5 NSFW horror movies you should watch before Halloween

The Last House on the Left (1972)

Wes Craven’s directorial debut was one of the few “video nasties” to be prosecuted, originally refused the right to screen in the UK in 1974. It wasn’t until 2008 that the horror film, following two young girls who are killed by a gang of murderers, was shown publicly without cuts. It’s understandable because this is Craven at his darkest and most nihilistic — and that’s saying something considering just two years after this he’d direct the equally controversial The Hills Have Eyes.

The film spends a fair amount of time watching the kidnapping and assault of Mari (Sandra Peabody) and Phyllis (Lucy Grantham) at the hands of a trio of killers led by the evil Krug (David Hess). And, yet, in 2018 there are moments within The Last House on the Left that play incredibly silly. One minute the audience is watching a girl get disemboweled and the next they’re enmeshed in a subplot about two policemen who make the Keystone Kops look like Rhodes Scholars. As if that’s not weird enough Krug and his girlfriend, Sadie (Jeramie Rain) have a theme song! Not exactly on the same level as torture.

But when the film is about death and destruction it’s incredibly hard to watch. This and I Spit On Your Grave (1978) are often cited as proof of the exploitative nature of horror films and it’s hard to disagree with here, especially considering how the camera cuts in close on Krug and the gang hurting Phyllis. The trio get their comeuppance, sure, but it takes a strong stomach to make it that far.

Watch now on Amazon Prime and Hoopla.