Saturday, April 25, 2009

The Last House on the Left

The Last House on the Left is horror film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Sean S. Cunningham.

The story is based on the 13th century Swedish ballad "Töres dotter i Wänge", which was also adapted into the 1960 Swedish film The Virgin Spring, directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film was remade into a 2009 film of the same name.












Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassell) plans to celebrate her 17th birthday by attending a concert with her friend, Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham). Her parents (Gaylord St. James and Cynthia Carr) express concern both at the band and Mari's friendship with Phyllis. They let her go, giving her a peace symbol necklace as a gift before she leaves.

Phyllis and Mari go to the city for the concert. On the way, they hear a news report on the car radio of a recent prison escape, involving violent criminals by the names of Krug Stillo (David A. Hess), a rapist and serial killer, his son Junior (Marc Sheffler), Sadie (Jeramie Rain), a psychopath and sadist, and Fred "Weasel" Podowski (Fred Lincoln) a child molester, peeping tom, and murderer. After the concert, Mari and Phyllis stroll the streets, seeking someone who might sell marijuana. They find Junior, who leads them back to an apartment, where they are immediately trapped by the criminals. Phyllis tries to escape, then tries to reason with the criminals to let her go and is punched in the stomach and raped. Meanwhile, Mari's unsuspecting parents prepare a surprise party for her.












The next morning, the girls are locked in a car trunk and taken to the countryside as the gang intends to leave the state. The villains' vehicle malfunctions right in front of Mari's house while police are in her home talking to Mari's parents about her disappearance. Removed from the trunk, Phyllis is beaten as Mari realizes that they are near her own home while she is dragged to the woods. In the woods, the girls are untied, and Phyllis forced to urinate on herself by the gang. Mari and Phyllis are forced to have sex with each other and then Sadie performs oral sex on a weeping Mari. Phyllis runs away to distract the kidnappers and offer Mari an opportunity to escape. She is chased by Sadie and Weasel, while Junior stays behind to guard Mari, who tries to convince Junior that her father can help him, and she gives him her peace symbol necklace as a symbol of her trust. Phyllis manages to hit Sadie in the face with a rock and runs. She is then cornered, and Weasel stabs her in the back. She crawls away and manages to lean against a tree. Phyllis is then stabbed numerous times until Sadie can reach into her wounds and pull out her insides. Krug and Weasel amputate her hand and half of her forearm.

Mari eventually convinces Junior to let her go, but they are immediately halted by Krug. Sadie and Weasel present Phyllis' severed hand and half forearm and Krug proceeds to carve his name into Mari's chest. Mari screams at the top of her lungs and is forever marked with "Krug" on her chest. Then Krug pulls off his and Mari's pants and rapes her. Soon after this act, Mari, sick from the shock of being raped, vomits and then walks into a nearby lake to clean herself from being raped. Krug shoots Mari and she floats on the top of the lake. Krug, Sadie, and Weasel wash and change out of their bloody clothes.














In their new attire, the gang go to the Collingwoods' home, masquerading as traveling salesmen. Mari's parents agree to let them stay overnight. Junior exposes their identity when Mari's mother, Estelle, sees Mari's peace symbol necklace dangling around his neck. Later that night she listens in to the gang while they are spending the night in Mari's bedroom and finds blood-soaked clothing in their luggage. She and Dr. Collingwood rush out into the woods, where they find Mari on the bank of the lake. They carry Mari's body back to the house then exact revenge against the crooks.













Outside, Estelle dupes Weasel into a sex game, then performs a fellatio on him. Without warning, she bites off his penis and leaves him to bleed to death. Inside the house, Dr. Collingwood carries his shotgun into his daughter's bedroom, where two of the criminals are sleeping. Krug escapes into the living room and overpowers the doctor, but the criminal is then confronted by his own son, who now brandishes a firearm. Junior threatens to kill his father. Krug psychologically manipulates the already troubled young man, and Junior commits suicide with the weapon. Then Krug finds out the doctor has disappeared.

Sadie rushes outside where she is tackled by Estelle. The two of them wrestle and fight on the ground. Sadie punches Estelle and runs away but then trips and falls into the pool. Estelle grabs a knife and pulls Sadie up and cuts her throat open. Sadie dies of the wound. The doctor kills Krug with the chainsaw and the couple meet each other again in the living room as the police come.

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