appropriate language are major elements for a mediocre horror slasher film, unfortunately those are all the negative qualities possessed by new film “The Last House on the Left.”

The film is a remake of the 1972 film by the same name. The film is directed by newcomer Dennis Llidas (“Hardcore,” 2004) and produced by Wes Craven, who also directed the 1972 film.

The movie starts by showing two detectives who are escorting a criminal to the police station. However, they are stopped by three criminals who then proceed to brutally murder the police by strangulation.

The movie really gives no lead-in. It really starts off with brutal violence and foul language but it only gets worse from there.
Meanwhile, Mari Collingwood (Sara Paxton, “Aquamarine,” 2006) and her parents Emma (Monica Potter, “Along Came a Spider,” 2001) and John (Tony Goldwyn, “American Gun,” 2005) are arriving at their cabin in the mountains for a family vacation. After settling in, Mari tells her parents that she is going to hang out with her friend, Paige, at work.

The two girls are abducted by the criminals shown earlier in the film. Both of them are hurt badly in there struggle with the killers and both left for dead in the forest.

By coincidence, the killers stumble across the Collingwood’s house and ask if they could stay in the guest house. Here comes the twist – Mari reappears at the house and her parents decide to take revenge on their uninvited house guests.

The twist gives a little bit more to a movie that is overall very predictable and pretty much follows the basic outline of so many other horror movies before it.

In a movie filled with so much vulgarity, there are some brief shining moments of goodness.

The soundtrack does a great job building the suspense in scenes they may have other wise been very boring. For example, when the murderers find Mari’s home, an otherwise boring scene of them sitting on the couch was enhanced with foreboding music.

Another positive this movie brought to the table was good casting. Potter was great in the role of Emma Collingwood, Mari’s mother. You could almost feel her pain when she found her brutally injured daughter on the porch of the house.

The performance by Paxton as Mari is impressive – every grunt, grimace and cry of pain made you really feel what she was going through at every point during her very long ordeal with the ruthless murderers.

The special effects in this movie are not great but they are good enough to get the point across. One of the best effects in the movie is when the head of one of the murderers is stuck in a microwave and it explodes.

As far as the directing goes, it is not bad but it is apparent that newcomer Dennis Lliads has a lot to learn still. Something else that could have been improved upon is the script – with so much cursing, it is hard to even get the sense that the characters are capable of holding coherent conversations.

Even though there are some highlights, including an exploding head, there isn’t enough to save this film from its terrible and very predictable story line.

Not only is the violence and most of the language inappropriate and disgusting,
it constantly crosses that border of being distasteful, which most
of it is.

Obviously, this is not a movie for children but adults should steer clear of it as well.
My rating: 2 stars out of 5.