Tags: last house on the left

Some years ago (before I became fully entrenched in the horror world), my father mentioned The Last House of the Left (1972). He didn't tell me what it was about or whether or not he even liked it. He just told me I should see it. Naturally, Best Friend and I went to the video store post haste. (It is a fervent belief of mine that watching a film like this on VHS is better than watching it on DVD.) We pulled the tape out of its translucent plastic case and popped it into the VCR. And it was an experience unlike any I'd had up to that point.(read more...)

I'm trying something new this week that will hopefully become a regular feature. Too often I read some really interesting blog post or news snippet and think to myself, "Gosh, the readers at Classic-Horror would dig this," only to be waylaid by the follow-up, "Yeah, but think of all the text regurgitation you'll have to do just to make it a proper news story." The actual news copy is the part I struggle with the most, so instead, I'm doing a weekly round-up of links to posts that I find noteworthy.(read more...)

DVD Drive-In reports that MGM will release a Collector's Edition DVD of Wes Craven's controversial 1972 thriller Last House on the Left on February 24, 2009. The new disc will feature a commentary by the lead actors, numerous featurettes, never-before-seen outtakes, and more. Full details are at DVD Drive-In. Last House, ever-so-loosely based on Ingmar Bergman's Virgin Spring, deals with a group of criminals who rape and kill two young women, then receive the violent reprisal of the parents of one of the girls. Midnight Entertainment has recently completed a remake set to be released in March 2009.

Sometimes, we get contacted to do an article to coincide with the release of a theatrical film or DVD. Most of the time, we don't do it because we either don't have any ideas or there are no good ideas for that particular movie. The PR folks for Universal's recent remake of The Hitcher (coming out on DVD May 1st -- check the cover art at the bottom of the page) had something different, however -- a good idea. They said, "Hey, guys, we have somebody getting yanked apart by two semi trucks in our movie. What about listing off some other brutal and/or sadistic deaths?" I was intrigued, which is often enough to get me to put fingers to keyboard, so here we go.

The list presented below isn't definitive. These aren't necessarily the ten most brutal or sadistic deaths in a horror movie, just the ones we thought were notable. Your mileage may vary. Each entry is accompanied by a screencap that can be accessed by clicking the thumbnail icon below the film title.(read more...)