MovieChat Forums > The Last House on the Left (1972) Discussion > This movie was terrible on all levels.

This movie was terrible on all levels.

posted 14 years ago by censure360
21 replies | jump to latest

I'm a movie fan. I enjoy pretty much all genres. I seek out exploitation and violent horror films with the same enthusiasm I'd give to a well made Hollywood blockbuster. In the film depravity scale, I've witnessed a lot of ****ed up movies, yet this is one heralded "classic" I put off seeing until the other night (not because I was apprehensive).

Anyways, I feel this movie failed in pretty much every department. The acting was universally awful, the musical score hyper-ironic to the point of self parody, the film quality and production in tatters, the editing choices undermining, the editing and directing misguided, the continuity/timeline porous, the writing/dialogue unrealistic, and the premise a far-fetched coincidence.

I'm sure it shocked back in the day, and it does have some awful scenes, but I found nothing at all redeeming in this film. I do not know how it achieved its cult status. Ultimately it was ineffective in my opinion. I'll go so far as to say this is one of the most hyped, terrible movies I've ever seen.

Keep in mind I went into this movie expecting an exploitation blueprint from the golden age of cinema, willing to overlook all the budget restraints and technological limitations of the time.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bureau203 13 years ago

It wasn't a documentary though. Craven can make all the excuses he wants for the crap camera work. Claiming a narrative film is a "documentary" to explain the sub-par camera work is a new one for me though.

As to your other point: You like the fact that the actress really was terrified of being raped? Wow. That's pretty sick, both on the filmmaker's part and on yours.

"I've seen things that would make you want to write a book on how to puke."

[–] PurpleProseOfCairo 13 years ago

I was prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt for the first three-quarters (indeed I did partially transport myself back to 1972 as our friend above suggests) but that atrocious, ridiculous ending tipped it over into "terrible on all levels".

I tolerated the terrible soundtrack, sub-amateur acting, ham-fisted editing, Keystone Kops inserts and EXTREMELY dubious subject matter in the hope that it would be redeemed by a satisfying ending. The gore and sexual violence could possibly have been justified for me by an appropriate revenge/ending.

Instead, as someone on another thread hilariously said, we had Scooby Doo style trap setting, with electric wires and shaving foam (!) and villains we had been invited to hate offed in the most anti-climactic ways imaginable.

Definitely yet another entry in the long list of "Emperor's New Clthes" movies.

Awight we're The Daamned we're a punk baand and this is called Carn't Be Appy T'day!

[–] TheManInOil 13 years ago

I completely agree. It may be significant for being widely seen and introducing a new level of depravity to horror, but really it's just a mix of elements better done in previous films, and also in those that followed it. The plot is preposterous, the characters unmotivated and unconvincing, the dialogue ludicrous, and the score especially ridiculous as you said. It's just a bad movie.

"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."

[–] fourballoons 13 years ago

I didn't like it much either (I was expecting much more considering the hoopola it caused). The music was BY FAR the worst part of it all--completely out of place and distracting. It made some scenes that could have been powerful absolutely laughable.

[–] MikeNewYork 13 years ago

Yes, yes, double yes. I agree with everything you point out. What a huge disappointment this movie is. I knew it only by reputation, but I always avoided more detailed information before watching it myself. The title suggested a haunted house story or something in the vein of The Exorcist or The Omen, so I was quite surprised when I realized I was watching a cheap exploitation movie with goofy characters, silly dialogue, and completely inappropriate music, which ruined what might have been some sense of terror. The movie wasn't scary, it wasn't funny, it wasn't very brutal. In fact it was a big nothing. And the release date is no excuse. Actually, two of the most disturbing and disgusting movies I have ever seen were made in 1972: Pink Flamingos and The Gore Gore Girls. They also had a higher entertainment value. TLHOTL was neither as over the top as those movies, nor was it as terrifying and scary as, let's say, Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer. It was something in between and, for me, just ineffective.