7 Ways Actors Served Up Brutal Revenge

1. David Hess' Intense Behaviour Ends In Him Being Chased By A Live Chainsaw - The Last House On The Left

The Last House On The Left Mari
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Wes Craven is one of the absolute greatest minds that the horror genre has ever seen. Whether its The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, or even The People Under the Stairs, Craven carved up so many all-time classics of the genre. And then there's The Last House on the Left.

Craven's feature-length directorial debut, this 1972 movie is a truly grim entry in the horror genre.

While it's so often a must-see movie for so many horror hounds due to its notoriety - it was banned in multiple countries for years - the film itself is a tough watch at times. Even more-so, the stories out there suggest that The Last House on the Left was a tough production behind the scenes, too.

For those unaware, The Last House on the Left's initial focus is on two young women who head to the big city for a night out. Along the way, they run across a no-good gang of criminals who proceed to kidnap them, torture them, and ultimately kill them. From there, the movie finds these criminals welcomed into the home of the unexpected parents of one of the two girls.

With her criminal co-stars not feeling as if Sandra Peabody was giving enough effort as victim Mari Collingwood, Marc Sheffler took the actress to a cliff edge and threatened to throw her off, while David Hess grabbed the girl and promised to really hurt her if her performance wasn't up to scratch.

In a coincidental act of revenge on Hess, the third act of the film saw Richard Towers - playing the father of Mari - having to chase him with a chainsaw. With no safety procedures or precautions in place on the saw, Hess realised he was being legitimately chased by someone wielding a very real chainsaw that could cause some very real damage - hence a very panicked and genuine performance committed to film for that final act.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.