The Last House on the Left (2009)

In this 2009 remake of The Last House on the Left, David Iliadis revisits Wes Craven’s 1971 original horror-thriller, recreating similar ideas and scenes. Craven’s original The Last House on the Left managed to shock 1971 audiences, confronting them with crude images.

Iliadis’s storyline is very undifferentiated to Craven’s. Mari (Sara Paxton) and her parents are visiting their lake house. Meanwhile, dangerous criminal, Krug (Garret Dillahunt), escapes police custody with the help of his girlfriend and brother. Mari and her wayward friend Paige (Martha MacIsaac) decide to go back to a new friend, Justin’s (Spencer Treat Clark) apartment. Justin turns out to be Krug’s son and the dangerous foursome abduct the girls.

Iliadis presents the audience with highly violent scenes. With a much more desensitised audience than Craven’s 1971 cinemagoers, Iliadis had a more challenging task in creating a shock factor. In order to do this, he presents the audience with a distressing, lengthy rape scene. While this scene is likely to be a bit much to take for many, it is successful in making the audience squirm.

Iliadis’ remake is fairly successful. It recreates all of Craven’s original successes, however it offers little more than this. Because of this, it could be said that Iliadis’ revamp is unnecessary, as it does not offer any new significant insights. Iliadis does however implement clever camera work that assists in story telling. Overall, Iliadis’ The Last House on the Left is a strong imitation of the original, rather than a recreation.