10 Nastiest Video Nasties

3. Last House On The Left (1972)

Two teenage girls called Mari and Phyllis come a cropper when they run into a bunch of criminals who are on the lam. Krug is the gleefully sadistic leader of the gang, Weasel a rampant pervert, Sadie a wild woman and Junior is Krug's fairly harmless son whose father feeds him heroin so he can control him. The gang abduct the two girls and bring them to woods which are next to Mari's house. They proceed to humiliate, rape, torture and murder the two girls in the woods in scenes that make for uncomfortable viewing. Straightening themselves up, they call at Mari's house - unaware that the couple who greet them are Mari's parents. For some bizarre reason, Mari's parents feed the gang dinner and invite them to stay at their house. They deduce that Mari has been killed by the bunch of strangers they showed such hospitality to and a big revenge-fest breaks out. Uncompromising viewing back in 1972, Wes Craven's directorial debut remains a tough film to watch. The gang's treatment of the girls - forced lesbian activity, Krug carving his name on Mari's chest before he rapes her and the stabbing of Phyllis in which Sadie rummages around her abdomen and pulls out loops of intestines - is both savage and hideous. The gang seem to realise this after the shooting of Mari. There is a scene in which they stand around looking sheepish. Likewise, the violence perpetrated on the gang by Mari's parents is not a cathartic act of revenge. The Collingswoods do not appear triumphant and their vengeance has not brought their daughter back to life. Craven made an exceptionally brutal film which does not glamourise violence, rather it seeks to show the true nature of violence as horrific and ugly. The only criticism of the film is the faffing about of the useless policemen. If they are meant to be comic relief, they do not work. But other than that, the film couldn't get any nastier than what it is, or it would veer into Grand Guignol territory.