The Last House on the Left

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

To avoid fainting, keep repeating: IT'S ONLY A MOVIE, ONLY A MOVIE, ONLY A MOVIE...

Wes Craven's 1972 debut picture, a loose reworking of Ingmar Bergman's Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring), tells the story of a group of psychos who torture, humiliate, rape and try to murder two girls and then end up asking for refuge at the home of the parents of one of the girls. This couple then find out who their guests really are...

Remade in 2009 by Dennis Iliadis, produced by Craven and starring Sara Paxton, Garrett Dillahunt, Monica Potter, Aaron Paul, Tony Goldwyn, and Riki Lindhome.

Tropes used in The Last House on the Left include:
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: In the 2009 Remake. Justin (The Remake's version of Junior) invokes this trope. Although they met through coaxing, with Justin wanting to buy cigarettes without I.D. and offering pot to Paige in exchange for not carding him, Justin was the only one of the group that genuinely liked Paige and Mari. After a session of smoking pot with him, they become more affectionate to Justin. Trying to bring him out of his shell more, by getting him to wear Francis' shirt and complimenting his looks in it. When Francis, Sadie and Krug shows up, intending to rape the two, he tries to stop them. Even refusing to join in, when they try to force him to cop a feel. After Paige dies and Mari is presumed dead in the water, the gang takes refuge in the titular house. He is greeted by John and Emma, with the latter giving him coffee to cope with the accident the gang lies about. He was the first to find out they are in the home of Mari's parents. After taking a moment to get sick from the revelation, he takes Mari's Necklace, which Krug ripped off her as a trophy and places it around the empty coffee cup he was given. Knowing that the Collingwoods will find it and put two and two together. Which they do, not too long after they find Mari, who survived. In turn, the Collingwoods spare his life when they realize Krug, despite being his father, treats him just as bad as they treated their daughter.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: The Collingwoods look like two ordinary, happily married people, until their daughter gets raped...
  • Blood Is Squicker in Water: In the original, Estelle slashes Sadie's throat while the latter is in a swimming pool.
  • Chainsaw Good
  • Chekhov's Gun: The necklace Mari gets as a birthday gift (in the original) or that she finds at her vacation home as a gift from her dead brother (in the remake) is instrumental in making Emma realize what happened to Mari.
  • Covers Always Lie: That picture up there? That's not the house. Jury's out on whether it's even on the left.
  • Daylight Horror: Most of what happens to Mari and Phyllis.
  • Dead Little Sister: In this case, daughter. And Mari's brother in the remake.
  • Dirty Old Man: The elderly mailman at the beginning of the original film describes Mari as "the prettiest piece I've ever seen".
  • Driven to Suicide: Junior blows his brains out, as commanded by Krug.
  • Downer Ending: Mari, Phyllis and Junior are dead, and even though Mari's parents have vindicated them, they're most likely going to prison due to the stupid sheriff.
    • That's a maybe. The sheriff found out about Mari being kidnapped prior so he might be convinced other wise. They may still head for jail though, if Brad Pitt showed us anything.
  • Enforced Method Acting: On the special edition DVD actors commentary track, the actors playing Krug and Weasel boast about how they terrorized the actresses playing Mari and Phyllis, right down to hinting during the filming of the rape scene that they'd go ahead and actually commit the act if they didn't think the actresses' performances were convincing enough. They seem to think this is awesome.
    • ...and David Hess complained that he couldn't ride the subway anymore, for the dirty looks he was getting. No wonder.
    • The part where they make Phyllis pee her pants? For real.
  • Fan Disservice: Although the original is undeniably lurid, if when watching the rape scene in the remake you find anything remotely erotic about what's happening to Mari there is probably something wrong with you.
  • Fingore: Francis (originally named Weasel) gets, in a very horrific scene in the remake, his fingers shredded in a garbage disposal.
  • Flipping the Bird: Walking back to town after their car runs out of gas, the cops think they've gotten a lift when a van full of hippies stop for them...then do this while peeling away.
  • Groin Attack: Estelle dupes Weasel and starts performing oral sex on him... with gruesome results.
  • Gorn: Phyllis' fate.
