Movie Review Last House on the Left

The Last House on the Left (2009) 

Directed by Dennis Illadis 

Written by Carl Ellsworth

Starring Monica Potter, Tony Goldwyn, Sara Paxton, Garret Dillahunt 

Release Date March 13th, 2009 

Published March 12th, 2009

I am curious just what the makers of the new Last House on the Left felt as they watched the final product of all of their hard work. What exactly did they see when they screened it? What did they feel they had accomplished with this movie? And most baffling of all for me, what did they think would make anyone want to see this?

Honestly, how can they have filmed scenes like those contained in Last House on the Left and thought boy I can't wait to put this out into the world. What is the intended effect? Shock? To induce vomiting? To merely disgust and appaul? Can those really be a goal? What kind of audience would seek out such an experience?

Last House on the Left is a nasty bit of business that, I'll grant you, is not nearly as nihilistic and vile as Eli Roth's Hostel movies or anything directed by the perverted mind of Rob Zombie, but it is certainly a distant relative.

Last House on the Left is a 'reimagining' of Wes Craven's bizarre 1972 Last House on the Left, one of the progenitors of the modern debased and debauched horror genre. That film however, for all of its incredible depravity is a cultural artifact, coming as it did as a sign post on the road to the end of the peace and love generation. In that it had some merit.

The new Last House on the Left has no such cultural cache and instead plays like it's killing movie cousins, as a mere demonstration of death and the many disturbing variations that horror filmmakers can invent on the subject of death. The more grisly and authentic the better for these twisted souls.

The movie ostensibly stars Sara Paxton as Mari Collingwood, a 17 year old on vacation with her parents Emma (Monica Potter) and Dr. John Collingwood (Tony Goldwyn) at a lovely lakeside cabin. Mari decides to head into a nearby town to visit an old friend, Paige (Martha MacIsaac, Superbad) and tells mom she may be spending the night.

Once in town, the girls meet up with Justin (Spencer Treat Clark) , a quiet young kid who promises good weed. They follow him back to his hotel. Unfortunately, they are soon joined by Justin's dad Krug (Garret Dillahunt). Krug is an escaped con and a disturbed sadistic soul. He and his cronies Sadie (Riki Lindholme) and Francis (Aaron Paul) decide to take the girls hostage.

They take Mari's car and a trip into the woods. There Paige is murdered for trying to escape and Mari is brutally raped and left for dead floating in the lake. With a storm brewing and no car, the four make their way to the closest house, what they don't know is that the closest house is the very lake house owned by Mari's parents. Oh and Mari's not dead.

This horrid set up turns into what I am sure is supposed to be a cathartic revenge fantasy with mom and dad going biblical on the baddies who hurt their daughter. Instead, Last House on the Left plays as a meditation on ugly stupid violence and the demonstration of death.

So while I am sure director Dennis Illiadis means for us to take pleasure in seeing the bad guys punished his mode and method of eliminating the bad guys is so convoluted and overblown that one can only witness and never really feel that visceral sense of repulsive, lower brain excitement that comes with righteous vengeance.

Worse though is the films centerpiece the murder and subsequent rape and near murder of Paige and Mari. Does anyone really need to see someone raped on screen to understand the horrific nature of the crime? More to the point, what is the audience supposed to take away from the brutal screen reenactment of such a crime? Are we meant to vomit, to wretch. Why is that necessary?

Rape is merely a plot point in Last House on the Left and not something to consider with thought and care. It's used as a way of demonstrating the evil of these characters and why we are later in the film supposed to delight in their elaborate demise. It's a crass manipulation and one not worthy of the film spent capturing it.

Last House on the Left is a shameful exercise in degradation as titillation. We are meant to be cheered by this movie because of the revenge plot but it's all so clumsy and dull witted that it shines an even brighter spotlight on how disturbed the filmmakers were when they so artfully captured Mari's horrific attack. That part they took great pains to capture. The rest they slapped together with spit and tape.

