The remake of Last House is neither great or horrible. In my opinion, it sits comfortably in the middle somewhere.
I preface by saying that I am not a huge fan of the 1972 Wes Craven film, even though I consider myself a fan of his other works. Much like the remake of Amityville Horror, a remake of this film could not do much worse as far as I'm concerned. So I wasn't planning on having too many complaints relating to the differences with original source material (and since I haven't seen the Bergman film, by original I mean the '72 film). I wasn't expecting much, and I was given more than I expected.
The story remains very similar in that two girls find themselves in an unfortunate situation buying the dreaded weed! One of the girls, our heroine Mari, is a good virginal, family girl. The other, is a little more daring and promiscuous. The original developed this relationship better and seemed to look closer at the characters personalities. To me, this made the next set of events more effective.
While buying the drugs, the girls and their suitor are interrupted by the remaining members of the suitor's gang, who have recently done something illegal and are running from the law. In mere moments, the girls find themselves the prisoners of the gang for fear of alarming the authorities, or maybe because the gang is sexually attracted to the girls and has other uses for them. By any means, the gang and the girls take to the road to escape. While en route, Mari sees that they are traveling near her house, and tries to make an escape which results in the crash of the car they're riding in and some injuries to the passengers. Her attempt ultimately fails and she and her friend are punished for it.
This is where the original and remake separate a little. The original featured a much more sadistic turn of events, where as the remake lets us as the audience off a little easy. The only cruel and disturbing element that the remake was able to recreate in my opinion was the
Uber spoiler
brutal rape of Mari by the gang's leader. To me this scene was very unsettling and was the only part of the film to capture how evil the gang of criminals are, save for the opening scene where they force a dying police officer to bleed to death on a picture of his kids, all the while telling him that he'll never see them again. Back to Mari: after she is assaulted, Mari makes another attempt to escape. She runs to the lake to swim away from her captors and although she manages to dodge the majority of the bullets that they fire at her from the shore, one gets her in the back and she is left for dead in the water. Here is another example of how the original differs. In the original, there is no doubt that Mari is shot dead. The remake leaves open the possibility that she was merely injured and thus sets up a more uplifting ending.
Because the escape attempt rendered the gang's transportation useless, they approach a nearby residence for aid. In an ironic twist of fate, the residence is that of Mari's parents who have no knowledge of the unfortunate events that have just unfolded. Here the film settles into it's third act, where the parents discover the deeds of the gang and carry out their revenge on them. The remake has Mari arrive back home barely alive, where her parents are able to save her and ultimately leave with her, along with the unfortunate son of the gang's leader who helped the parents exact their revenge.
The attacks on the gang by the parents in both films felt over the top to me, and this is really where I move away emotionally. It seems that in both cases, the violence is only present to appease the audience. I feel that if the attacks would have been more organic to the parents plight, they would have been much more cruel and disturbing instead of satisfying. Take for example the brutal attack on the assumed rapist at the beginning of the film "Irreversible". This is the kind of violence that I think would have benefited the overall feel of the Last House remake. Instead we are treated to an odd "head in the broken microwave" sequence that is never properly explained.
Oh well, if the majority of the audiences are anything like my screening, this film will get a pretty good reaction. At least on the first viewing anyway. However, this is one film that will definitely not stand the test of time. But, neither does the original, so who cares.
5/10
I preface by saying that I am not a huge fan of the 1972 Wes Craven film, even though I consider myself a fan of his other works. Much like the remake of Amityville Horror, a remake of this film could not do much worse as far as I'm concerned. So I wasn't planning on having too many complaints relating to the differences with original source material (and since I haven't seen the Bergman film, by original I mean the '72 film). I wasn't expecting much, and I was given more than I expected.
The story remains very similar in that two girls find themselves in an unfortunate situation buying the dreaded weed! One of the girls, our heroine Mari, is a good virginal, family girl. The other, is a little more daring and promiscuous. The original developed this relationship better and seemed to look closer at the characters personalities. To me, this made the next set of events more effective.
While buying the drugs, the girls and their suitor are interrupted by the remaining members of the suitor's gang, who have recently done something illegal and are running from the law. In mere moments, the girls find themselves the prisoners of the gang for fear of alarming the authorities, or maybe because the gang is sexually attracted to the girls and has other uses for them. By any means, the gang and the girls take to the road to escape. While en route, Mari sees that they are traveling near her house, and tries to make an escape which results in the crash of the car they're riding in and some injuries to the passengers. Her attempt ultimately fails and she and her friend are punished for it.
This is where the original and remake separate a little. The original featured a much more sadistic turn of events, where as the remake lets us as the audience off a little easy. The only cruel and disturbing element that the remake was able to recreate in my opinion was the
Uber spoiler
brutal rape of Mari by the gang's leader. To me this scene was very unsettling and was the only part of the film to capture how evil the gang of criminals are, save for the opening scene where they force a dying police officer to bleed to death on a picture of his kids, all the while telling him that he'll never see them again. Back to Mari: after she is assaulted, Mari makes another attempt to escape. She runs to the lake to swim away from her captors and although she manages to dodge the majority of the bullets that they fire at her from the shore, one gets her in the back and she is left for dead in the water. Here is another example of how the original differs. In the original, there is no doubt that Mari is shot dead. The remake leaves open the possibility that she was merely injured and thus sets up a more uplifting ending.
Because the escape attempt rendered the gang's transportation useless, they approach a nearby residence for aid. In an ironic twist of fate, the residence is that of Mari's parents who have no knowledge of the unfortunate events that have just unfolded. Here the film settles into it's third act, where the parents discover the deeds of the gang and carry out their revenge on them. The remake has Mari arrive back home barely alive, where her parents are able to save her and ultimately leave with her, along with the unfortunate son of the gang's leader who helped the parents exact their revenge.
The attacks on the gang by the parents in both films felt over the top to me, and this is really where I move away emotionally. It seems that in both cases, the violence is only present to appease the audience. I feel that if the attacks would have been more organic to the parents plight, they would have been much more cruel and disturbing instead of satisfying. Take for example the brutal attack on the assumed rapist at the beginning of the film "Irreversible". This is the kind of violence that I think would have benefited the overall feel of the Last House remake. Instead we are treated to an odd "head in the broken microwave" sequence that is never properly explained.
Oh well, if the majority of the audiences are anything like my screening, this film will get a pretty good reaction. At least on the first viewing anyway. However, this is one film that will definitely not stand the test of time. But, neither does the original, so who cares.
5/10