Horror maestro Wes Craven’s back catalogue, notably his earliest films, were ripe for remakes and whilst 2006’s The Hills have Eyes was decent enough, A Nightmare on Elm Street was …..well, a Nightmare. But the most controversial film in his back catalogue was his 1972 feature debut The Last House on the Left. The film saw two teenage girls head off for a gig for their birthday where they buy some cannabis but find themselves later kidnapped, raped and murdered by a gang of escaped convicts.
It was released with the tag line ‘Just keep repeating it’s only a movie. Unfortunately for actress Sandra Peabody the movie felt only too real bringing her to tears and an utter dread of filming a notorious scene that saw the British censors especially take their scissors to it effectively seeing it banned when the Video Recordings Act found its way on to the statute books.
But with Craven going onto bigger and arguably better things his controversial low budget and little seen shocker was ripe for a remake and with Craven on board producing the directing duties were handed to Dennis Iliadis a Greek director who had made a couple of shorts, a TV series and a 2004 feature film called Hardcore set in a brothel. With Craven also co-writing the script with two other screenwriters the film had the same premise with Sara Paxton and Martha MacIsaac as the friends and the gang led by Garrett Dillahunt which included Aaron Paul whose star would quickly rise with Breaking Bad having just started.
This remake now sees the two girls wind up in the company of escaped convict Krug (Garret Dillahunt) and his makeshift family of vile career criminals, who kidnap and brutally assault them before leaving them for dead. Fleeing from the scene of their violent crime during a storm, the thugs inadvertently seek refuge with their parents, anxious as to why their daughter hasn’t come home yet and primed to unleash the full forces of hell on anyone who would dare to touch so much as a hair on her head.
The remake falls more into the territory of thriller than horror although there’s an end scene to please the gore hounds but like the original there’s a rape scene in this which is both voyeuristically shot and overlong and even back in 2009 it was a scene that seemed out of place with the times
This new limited edition release includes the following bonus features:
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- Two version of the film: the original Theatrical Version (4K Ultra HD Blu-ray) and the Unrated Version (Blu-ray)
• Original uncompressed stereo audio and DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio for both films
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on both films
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Zoë Rose Smith
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Eric Adrian Lee
DISC ONE – THEATRICAL VERSION (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the original Theatrical Version of the film
• Exclusive new filmed introduction by director Dennis Iliadis
• Brand new audio commentary by David Flint and Adrian Smith
• A River of Blood, a new 31-minute interview with Sara Paxton
• The Notorious Krug, a new 27-minute interview with actor Garret Dillahunt
• Suspending Disbelief, a new 18-minute interview with screenwriter Carl Ellsworth
• Reviving the Legend, a new 33-minute interview with producer Jonathan Craven
• Look Inside Featurette, from the films original 2009 release.
• Deleted scenes
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
DISC TWO – UNRATED VERSION (BLU-RAY)
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the Unrated Version
Inevitably the ‘unrated’ version adds little to the feature and the ‘unrated’ label is a bit of a misnomer as it still has to pass the censors to get a release. The interviews are decent if on occasion a little vanilla but the commentary by writers David Flint and Adrian Smith give a hint of what is was like working with Craven who passed away in 2015. Not the best of remakes but not the worst it’s still worth a look for those familiar with the original as a comparison exercise.
related feature: The Hills Have Eyes – UHD BLU-RAY review
related feature: Getting scalped by a helicopter – HeliZombie Jim Krut talks, ‘Dawn of the Dead’
Here’s The Last House on the Left trailer…….
The Last House on the Left is released on 4K UHD on 28th August 2023
The post The Last House on the Left (2009) – LIMITED EDITION UHD / BLU_RAY appeared first on Any Good Films.
from Any Good Films https://ift.tt/o1c9ZnP
