The Last House on the Left

The Last House on the Left is a 2009 revenge horror-thriller film directed by Dennis Iliadis and written by Carl Ellsworth and Adam Alleca. It is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name, and stars Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Spencer Treat Clark, Martha MacIsaac, and Sara Paxton. The film follows the parents (Goldwyn and Potter) of Mari Collingwood (Paxton), who attempt to get revenge on a group of strangers, led by a man named Krug (Dillahunt), that have taken shelter at their home during a thunderstorm.
The film rights were picked up by Rogue Pictures in 2006, with the remake being the first film produced by Wes Craven’s new production studio Midnight Pictures. Craven, who wrote and directed the 1972 original, was interested to see what kind of film could be produced on a large budget, as the limited funds in 1972 forced him to eliminate scenes he had wanted to film to tell a complete story. Alleca’s original script included elements of the supernatural, which prompted the studio to reject it and bring in Ellsworth to perform a rewrite. One of the elements director Iliadis wanted to avoid with this film, given its graphic nature, was turning it into torture porn — a subgenre of horror popularized by the Saw franchise. For Craven and Iliadis, The Last House on the Left primarily illustrates how even the most normal of families can be driven to evil acts if pushed too far.
Released on March 13, 2009, The Last House on the Left was met with mixed reviews from critics. Audience opinion ranked the film at a “B” level, from a scale of “A to F”; the film would ultimately gross $45,286,228 worldwide.