The Last House on the Left has just hit theaters this March, and it is a remake of the 1972 Wes Craven version. Both new and old have received mixed reviews and shocked reactions due to its realistic scenes of intense violence.

Looking for a get-away from the city life, the Collingwood family takes refuge in their rural lake house. Teenage Mari Collingwood (played by Sara Paxton) and her old friend Paige (Martha McIsaac) go out into town looking to have whatever fun they can, little do they know a crazed gang led by an escaped convict has also taken refuge in that small town. Eventually their paths cross, Mari and Paige are kidnapped, brutally beaten and raped. They are both left for dead. Having crashed their vehicle earlier, the gang is forced to find their way out of the woods on foot.
They reach a house and ask for aid. They are taken in by a married couple; little do they know that they are Mari’s parents. Mari who managed to survive makes her way back home and informs her parents. They quickly realize who did it and that they are in the same house as them. They weigh their options and decide to take matters into their own hands.

Is it worth the watch? Yeah I think so; it’s violence is definitely an improvement from the original. Like all remade films, its effects are updated, promising a much gorier film. As much as I liked this new version, I actually felt the old version captured more of the violent nature of these crazy people the way Wes Craven meant it to. It was much more intense and realistic, it felt almost wrong just to watch two teenage girls being treated the way they were because of it. Regardless, I think both differ and share similarities, but they’re both good adaptations of The Last House on the Left.