Mar 12, 2009 5:57 pm US/Eastern
'The Last House On The Left'
Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
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It could be interpreted as the most vile, misogynistic "Just Say No" ad ever. Then again, you'd have to assume that this remake of the 1972 Wes Craven classic has a point, other than pure shock value.
AP
It could be interpreted as the most vile, misogynistic "Just Say No" ad ever. Then again, you'd have to assume that this remake of the 1972 Wes Craven classic has a point, other than pure shock value.
Craven's debut was by no means great art (even though it was inspired by Ingmar Bergman's Oscar-winning "The Virgin Spring"), but at least it had suspense, and in retrospect it's easy to see how its low-budget brutality influenced decades of horror filmmakers to come. Director Dennis Iliadis' take retains the same basic story -- a couple of teenage girls on the hunt for pot get abducted and savagely attacked by psychopaths -- but there's nothing particularly special about it artistically.
It's slick and quick and loud, filled with the typical amped-up thumps that accompany every body blow. Working from a script by Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth ("Disturbia"), Iliadis puts his vaguely unique spin on the proceedings by prolonging the most grotesque, violent elements and making them more graphic.
The result is never scary, but instead feels deplorably gratuitous -- especially a rape scene in the woods, which goes on forever and seems intended for titillation. Sara Paxton and Martha MacIssac play the girls in trouble, Garret Dillahunt leads the crazed killers and a miscast Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter play the parents who ultimately get their bloody revenge.
R for sadistic brutal violence including a rape and disturbing images, language, nudity and some drug use.
109 min. Zero stars out of four.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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