Movies You Probably Didn’t Know Were Remakes, in Honor of ‘Evil Dead’

Movie #4 – The Last House on the Left

Year – 1972

The Last House on the Left, the directorial debut of Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream), is a down and dirty little exploitation film. The story revolves around a pair of girls who, while in route to a concert, encounter a group of sociopaths who brutally rape and kill them. When the group (now disguised) seeks refuge in the home of one of the girls, her family figures out who they are and what they’ve done and exacts their revenge. It’s a bloody, gory, sadistic movie that was originally intended to be a “hardcore” film. In fact, many of its actors came from the *ahem*…”adult” industry.

So you might find it surprising just how cultured its pedigree actually is. The film is a remake of The Virgin Spring directed by what many consider the greatest filmmaker in the history of the medium – Ingmar Bergman. Of course, this being a fancy-pants art-house movie, it takes place in medieval Sweden and is a meditation on religion, sexuality, justice, the nature of evil and redemption. Also, the cast wasn’t made up of porn stars. Elitist bastards. It also won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1961. Because Swedes like to show off.

Next: The Maltese Falcon