Watching Wes Craven..Last House on the left..

Uncut…for the first time in 20 years…

Comments as I watch?

You gotta love the soundtrack.

You’ll never think of a BJ the same way again.

Sometimes revenge is apropos.

And deserved.

I had forgotten it’s a comedy.

Black yes…but still a comedy.

It’s also a (loose) remake. Check out the 1960 Ingmar Bergman B&W original, The Virgin Spring. Granted, there’s a few differences: the Bergman film is based on an old Euro folk tale; there’s only the one victim, the whole thing is set in the Middle Ages, the particular methods of dispatching the bad guys are a tad different, etc. It’s also less explicit in its violence, natch, than the Craven version, although I seem to recall a scene involving a pitchfork…

And actor David Hess, who played the chief bad guy* in LHOTL, started out as a musician and songwriter, penning a variety of hits for other people (including Elvis) back in the day. He went on to be a music label executive, screenwriter, and film producer.
*And receiver of The World’s Deservedly Worst Blow Job [TM].

I first saw that movie when I was a kid and found it horrifying. I rented it again a couple of years ago and found it to be very amateurishly made. I disagree with you, Reeder, that it’s a comedy (even a black one), but there are parts that are clearly intended to be comic relief and they don’t seem to fit into the movie very well. They almost feel like they were edited in from another movie. The writing is bad and the acting is worse.

Another movie that tackles a similar theme, but much more effectively, is I Spit On Your Grave. It’s official title, according to the IMDb, is Day of the Woman, but I’ve never seen it available for sale or rental under that title. Both the crime committed against the victim and the victim’s subsequent revenge are far more graphic than in Last House On the Left, but I think it handles the subject matter in a more mature and less exploitative manner.