GENRE: Nonfiction/Entertainment/Cinema
PURCHASE: 1st ed., 2nd ed.
MY GRADE: A
FROM PUBLISHER: Wes Craven is world renowned as the creator of classic horror film events such as The Hills Have Eyes, the Nightmare on Elm Street series and the Scream franchise. Craven began his meteoric career in fear with a notorious, controversial low-budget shocker called Last House on the Left.
Produced by Friday the 13th creator Sean S. Cunningham, Last House on the Left was a movie that broke the rules... and the bank.
A disturbing, gritty tale of sadistic violence and devastating revenge, Last House on the Left became one of the most influential cult classics of all time. It was the movie that assaulted audiences with the terrifying roar of a chainsaw two years before The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
David A. Szulkin's book tells the inside story of the making of Last House on the Left through in-depth interviews, rare photographs and extensive research. Featuring stills from unreleased out takes and commentary from Wes Craven, this book is the definitive record of one of the most legendary, iconoclastic horror movies in history.
Last House on the Left remains one of Wes Craven's most powerful and unique films. Rough, raw and irreverent, it is still censored in Britain for its unflinching portrait of rape murder. Attacked by censors and often reviled by critics, Last House on the Left is all the more noteworthy in retrospect for its pioneering, prescient contribution to the 'splatter' film tradition. Those who wish to know where and how it all began need look no further than this book.
- Hallmark Releasing liked the script so well that they gave Wes and Sean an extra $40,000 to make it.
- The first draft had Krug and Weasel engaging in necrophilia with Phyllis after they killed her.
- Mari's rape was supposed to be much longer and more brutal. In the script her character was blonde.
- An early draft had Mari's father being karate-chopped to death and a different draft had him dying in a scalpel fight.
- Phyllis' death was to be more brutal. Sadie was supposed to gouge her eyes out, cut off her breasts, and cut her tongue out.
- Sean said the film was supposed to have a lot more sex in it but decided against it stating that it's more important to tell a story.
- Martin Kove, who played the deputy, turned down the roll of Krug because his character was too "dark." Martin was dating and living with David's sister at the time.
- Ada Washington, the black woman who drove the chicken truck, was currently Sean's mother's housekeeper and she didn't know how to drive. Fats Domino's Blueberry Hill was supposed to be playing on the truck's radio during that scene. I understood Sean to mean Ada was also the housekeeper while he was growing up. Her part was supposed to be played by a black man they'd given the character name Jerome Pickins to.
- Sean's wife Susan made the clothes.
- Junior was supposed to survive.
- Earlier in the year Wes and Sean worked together on a soft-core porn called Together.
- Jeramie Rain/Sadie was paid $600 for her role and she bought a Doberman puppy with the money. She also couldn't stand her hair style in the film. She got poison ivy while filming and in one scene in Mari bedroom where she's wearing black men's socks, it's because they had to hide the poison ivy.
- Jeramie said that once between takes she was leaning on the hood of the car, arms down at her sides (and I guess her head resting on the hood), and the police showed up. Someone thought she'd been in a car accident and called the police so they came to investigate.
- Fred Lincoln said that Sandra/Mari was scared of the film, left, and had to be talked into coming back to work. She also said she did a terrible job in the film and that she was scared of the script.
- The chain saw scene was inspired by Wes seeing a movie poster in Times Square (New York) of guys fighting with chain saws.
There are about fifty pages where the author summarizes the film in chronological order and inserts comments by the actors regarding those scenes. I really like that it goes in order since it's easier for me to follow along.
Perhaps my favorite part is near the end, chapter 8 titled Rip-offs and Rehashes, where the author goes into several David Hess films that are in the same vein as this one, and discusses others of this genre from the 70s and 80s, some of which I've never heard of. Love learning about similar films and can't wait to check some of them out. Here is the list from the book.
Fred Lincoln (Weasel) said something funny: "They never actually showed that my character was dead...so I want to do 'Last House II: Weasel's Back!' A guy with no dick, out for revenge!"
Jeramie said something sort of funny too: "I believe that Last House on the Left is truly the worst movie ever made...and I'm proud to have been a part of it! (Laughs) Seriously, it's the biggest embarrassment, and I apologize to my children for being in it. It has no redeeming qualities. It does have a cult following, but I'm not proud of it at all...I would hate to think of anyone being harmed or hurt because of something I did. That's not what I want to contribute to the world...I'd rather do positive things with my life."
I've uploaded some images of the filming schedule from inside the book here.
Here are images of the script's original ending. Click on all Imgur images to enlarge.
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