{"id":27032,"date":"2023-09-13T02:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T09:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=27032"},"modified":"2023-09-13T02:00:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T09:00:56","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-last-house-on-the-left-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=27032","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (2009)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray set is now available from\nArrow Video.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wes Craven created quite a stir with his first independent feature back in 1972, titled The Last House on the Left<\/em>. It was a gritty, nasty and at times incredibly unpleasant shocker. The story follows a pair of teens who encounter a group of psychopaths who brutalize, rape and murder them before seeking refuge at a nearby house. As it turns out, the place is home to the parents of one of the victims. When the adults discover what has happened to their daughter, they literally go to any lengths to eliminate the killers. There are plenty of shocking moments, including an implied sexual act between one parent and a gang member that results in a sudden loss of genitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s an acquired taste to be sure, but the controversy\nsurrounding the film earned the movie a lot of attention (as well as a very\npositive review from legendary critic Roger Ebert), all of which jumpstarted\nCraven\u2019s career and allowed him to make classics like The Hills Have Eyes<\/em>,\nA Nightmare on Elm Street, <\/em>and, a little further down the road, Scream<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its disturbing subject matter, 37 years later a\nbigger-budgeted remake got the green light from Rogue Pictures and Universal\nStudios. Reaction was equally split and, in many respects, even more extreme.\nThere were those who found it effectively chilling and enjoyed the alterations\npresented, others who were offended by what they witnessed, and an additional\ngroup who thought the unsettling original made a stronger impact. Now Arrow\nVideo is giving this redo a 4K Ultra HD upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The general concept is the same. Teenager Mari Collingwood\n(Sara Paxton) heads off to meet friend Paige (Martha MacIsaac). They befriend\nanother youngster named Justin (Spencer Treat Clark) who offers them pot.\nLittle do the ladies realize that the boy\u2019s father, Krug (Garret Dillahunt),\nhas just escaped police custody with his gang (played by Aaron Paul and Riki\nLindhome). The criminals suddenly appear and take the teens hostage. With the\nexception of the shy Justin, the kidnappers are merciless. Paige is savagely\nattacked and Mari is raped and left for dead. When a storm hits, the gang\narrive at the home of Mari\u2019s parents, Dr. John Collingwood (Tony Goldwyn) and\nEmma Collingwood (Monica Potter). They initially welcome the gang to let them\nwait the storm out. But after discovering their daughter barely alive, the\nparents must fight the maniacs off in order to get Mari to the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contents include the original, theatrical cut in 4K\nUltra HD as well as a Blu-ray of the even more violent unrated edition.\nFrankly, the original wasn\u2019t exactly this reviewer\u2019s cup of tea. It\u2019s hard to\nwatch and even includes a bizarre and comedic subplot involving the local\nauthorities that is in poor taste. However, the 1972 movie did bluntly try to\naddress the brutal and dehumanizing acts that literally anyone may be capable\nof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Strangely enough, the remake hedges its bets a bit in\ndealing with the same themes. While the attacks are equally upsetting, the\nnewer edition isn\u2019t as cold. Considering how things transpire early on, the\nfamily unite, survive and endure the terrible ordeal. Even Krug\u2019s son, Justin,\nis more sympathetic and ends up assisting the Collingwoods as they battle for\nsurvival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of the softer approach, the message is a bit\nlost. However, the remake is a much slicker-looking movie, features stronger\nperformances and is, admittedly, tense. It\u2019s remarkable to see early\nperformances from Aaron Paul and Riki Lindhome (who was later a member of the\ncomedy duo Garfunkel and Oates). They both effectively play the role of a\nmaniac and are intimidating. Additionally, the final act of vengeance taken on\nKrug is memorable. For this reviewer, the film is something of a mixed bag, but\none can see how horror fans would find the picture memorable.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The disc\u2019s picture quality is an improvement over previous\neditions, but isn\u2019t perfect. Both discs feature sharp and clear images, as well\nas some shots that are grainy. Of course, this isn\u2019t the fault of Arrow Video.\nThe second half takes place entirely during the night. As such, there are\nset-ups that appear to have been too dim or underexposed, and it seems that the\nbrightness was bumped up a stop or two in post-production. This process is\nlikely responsible for the presence of grain and there is nothing that can be\ndone about it. If one can forgive an off-kilter shot here and there, then this\nis an improved and, honestly, an accurate presentation of the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This release also comes with plenty of bonuses. There\u2019s a\nbrief director introduction and a movie critic commentary track, as well as\ncast and crew interviews. Those available to talk about their experiences\ninclude Paxton, Dillahunt, in addition to co-screenwriter Carl Ellsworth and\nproducer Jonathan Craven, who discusses working on the project with his famous\nfather. The latter two offer plenty of interesting details about the movie and\nits creation. Apparently, co-producer Wes Craven didn\u2019t have the budget to make\nthe film he had hoped for and was intrigued when a studio offered the\nopportunity to remake the movie with proper funding. Ellsworth notes being\nshocked after viewing the original and suggesting changes to make the primary\ncharacters more relatable. Everyone relates the difficulties in making a\npicture with such horrific elements and how they handled it on set. The set\nalso comes with an archived featurette on the production, deleted scenes and\npublicity materials like a trailer and stills gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this reviewer, both movies are effectively horrifying\nbut also have their issues. The newer edition wisely takes out some of the\noriginal\u2019s ineffective humor that was awful to endure, but also doesn\u2019t go as\nfar to shock audiences and deliver on the premise that anyone is capable of\ncommitting shocking acts under trying circumstances. Instead, the parents are almost\nentirely noble in their attempts to save their daughter and escape the gang. I\nsuppose that the grimy original had its problems and this rewrite managed to\nsolve some of them, but in doing so ended up creating a few new shortcomings of\nits own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, the disc presents a detailed history of the\nproduction and plenty of interesting discussion and debate about the end\nresult. This new edition of The Last House on the Left<\/em> from Arrow is\nsolid and will certainly be of interest to horror movie enthusiasts. It does\nprovide the best presentation possible of the title. Maybe one can even pick up\nthe earlier version on Blu-ray and watch it back-to-back with this 4K Ultra HD\nand Blu-ray set to determine which works better for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray set is now available from Arrow Video. Wes Craven created quite a stir with his first independent feature back in 1972, titled The Last House on the Left. It was a gritty, nasty and at times incredibly unpleasant shocker. The story follows a pair of teens who encounter a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[157,621,1836,2939,3073,8109,9319,12106,13298,14177,16846,17058,17287,17648,18828,21258,21259,21260,23086,24105],"class_list":["post-27032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-157","tag-aaron-paul","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-garret-dillahunt","tag-horror","tag-last-house-on-the-left","tag-martha-macisaac","tag-monica-potter","tag-remake","tag-riki-lindhome","tag-rogue-pictures","tag-sara-paxton","tag-spencer-treat-clark","tag-the-last-house-on-the-left","tag-the-last-house-on-the-left-blu-ray-review","tag-the-last-house-on-the-left-review","tag-tony-goldwyn","tag-wes-craven"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27032\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}