    • Most of the remake fits this, too.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: As a result of Executive Meddling, we are spared the sight of Krug carving his name in Mari's chest. Also, we don't see Weasel's emasculation.
    • Pretty solidly averted in the remake.
  • Heel Realization: Junior has one in both the original and the remake. The remake has more justification due to the fact that it was his fault the girls were kidnapped.
  • Heroic BSOD: Mari has one, after having been humiliated, abused, kidnapped and raped, and before being murdered.
  • Ignored Vital News Reports: In the original, Mari and Phyllis hear a radio report about the psychos' escape from prison while driving to the city, but pay it no mind.
  • Lyrical Dissonance: The Baddies' Song, disturbingly so.
  • Mama Bear & Papa Wolf: Emma (Estelle in the original) and John Collingwood.
  • Mood Dissonance: Although this is a horror movie, there are some scenes that seem to be right out of a comedy. The chicken truck and Krug going "Moo!" come to mind.
  • Mood Whiplash: Okay, Mr. Craven. Please explain why, when the rest of the movie is deathly serious and disturbing, you chose to have the cops be comic relief?!? And why do you have Krug going moo?!? Was it to make the movie less frightening for your audience so they won't be fainting?
  • Nightmare Sequence: At one point Fred dreams that Mari's parents knock his front teeth out with a hammer and chisel. Still would've been better than what actually does happen to him.
  • Police Are Useless: The sheriff and his deputy are incompetent buffoons. They even buy into Krug's half-assed alibi about being a passing preacher.
    • And when they hear of Mari's kidnapping, they not only find out where she is located, but also that they were there a few minutes ago. Oh, and they were late to the Roaring Rampage of Revenge Party.
  • Psycho Lesbian: Or in Sadie's case, Psycho Bisexual.
  • Rape as Drama: Almost all of the drama in this movie consists of two girls being tortured and raped.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Epically.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: The soundtrack is mostly made of upbeat ballads or outright cheery music.
    • Interesting note: It was all composed (and sung) by none other than David Hess, the actor who played Krug Stillo.
    • And when they kill off Phyllis, sounds that probably came from an Atari 2600 game played.
      • An Arp 2600 maybe, but not an Atari for a few years.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: The remake left Mari and Justin (named Junior in the original) alive, after Justin did a Heel Face Turn (the movie also made it pretty clear that nothing that happened was his fault). In the original, Mari died, and Junior committed suicide.
    • Not his fault. At least in the remake he is guilty of putting the girls in an unnecessarily dangerous position by bringing them to the motel in the first place. His father's and uncle's behavior are erratic at best so there is no reason for him to believe that just because they say they won't be coming back doesn't mean they won't be coming back. He could have easily just gone and got the drugs and then come back to the store. Krug even makes a good point when they are all in the room about how thinking they wouldn't be coming back is no excuse for breaking the "Don't bring anyone back to the room" rule and him having to face the consequences of that action.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Ah, man, we raped and murdered these people's daughter, and they don't even know! Wow, now the mom's giving me a BJ! This is the best road trip ever!
    • Well, you can't blame them for not thinking that maybe Mari would be washed up on shore and her parents will find her, or that Junior would be in the middle of a Heel Realization and having a Freak-Out that winds up in the parents finding out.
    • Also when Paige and Mari follow the obviously extremely weird boy who they barely know, and admit later that they thought he was creepy to begin with, to his dingy hotel room to buy drugs from him. Not to mention the fact that they he is underage so there is no way that he rented the room by himself. Good idea girls, I guess don't talk to strangers doesn't apply if they promise you drugs.
  • Torture Porn
  • Video Nasty: Regarded as one of the worst films on the list and one of those which were responsible for the creation of the list in the first place.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: In-universe examples with Phyllis in the original and Paige in the remake, although in the original it's because a scene where Mari's parents found her still alive was cut. In that scene, Mari's mother asked about Phyllis.
    • Though it's pretty obvious that Phyllis is dead.
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