hasn’t had an exact release date announced for it yet, but is to be released sometime this year.

Sources: WorstPreviews and ComingSoon.net