Last House on the Left Opens Its Doors – August 30, 1972

Two years before The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and three whole decades before the “torture porn” outrages of the Saw and Hostel franchises, director Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left set a new standard for fright-flick brutality by merging merciless violence with horrific sexuality.

Last House on the Left changed movies forever -- all movies, not just exploitation films -- and it made its first indelible marks on this date in 1972

Press play for sample of what makes Last House remain so shocking, then leap forward to learn more about this milestone of mayhem.

Originally intended as a hardcore porn film and shot under the title Sex Crime of the Century, Last House spins the wicked yarn of two lovely, likable teenage girls who go to a rock concert and get kidnapped by a gang of psychotic criminals led by the despicable Krug (the unforgettably ghastly David Hess).

The teens are repeatedly raped, beaten, humiliated, sliced open, and murdered. A major twist occurs when the homicidal hoodlums seek refuge in a nearby suburban home after the massacre.

Much has been made of Last House on the Left being inspired by master Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring. Some wisenheimers have joked that since nobody who saw just one of those films could have possibly seen the other, there’s no way to be sure if that’s true.

Dynamic film historian David Szulkin has not only seen both Last House and its inspiration, he also chronicles all of the movie’s imitators, rip-offs, descendents, and influences in one of the best making-of-a-movie books ever written, simply titled Wes Craven's Last House on the Left.

Brutal sexuality became a staple of ’70s cinema in the wake of Last House. Whatever one’s feelings about strong stuff on the order of I Spit on Your Grave, House on the Edge of the Park, and the unacknowledged Last House remake titled Chaos, Mr. Skin must acknowledge that the success of Craven and his crew led to more naked female bodies on the big screen. And for that, we unravel our intestines in salute!