The Last House on the Left Starring Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter: DVD Review

The film begins with a simple family (*played by Potter and Goldwyn) who have decided to take their daughter awaty from the big city life and head to their summer home of a secluded lake for two weeks. But, the estate does not go without a history as the couple had lost their teenaged son to tragedy at the same location which has brought many unpleasant memories to the surface as well. However, things go horribly wrong after a trio of escaped criminals show up at their home after their daughter has a chance encounter with a young man named Kevin, whose father is wanted by the local police and is a convicted murderer as well. Kidnapped and left for dead after being raped and then shot at in the woods during an escape attempt, the daughter miraculously makes it back home but not without wounds of her own.

Where the intensity of the film begins to build is after the discovery of who these three are is found out by the mother after Kevin leaves a keepsake that has belonged to their daughter is placed around a simple coffee cup. Once the discovery has been made, the grieving parents take it upon themselves to exact their own brand of justice when a chance encounter then turns bloody and the house becomes masked in death.

Where this film falls flat is the story itself. Many other films in the past that follow this formula have been created and very few have been met with success. (i.e. 'Paparazzi' starring Jake Hauser, 'An Eye For An Eye' starring Sally Field and Kiefer Sutherland). While the suspense was indeed shocking and gripping, there was very little chemistry between the cast and it, unfortunately, had left me wanting. Goldwyn and Potter were like drinking a soda pop with no effervescence....flat. There was no passion behind their roles and it felt as if the emotions they were trying to portray were more automatonic and any particular good training. Goldwyn, in itself, has always been a character actor and not known to have any kind of starring vehicle on his own where he has been given a chance to show his true abilities. Potter was also lackluster as the mother, portraying her like any other mother who has found out that their child has been harmed....angry.

'The Last House On The Left' did have a great deal of potential but whoever directed the film and the screenwriter were just not seeing eye-to-eye as to Craven's vision on what the film should be like.

My rating is three stars out of five. It was an overly horrible film but it needed more development. If you do decide to pick this feature, save it as a trier for those slow weeks at the rental store.