Under different circumstances, I would have given this movie a slightly better rating, but it leads a lot to be desired. It's just disturbing and gruesome. There's no suspense, no plot, the movie doesn't go anywhere. It's literally like watching it just for the torture. A good movie is supposed to build up tension and the plot. This movie does not do that. I'm not a big fan of gore in horror movies as there are much better ways to make it scarier and build suspense at the same time.

Lots of nonsense is said about this film. Yes its filmed in 'I was there watching style' but its really not very graphic (not that I have any real desire for it to be given its subject matter). Its still 'nasty' but more in its tone and bad acting than anything else. I'd just loved to have heard how Wes pitched this film to anyone prepared to invest in the same!

Many years before they would both begin slasher franchises that would compete with each other, debuting filmmaker Wes Craven and producer Sean S. Cunningham collaborated on this ugly but compelling bit of cinema. The filmmaking is undeniably crude, but the subject matter is effectively upsetting. "The Last House on the Left" offers up the kind of experience that one doesn't easily shake, and may engender very personal love-it-or-loathe-it reactions. The performances aren't slick and polished, but they're still right on the money. One feels for the victims and feels the need for a shower just watching our Manson Family-type antagonists.Two teenage girls, Mari (Sandra Peabody), and Phyllis (Lucy Grantham), are on their way to a rock concert when they make the impulsive - and fatal - decision to try to score some grass. This brings them into contact with prison escapee Krug Stillo (David Hess) and his grimy associates, Fred 'Weasel' Podowski (Fred J. Lincoln), Sadie (Jeramie Rain), and Krugs' illegitimate, junkie son Junior Stillo (Marc Sheffler). This gang of lowlifes puts the girls through a nightmare of torture and degradation, but their comeuppance comes from an appropriate source due to an incredible coincidence.An acknowledged reworking of Ingmar Bergmans' "The Virgin Spring", this features some very potent violence and gore. For our victims, it plays like a bad dream that seems to have no end. To provide us with some respite from the horror, Craven creates a film that is unfortunately mixed tonally. The comedy relief from incompetent cops Marshall Anker and Martin Kove is simply too silly. Also, Hess's score is a little too upbeat for a chase scene that should be more harrowing.Peabody and Grantham are appealing, even if their characters don't act too sensibly. It's also not hard to feel bad for Junior, who is just pathetic. Richard Towers and Cynthia Carr are okay as Maris' parents, but the show entirely belongs to the villains. Hess in particular proves to have a real presence, and a real knack for playing the most degenerate character imaginable.There's one very memorable gag involving Carr and Lincoln, and a delicious final fight between sadist and avenger.Future director Steve Miner was an assistant editor, production assistant, and bit player (as one of the hippies taunting the cops).Seven out of 10.

Jesus, this may have been Horror in the 1970's... but we were laughing most of the way through it.Completely two dimensional characters, pathetic actors that were never seen again, and the storyline was full of plot holes and completely implausible.For some reason, while all sorts of mayhem is going on, the police characters are written as comedic? It was also meant to be a horror movie, where in effect, its actually a crime/thriller.Production value wise, it looks like it was made using a $120 voucher from Kennards Hire.Not recommended.