A highly controversial fan favorite since its original release, The Last House on the Left has spent much of the past 30 years making many home video appearances in multiple cuts. Fans of the film LOVE it while those who hate it vehemently hate it and there seems to be no in-between. Last House is one of those films I never thought would've surfaced on DVD let alone in a budget priced yet seemingly full-blown special edition. The fact of the matter is that the film itself isn't really any more complete than some previous releases. However, the full involvement of Sean Cunningham (The man behind the Friday the 13th series) and Wes Craven (the man behind the Nightmare on Elm St series) certainly makes this edition priceless in its own right.

On her 17th birthday, Mari leaves the comfort of her country like dwellings with her city friend Phyllis to head into town for a concert courtesy of the band Bloodlust. After stopping for some ice cream they decide to see if they can score any of the dope that those kids loved oh so much. The two meet up with Junior on the streets of New York who graciously invites them up to his place for some of his good stuff (groovy!). Big mistake on their part as waiting upstairs is Krug (David Hess who later starred in the unnervingly similar House at the Edge of the Park), Weasel and Sadie 3 very psychotic escaped convicts. What follows are a series of beatings, rapes and sexual/violent humiliations (it's not nearly as funny as it sounds, trust me) that unfortunately practically takes place in Mari's backyard. Tables are eventually turned as Mari's parents get wind of what has happened and take the law into their own hands exercising their own brand of judicial punishment.

In the end, Last House on the Left winds up as a highly effective piece of celluloid trash. It's extremely exploitative and excessive making no apologies for any of this along the way. On the surface the film appears to be amateurish and cheap. Upon closer inspection one can see that Craven and Cunningham were extremely deliberate in their actions. There are some great moments in which the extreme violence is inter-cut with scenes of a more lighthearted nature making for a much more disturbing experience. One moment in particular involves scenes of the girls being tortured inter-cut with scenes of Mari's parents preparing for her birthday bash. The "comic relief" brought forth from the inept police provides us with some nervous laughter as well and at the same time makes us extremely angry. We know that if they weren't so inept perhaps something could be done? But it's only a movie right? The music (much of which was composed and performed by David Hess as well) often adds to this sordid and uncomfortable affair with its AM Gold styling and bizarre lyrics that also help to further the story along. The bottom line is that although the film itself is extremely upsetting, it's also unbelievably effective. Even I feel guilty watching this film, and that's really saying something. Last House is an extremely important piece of genre filmmaking and it's never going to go away.

How does the disc look? Well the polls have been closed and all of the votes are in. While this disc is most certainly not reference quality, this is easily the best that Last House has ever looked (at least in any edition I've ever seen and I've seen quite a few). Last House was shot on an extremely low budget (Super 16 and then blown up to 35mm) and has suffered from such an uneven history that obtaining a near perfect/complete print would seem virtually impossible at this point. Yes the film suffers from high levels of grain and the added clarity of DVD only enhances the visual aspect of this anomaly. Although I was surprised to see that there wasn't too much in the way of print damage. There are a few light scratches and some specs pop up here and there, but for the most part the print is fairly clean and I wound by being pleasantly surprised. Of course some of the indoor scenes don't hold up as well, while some of the outdoor scenes can range from looking just acceptable to nearly striking. If you like your films presented as a jigsaw puzzle, the film is also presented full screen on side two. The full screen version crops some information from the sides (of course) and appears to have much higher levels of grain. Needless to say that the widescreen version is preferred. You also have the option of watching a brief intro before the film courtesy of Wes Craven.

Audio is of course presented in Dolby Mono and sounds just fine for what it's worth. The limitations from the original production are once again going to prevent this track from impressing your audiophile friends. In the world of Last House it's quite serviceable and sounds just fine. Dialogue is fairly clear but winds up shifting from scene to scene (a lot of dialogue was dubbed and re-dubbed apparently). It's not going to get much better than this… come to think of it, do we really need it to?

Luckily, MGM has decided to include some mouthwatering extras along with the feature itself. The extras are spread out on both sides of the disc. Let me start off by saying that fans of David Szulkin's book on Last House will probably not learn much more than what they already know, but this disc does stand as a nice companion piece to the book. The widescreen side includes a great featurette (directed by Szulkin that runs for about 30 minutes) that includes interviews with a huge chunk of the cast and crew (Craven, Cunningham, Hess and many more). The full screen side features the great theatrical trailer that includes the infamous "it's only a movie" tag line. Next up is a section that includes about 14 minutes of "outtakes and raw footage" (yes there is more of that infamous disemboweling scene here). There is no dialogue to accompany this footage, as apparently it has been lost forever. There's also a brief segment entitled Forbidden Footage which I'm sorry to say is a misleading title. It basically consists of Craven and Cunningham discussing some of the more disturbing footage found within the film. Why this wasn't just left as part of the featurette is beyond me. Last but not least is a feature length audio commentary with both Craven and Cunningham. Although the commentary is lacking just a bit, it's great that MGM was able to get the two of them together for this re release. Their involvement in this production is worth its weight in gold and is great news for the fans as well as remaining an incredible testament to the film itself.

In conclusion, let me just say that all of these people who are bitching about the quality of this release need a check up from the neck up. The film looks great (all things considered) and the extras are most impressive. While this version isn't any more complete than some previous editions it easily outclasses them in quality. Will the infamous lesbian scene ever see the light of day on home video? Probably not, I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. Will there be any more violence in future editions? Once again, probably not, I think we've seen all there is to see. Will there be additional dialogue scenes in future editions? Quite possibly, and I'm sure that there will be some additional extras that fans will probably want to check out as well. I know for a fact that this isn't the last time I'll be purchasing a copy of Last House, but for 10 bucks, I sure am glad I nabbed this one.