Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Last House on the Left’ (1972)

Written by Scott Edwards

While we try to celebrate the best parts about whichever city we happen to live in, there's a dark side to our hometowns. For every hero and feel good story in our community, there are bad people out there that do bad things and sadly, that often times becomes the top story on the nightly news. Our best hope to counteract the ugly things in our city is to be the better man or woman and try our best to treat people with the respect they deserve. But sadly, we always have to keep our guard up, because you never know what will happen if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Krug has just been broken out of prison and is looking to restart his life from where he left off. With his squeeze Sadie, buddy Weasel and son Junior at his side he has put the group back together. Laying low in an apartment, Krug is starting to get a little bit itchy and when Sadie tells him that she will no longer be sleeping with him until she gets some female companions of her own, he knows that something will have to change. Sending Junior out of the room, he is able to come across a happy treat when Mari and Phyllis stop by to try and find some weed to smoke before going to a show.

Bringing the girls back up to get the goods, they are shocked to see that they are in the middle of something that was not expected. Being locked in, Phyllis is taken advantage of first by the group, but her nightmare is just beginning. Knowing that the group needs to move, Krug gets everyone, and everything packed up and head north, away from the police. But all is not well and good when the car breaks down in front of a house and now Krug has to make the best decision possible. Taking the girls down into the wooded area, he decides to have some fun with his new friends. Threatening to cut Mari every time that Phyllis does not do what he says, the two girls are forced into a life and death situation that they will not be able to escape from.

Not willing to go easily, Phyllis decides that she will try and escape the torment and on her word, she heads into the woods trying to provide Mari the opportunity to get home. Running by the river, Phyllis is able to get both Weasel and Sadie to follow her leaving Mari to deal with Junior. As the chase continues, Phyllis is able to see a road, but Krug is in her way to freedom. Killing off the stronger of the two girls, he returns to see that Mari is trying to escape as well. Carving his name into her chest, Krug finishes the job and is ready to return to the real world. Being invited into John and Estelle’s home, the group finds out that their daughter was their last victim. Their secret is short lived however since the two parents are very perceptive and hear about what the group has done to their daughter. All bets are off and now John and Estelle are ready to take revenge on their new guests in the worst way possible.

What can I say about this movie, other than it is a classic. Although it is pretty dated, you are able to get into the mind of a killer and see how everything is alright in his or her eyes. Throughout the torture scenes, you can see that the group is having fun causing pain to their victims and nothing will take that away from them. I love the soundtrack as it goes between a little bit of downer music to a whole bunch of uplifting melodies. It is unfortunate that the police in this story are not giving much attention to Mari’s missing person status, as they find out later in the story, but they became the biggest punchline in the movie. John and Estelle are the highlight characters in the movie since they are really the hero’s if you have to find one. You always wonder way fathers come to the door with a shotgun when you are taking their daughter out, you might want to try and cut them some slack after watching this movie. Stay Scared.

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