Watched this on the big screen this weekend!
This is one of my all-time favourite films and I'm happy to say I finally got the chance to see this on the big screen the other night at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario. A print was brought in as the second half of a double-bill with the low-budget Canadian horror film, "Smash Cut", which also stars David Hess and was directed by the owner of the Mayfair, Lee Demarbre.
The print for "Last House" was an authentic original that actually ran in theatres back in 1972 and, according to Lee, may be the LAST surviving print available in North America! The print was a little beaten up, but looked astonishingly good, considering its age, and I was easily able to forgive the fact that it was the cut 82-minute version, minus the disembowelment and chest-carving scenes. The projector actually stopped about 20 minutes in and, for a few seconds, I was having horrible visions of the "last print of the left" being destroyed forever! However, they got it up and running again and everyone enjoyed the experience. It was amazing to watch this film in a cinema full of devout fans who were hardly phased by what they saw, considering it was shocking enough to drive people to riot and storm the projection booth 37 years ago! Of course, the biggest cheer of the night from the audience was for Weasel's death scene!
The only disappointment on the night was that David Hess himself was supposed to be in attendance, but had to cancel because of a scheduling conflict. However, Lee Demarbre made up for it by bringing in some autographed David Hess memorabilia to give to people who had brought stuff for Hess to sign (I had brought my copy of the excellent David Szulkin "LHOTL" making-of book, BTW). I ended up getting an autographed GERMAN copy of the "LHOTL" soundtrack under its German title, "Mondo Brutale"! Getting an ultra-rare item like that easily canceled out the disappointment of not meeting Mr. Hess!
P.S. "Smash Cut" was a hoot as well. Definitely worth a watch for David Hess fans.