The Making of 'Last House on the Left'

In this barely thirty minute featurette, it covers the basics of what went into making the low-budget film. The cast, writing, advertisements, how they came up with the title and the advertising campaign are all covered fairly well. OK, granted that Wes Craven didn't come off as much of a pompous little jerk as he usually does, I'll give him that. Most of the actors also don't like to be associated with this film, and who in their right mind could really blame them for that? I've seen better documentaries, but I've also seen worse. This documentary can be located on the special edition DVD of "The Last House on the Left"

My Grade: C+

Szulkin's featurette is a must-watch companion to your viewing of LHOTL. For fans of Szulkin's amazing book on the film, it's great to hear much of the material from the book coming straight out of the mouths of the sources themselves. Whereas most of these DVD-extra documentaries are "one viewing" affairs, I find myself checking this one out again whenever I watch LHOTL. As always, David Hess is endlessly entertaining and Craven and Cunningham are far more open about the making of the film than one would expect. But, for me, it's especially great to hear from some of the other stars, like Lucy Grantham and Marc Sheffler, who didn't do much in the business beyond this film. This is where Szulkin's documentary really goes beyond other pieces on the film. Technically, the featurette is well-filmed, nicely edited, and quick moving. For the obsessive completist like me, it could have been longer, but then again, that's what I have Szulkin's book for. For everyone else, it's a fascinating insight into what makes this horrifying movie so compelling.

My grade = A+

Last House on the Left is without a doubt the most disturbing film I have ever seen. It predates Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare On Elm Street and even Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It is the first film that was ever made like this and will perhaps be the last. Gorilla film making is basically defined by what they did to get this film made. And with the climate of films the way they are today, with the politics involved in making films and with all of the PC bullsh** that is omnipresent today, this is a film that would almost be impossible to duplicate. It is raw, it is tense and it is real in so many ways. The first film to come out in about 20 years that even had a modicum of a resemblance to this one is Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses and even though I am a big fan of that film, it is not LHOTL.

This documentary on the DVD is in short, brilliant. It interviews all of the pertinent players in the film and many of them have very candid things to say about their experience making the film. Seeing guys like Wes Craven, Sean Cunningham and even Steve Miner, who was a P.A on this film, speak about the trials and tribulations of getting the film made, is sheer joy and very insighful. To learn that much of this was filmed in Sean Cunningham's backyard and at Steve Miner's friends parents house while they were away is one of the great treats about the behind the scenes DVD. There are many many facts and tricks that are revealed about the making of the film as well and if you thought the working conditions on films like the Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre were tough, then you have to see David Hess and Craven talk about the chainsaw battle. That is scary stuff.

LHOTL is a film that affected me. It changed me in some ways and it was one of the handful of horror films that were the nascency of my love affair with the genre. This is a film that needs to be seen and furthermore if anyone is a fan of DVD and all that it offers, this is a great one to pick up. The documentary is superb and the conversations are candid. If you like to learn how things come to fruition and why things are the way they are in film, then you should do yourself a favour and see this one. There are some DVD's out there that have more content but there is no better documentary than the one you can see on this one. Watch them, and then watch the film all over again.

But still keep repeating to yourself.....It's only a movie.... It's only a movie.... It's only a movie....

The DVD contains director and producer commentary Additional scenes that were cut from the film The Documentary Another documentary The Trailer Scene Access Dailies and Outakes without sound Interviews with Craven, Cunningham, Miner, Hess, Kove and most others in the cast.