Quote:

---

Quote:

---

A quality movie watching experience. Unfortunately this was not to be had. Instead we were treated to a series of unsuccessful scenes that together just form a mess.

---

What scenes were unsuccessful, aside from all the scenes with the cops?

---

The cops.

Well I suppose I'll do this in chronological order.

The first scene that seemed odd and out of place was the conversation between the girl and her parents. The whole "bra" thing was really stereotypical and corny and reminded me firmly that I was watching a movie. That, along with the musical montage with the two girls, really takes the reality out of the film early on. This succeeds in destroying any attempt to be disturbed. Then we come to the meeting between the future victims and their soon to be victimizers. This scene is really badly shot. It's marked with kind of a cheesy aura and there is zero tension. A wasted scene, really. If better shot and structured, this scene could have provided a very tense mood to the film and completely erased the corniness of the previous sequences.

Then of course we get to the victimization. The failing of these scenes is mainly that I never really "feel" for the victims. The pieces just don't come together. The acting from all parties is too watered down and I never got a sense of "Oh my God NO!!!!" from the victims or a sense of joy from the victimizers. The fact that these scenes are considered shocking is a real mystery to me. They really feel flat. The most horrible of all being the sequence in which the thugs are supposed to appear to seem remorseful. This scene really comes off as hokey and unbelievable. Mostly, again, due to poor acting, in my opinion. They just kinda stare and it's not a blank stare. It almost seems like Wes just directed them to "stare". There really seems to be no motivation behind it.

The revenge sequence, I won't even go into, since most people acknowledge it's failure, but I actually find it to be the most convincing part of the film.

I feel odd going into detail like this. Me, the king of criticizing people for making such criticisms concerning Exploitation films. But when your intent is to shock, ya have to make it atleast somewhat believable. Last House on the Left simply isn't to me, at all.

--------------------

Post Extras