LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT

LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT GIVES NEW MEANING TO HORROR FILM; WARNING, THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

This was, by far, the most horrifying horror film I've seen in a while. It's not because it was that good. It's due to its over the top, graphic and painful violence. Characters like Jason or Freddy are surreal. They kill at random and usually in an over the top, not so believable (get out of the house!) way. Haunted house flicks are suspenseful and may have bloodshed, but it's from unearthly beings, which again, makes it less believable. Last House, however, is so realistic and "it could happen to anyone-ish" that it is unbearable to even hear some scenes, let alone watch them. The story is a nice doctor and his family go to their summer house. The young girl, as usual, wants to visit her friend and heads into town. One thing leads to another and soon the young girl is beaten, brutally raped, shot and then left for dead by a rag-tag bunch of psychopaths. As the rain hits, the psychopaths end up at the girls house, unwittingly asking her parents for shelter from the rain. It is tense and even more suspenseful than a grade B horror flick.
Everyone loves a good revenge plot, but the time it took to get there was excruciating and painful. The acting was flawless because you forget you are watching a film instead of being a voyeur to this horrific crime. Although the ending proved just revenge, it was a bit over the top after a whole movie of relative brutality. I didn't like this film at all. Personally, I think it is part of the desensitization of the type of youth who take guns to school. The rape scene by far was the most gut wrenching and drawn out. God help us if this is the only way we can go at a suspenseful film and make it work. It had a good plot, good characters and held my attention, but I think it could have done that without the prolonged beyond-horror scenes. I would say, aside from that it was a good film, however the "that" was really just too much.
No Bite: It could have been a good movie without so much realistic and graphic violence.