The Last House on the Left (2009) by Dennis Iliadis

Director: Dennis Iliadis

Year: 2009

Country: USA/United Kingdom

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Exploitation

Plot:

After kidnapping, tormenting, raping and leaving their daughter for dead, her parents find the group of strangers seeking shelter at their house from a storm are the ones responsible and set out to avenge the misdeeds against their family.

Review:

Even though it's miles better than the original, that's not saying much as this was pretty troubling. Among the problems here is the fact that the first half is just criminally boring, as there's not much of anything that keeps the interest or really gets involved with what happened throughout here. The early build-up of them going around town and meeting up with her friend that introduces them to the group isn't all that interesting and really feels like a contrivance to introduce them to the group while really holding this one down from its interesting parts here.

Likewise, the set-up of the group happening upon the house takes way too long to fulfill here as their hospitality is certainly welcomed but it drags way past helpful here as the discovery comes rather late here due to the incessant nature of these scenes, while the final brawl is slightly too underwhelming here with the father not getting full revenge by showing him to be clearly outmatched and needing to be rescued in order to be saved which just is really that satisfying thematically. This one also tends to get overplayed here with a protracted stalking scene as them going after the group really makes the film overlong at the final resolution rather than actually building suspense here, and there's a lot of build-up here that doesn't really offer up much.

As well, this section highlights another big problem here in that this was significantly down-played from the original by completely ignoring the dirty, grimy feel that should've been a part of this one from the very beginning. Instead, by being way too clean and sanitized, one of the more important and certainly worthwhile elements of the original that's completely missing here really renders a lot of the problems here along with the uncomfortable feeling in the rape scenes that's really unsettling to watch.

While these really hold this one down the few positive parts do stick out with the film's best part being the additional energy the film gets here as it did manage to get a little better as it went along by really picking up steam with the confrontation in the woods leading to the actual encounter here from the tense car ride through the woods, the fun crashing sequence and the resulting chases through the woods which sets up that whole sequence and eventual escape.

Likewise, there's a lot of fun here with the actual revenge being taken out against the group as these vicious, brutal and violent brawls are quite cathartic and really important at making the revenge seem logical and well-thought-out here as the action throughout the house. From the bloody kitchen encounter to the chasing in the guest-house that includes the gunfight alongside the rather fine encounter in the bathroom all leading nicely into the big, knockdown brawl for its final resolution, there's some really enjoyable action scenes throughout here that makes this one quite fun. While it wasn't terrible, it wasn't an entertaining film either.

Overview: **.5/5

Sanitized and flawed if still enjoyable remake, this corrects some issues with the original but also manages lose out on several factors that were found there leaving it a rather weird offering. Those who are fine with the positive factors or are curious about the updating of the material could easily enjoy this one while others turned off by the film's drawbacks should heed caution.