If that doesn't demonstrate the frightening place Last House on the Left occupies in the modern horror movie canon nothing I say can.

Movie Review: Disturbia

Disturbia (2007) 

Directed by D.J Caruso 

Written by Christopher Landon, Carl Ellsworth 

Starring Shia LeBeouf, Aaron Yoo, Sarah Roemer, Carrie Ann Moss, David Morse

Release Date April 13th, 2007

Published April 13th, 2007

We all have movies we love that no one else even vaguely remembers. For me, one of those movies was director D.J Caruso's independent debut feature The Salton Sea. A dour but very clever modern nor starring Val Kilmer, The Salton Sea is a triumph of smart scripting and clever direction. Caruso's work since that debut, Taking Lives, Two For The Money, have been slipshod big star vehicles that are as slick as they are forgettable.

For his latest film, Disturbia, however; Caruso looks to be back in form. A modern, teenage take on Hitchcock's Rear Window, Disturbia uses the tools and techniques of classic cinema to craft a tricky, if somewhat predictable, little thriller; much more entertaining than you might expect.

Kale (Shia LeBeouf) lost his dad in a horrific car accident. Since then he has become a problem child whose troubles come to a head one day when he punched out his Spanish teacher. A sympathetic judge keeps Kale out of juvenile hall. The compromise however is no picnic. Kale will spend his summer trapped in his house under the ever watchful electronic watchdog, an ankle bracelet.

At first it's all videogames and cable TV but when mom (Carrie Ann Moss) cuts off both of his sources of entertainment, Kale finds his attention drawn to his neighbors windows. Using his high powered video camera and his dad's old binoculars, Kale begins capturing his neighbors routines. On one side he finds the new girl next door Ashley (Sarah Roemer). On the other side is Robert Turner, a creepy loner who fits the profile of a serial killer that Kale and his pal Ronny (Aaron Yoo) have been following on the news.

Soon the girl next door has joined the boys in their stakeout of the creepy neighbor who may or may not be a serial killer.

Disturbia takes the classic conceit of Hitchcock's Rear Window and updates it for the Ipod generation. Using plenty of modern gadgetry, director D.J Caruso uses technique to create tension and strong characters to create rooting interest and Disturbia becomes surprisingly involving. When it's quiet and watching Kale unfold his relationship with Ashley it has a John Hughes feel. When the tension is ratcheted up, Disturbia becomes old school Hitchcock by way of radio shack.

Shia Le Beouf is a young actor whose appeal is difficult to isolate. He isn't handsome, he doesn't cut a tough guy figure by any stretch. What he does have though is that classically Tom Hanks kind of goofy everyman thing. It is that quality that allows him to play the unique duality of Kale in Disturbia. On the one hand, he is an unlikely romantic interest for the beautiful girl next door. On the other hand he is the unlikely action hero running to the rescue.

David Morse is so effortlessly creepy he could be Giovonni Ribisi. With his imposing height and disquieting calm, Morse plays the creepy part of a serial with the zeal of a great method actor taking on Shakespeare's Hamlet. The script undercuts Morse's character by giving away too much too soon but that doesn't stop Morse from projecting menace well enough to keep you glued to the screen.

If there is one thing that irritates me about Disturbia it is that faux hip title. Disturbia as a title is too clever by half. It's just so market tested, as if an ad executive were trying to invent some hip teenage slang. Of course, if the one issue I can find with a movie is its title, that must be a pretty good movie. And, Disturbia is a pretty good movie, not great but really good.

Disturbia is a quick on its feet modern thriller, slightly predictable but endlessly watchable. Director D.J Caruso is old school in his approach to crafting and creating tension. He's also quite modern in the way he sews together two different genre aspects, the thriller and the coming of age romance. It helps to have a talented young cast to deliver on your vision and Caruso is blessed.

Shia Le Beouf may be a star in the making, watch for him in Transformers this summer, see him in Disturbia soon.