Over-rated JUNK.
The Curmudgeon has seen his fair share of all these "video nasties" and they're all, with the exception of previously banned standards like Clockwork Orange, Exorcist and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, complete crap. Dire acting, lousy direction - just because a film has bucket loads of fake blood does NOT make it frightening.
One of the more notorious of the banned series would be Wes Craven't Last House On The Left, a charmless movie showing what happens when normal people are pushed to the extremities of survival (like Hills Have Eyes, but nowhere near as good).
The problem with Last House On The Left isn't it's plot, which is pretty good (teenage girls go to a party, get kidnapped by rapists, get abused and then the parents get revenge), but the whole package is just so shoddy. The dialogue is awful, with poorly delivered lines that don't convince for one second (compare to the natural flow of dialogue in, say, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and the acting is abysmal. And let's not even get started on the totally misplaced "comedy cops", along with funny music to really get the ribs tickled. Yup, after watching teenage girls get raped there's nothing funnier than stoner cops. Hee-haw.
Wes Craven would, of course, go onto far better things (Hills, Nightmare On Elm Street) but this seems to have got some kind of reputation as a long lost classic. It really isn't - it doesn't convince for a second, it's not scary and it's just another in the long line of turgid exploitation flicks. If you DO buy this movie though (those of you foolish enough to ignore The Curmudgeon's advice) you won't, like the tag-line says, be repeating to yourself "it's just a movie, it's just a movie", it'll be more along the lines of "I can sell this on ebay, I can sell this on ebay." Wretched.
1 comment:
Why, Wolfy - I never realised you were so sensitive! Awwww.
I haven't seen Spit On Your Grave, I figured it would probably be more of the same shlocky garbage. I don't really shock easily, so nothing in Last House even touched any nerves.
Yeah, like I said in the review, Wes would go onto better things, and (for my money) Hills Have Eyes is his most fingernail chewing.
As for "that could happen to me" syndrome, look no further than Wes Craven's classic "Shocker." Well, we've all electrocuted ourselves shouting "give it to me" only for a giant pair of cartoon lips to appear in thin air and say "you got it, babeeee". Haven't we?
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