Wes Craven has arguably redefined horror more than any other icon of terror. As one-third of the foundational triple Cs of the genre (John Carpenter, Craven, and David Cronenberg), he specialized in pushing the boundaries of what audiences could expect once they settled into seats with a tub of popcorn in tow. Craven blazed onto the scene with grindhouse films like The Hills Have Eyes that shook audiences; created one of the most iconic slasher franchises in Nightmare on Elm Street; and finally outdid himself with the first fully realized postmodern slasher in Scream. Craven was always ahead of the game when re-imagining the capabilities of horror from harsh depictions of brutal realism to uncomfortably amusing death scenes. Though Craven's influential status in horror is a well-trod subject, his first feature film is often overlooked as the blueprint that may have well predicted it all. Fifty years later, The Last House on the Left still holds up next to the likes of more recent gruesome films such as Saw, Hostel, and The Devil's Rejects. Despite its less than favorable reputation, the film undoubtedly points to the intricacy of Craven's craft as a true master of horror.
For many, it may be difficult to imagine the mastermind behind bringing the likes of Ghostface and Freddy Kruger to the big screen making one of the most controversial horror films of all time. A large part of Craven's legacy includes his knack for highlighting the close relationship between comedy and horror. Upon first viewing, The Last House on the Left seems devoid of the uncomfortable lightheartedness characteristic of his most famous antagonists. Part of what makes this film particularly jarring is its style, which is evocative of documentary filmmaking techniques. Everything feels a little too real. Similar to the rather chaotic camera work in found footage films, it is relentless in bringing its viewers excruciatingly close to the action taking place on screen. The film is grainy, the camera is shaky, and our gazes are fixed upon closeups focusing on the pure agony splayed across the actor's faces. From its first foray into theaters, The Last House on the Left was met with intense scrutiny regarding its graphic depictions of ultra-violence, rape, and murder. It wasn't even until 2008 that the original film was released from its ban in the UK. Even today, the film tends to leave a sour taste in the mouths of some of the most seasoned horror fans. Even though it is widely written off as a grimy exploitation film, savvy viewers could retroactively see inklings of Craven’s future impact within the genre in The Last House on the Left.
How Does 'The Last House on the Left' Tie In to 'Scream'?
In the film, two teenage friends (Mari and Phyllis) go into the city for a concert where they have a run-in with a group of escaped convicts lead by the depraved Krug (David Hess), whose name may ring a bell. The night quickly takes a tragic turn when the group decide to keep Mari (Sandra Cassel) and Phyllis (Lucy Grantham) against their will, where they are brutally violated and tortured in the middle of a dirty motel room. The following day, the group decide to put the young girls into the trunk of their car while they try to make a break for the Canadian border. During this ill-fated journey, the car breaks down and Mari quickly realizes they're right in front of her parent's house. Despite being so close to home, Mari is murdered as she tries to swim her way toward her family's house that lies at the edge of the lake. Over twenty years later, this sequence reveals itself as a prototypical version of Scream's infamous 12-minute cold open. Shortly after the phone call that changed the horror landscape forever, Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) is seen attempting to crawl her way across the grass and toward her parents as she musters the last of her strength to croak "Mom!" While Becker's death is draped in the absurdity of Ghostface's dark humor, Mari's death is seemingly shrouded in inescapable nihilism. However, The Last House on the Left is anything but lacking attempts at comedy to prove a point. In fact, a major subplot of the film involves following two bumbling police officers as they attempt to find Mari.
Interwoven between Mari and Phyllis' tragic narrative are the antics of two cops who are tasked with finding her. The narrative tone of the film drastically shifts back and forth between extreme sadism and the seemingly random comedy of errors that follow as they attempt to continue their search. While Mari and Phyllis are subject to unspeakable crimes only a few yards away, the two cops can be seen shrugging off the suspicious vehicle parked in front of the family's home and running out of gas once they realize the grave mistake they made. For the majority of the film's runtime, they are slowly walking back to the family's home. It's not until after Mari's parents enact their revenge on the killers that the cops finally show up at their doorstep. The film is incredibly critical of the lack of seriousness surrounding law enforcement's reaction to the news of the missing girls. Rather than symbols of reliability and safety, the two men are reduced to jester-like roles. Their presence in the film is oftentimes misunderstood as an inappropriate and radical departure from the sensitivity of the subject matter; however, their failure to actually save anyone serves to shed light on the general apathy toward random acts of violence until it is too late.
Audiences were anticipated (rightfully so) to be so disturbed by this film's take on gratuitous societal violence that its advertising run cleverly implicated its audience upon first viewing. What most people think of when they hear of meta-horror or postmodern slashers, the first films that pop into their head would likely be Scream and Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Throughout his career, Craven clearly had a vision regarding how far the genre could go in blurring the lines between the horrors of reality and fiction. Part of what makes his film catalog groundbreaking are the sheer number of times in which his audiences have placeholders within the relative universes of his franchises. Notably, the Scream franchise includes the "Stab" universe where fans dress up as Ghostface to watch and cheer on film adaptations of the "real-life" Woodsboro killings. Two years prior, New Nightmare displays the same idea when Heather Langenkamp appears on a talk show with nearly the entire audience donning Freddy Kruger garb while loudly cheering for him over the film's final girl.
"Just Keep Repeating: It's Only A Movie..."
In many ways, Craven has always been interested in implicating his audiences regarding their enjoyment of the violence presented to them on screen over their admiration for the resilience of each respective film's protagonists. Interestingly, The Last House on the Left's original trailer and advertising run hark on Craven's tendency to hold a mirror up to his audiences. Throughout the press run for the film, phrases like "To keep from fainting keep repeating, it's only a movie..." and questions like "Can a movie go too far?" cover every promotional poster. The beginning of the film even includes a brief statement claiming it is based on a true story (it was not) to further ground it in the reality of those watching. Comparatively speaking, though this approach to breaking down the facade of the horror film is relatively tame compared to his later works, it is completely in line with his inclination to play on audience desires to sate their voyeuristic tendencies toward consuming onscreen violence. By highlighting the film's depravity through its advertising, Craven effectively got people into the theater seats and his later films capitalize off of portraying those tendencies within their narratives.
Though The Last House on the Left is most certainly not for the faint of heart, fans of Craven will certainly enjoy revisiting it as a microcosm of his legacy. Despite its relentlessness in depicting depravity on screen, its reduction into a film that showcases violence for violence’s sake has overshadowed its very real message regarding the critique of senseless acts of violence and the subsequent responses to them. Craven's darkest and most misunderstood film may actually be his biggest condemnation of brutality. Not only did Craven continuously revisit themes established in his first film, but he successfully went on to refresh and modernize them into fully fleshed out franchises with lives of their own. The Last House on the Left may not be everyone's cup of tea, but a re-watch may just as well be the Easter egg that reveals Craven's intended vision for his particular brand of horror right from the beginning.