I was really in the mood for a good scary movie the other night, but I felt like I’d seen everything already, and I’d seen so many stinkers, especially of the remake or “reimagined” variety, that I wasn’t even going to bother with this one. But I was pretty desperate so I gave it a shot. When you go into something with few or no expectations, you can really be pleasantly surprised, as I was with this movie.

I’d seen the original “Last House on the Left” ages ago, was suitably freaked-out by it, and figured the remake would just be an even more gruesome, B-movie equivalent, and that the tragic events which befall the main actress would be even more exploitative. In other words, I thought they’d go for the same grossout shockfest that movies like the “Saw” and “Hostel” series’ had to stoop to, in lieu of actual suspense-building and dread.

Instead, this turned out to be a movie that could actually stand up on the acting, direction and cinematography alone, without excessive gore or silliness. Oh, there’s gore, but it’s handled quite realistically, and therefore is even more shocking than seeing gallons of blood gushing out everywhere.

It’s pretty suspenseful, too, especially, I would imagine, if you had never seen the original or knew the premise.

I don’t post a lot of these, usually only if a movie really surprises me in a good or bad way, and this one qualifies as a good surprise. This is a very decent scary movie if you’re in the mood for one.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 9:27 pm and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.