I saw the original "Last house on the Left" in college over spring break with some great friends. It was fantastic. How my friend and I (who are MAJOR horror fanatics) convinced regular people to watch this film at a beach house I'm not sure.
I was nervous about seeing the remake because (we all know how i feel about remakes) of the fear of a classic being destroyed in my memory. This film was ANYTHING but destroyed. It was perfectly mimicked.
It was a modern take on the original movie, but all the same elements were there. The killers still had the same raw punk edge to them, and there was one element I remember distinctly. It the original film the killers shared a sense of vanity that was STRIKING. For example- any time one of the three were hurt, there was an over reaction of ANGER. This is seen in the movie remake with the female killer getting SO angry when she is burned with a car lighter. She gets so mad that it will leave a scar forever, even though she is killing people she does not care- all she cares about is herself. This character in the original gets angry when she is struck with a rock for the same reason- she will have a scar. What I find amazing is that these characters have a trait that could go unnoticed to the movie watcher, yet is a discrete link to the personality of the character. It is smart. It is bold. It is real.
The remake was just as good in my opinion, however I was MUCH more disturbed by the rape scene than I was in the original. It was long. It was graphic. It was scary. I tried really hard not to fast forward through it because it was so graphic and long. It was horrifying in the original as well, however it was taken to a new level in the remake.
The gore was B+ at most, and I will say there is one thing that is STILL confusing me about this film- the ending. I wont spoil it with names and characters but once you have seen it you will know what I am saying- WHY THE FUCKING MICROWAVE. It was cooL- explosion and all- but it was the MOST out of place weird thing in the film.
I would say for the most part, AMAZING work. You stuck with the story but did not ruin it with too much modern bull shit. It was timeless setting and a timeless story- Remember one thing... NEVER let people stay at your house, NEVER go into a stranger's motel room for drugs and NEVER give up trying- its all you got left sometimes.
(Photos from cinemachine.blogspot.com and collider.com)
I haven't seen the original but I did see the remake. I enjoyed it I thought it had a great story and just the right ratio of gore to terror.
ReplyDeleteThe ending scene with the microwave, totally cool but completely ridiculous. It usually aggrevates me when I know that something shouldn't work that way but I let it go cause the guy deserved it so bad :)