Desdecardo78
The entire of the vicious and barbaric forest rape and barbaric hunting scene which can be entirely cut out and you would have the same affect for the plot and flow of the movie and the end twist. About 30 minutes of this movie puts any other slasher/goreflick to shame. Nothing about that forest scene says good cinema or will leave you with any feelings besides a piece of your soul leaving. It puts the incredibly painful, once in a life, watching of the squeal like a pig scene from Deliverance to shame. Besides that large chunk of the movie. Wes Craven tells a good story. Except he wanted to sicken people just to see how far he could go. He may have used some bull reason that it was an allegory for Vietnam. That's bull though. This was just schlock gore trying to see how far he could get away with. Finding a cut version (there are tons out there... It still can't be shown with the whole forest scene in most regions on the planet almost 50 years later) if you want to watch it. You won't miss anything to the story.
Lauren Safford
Under different circumstances, I would have given this movie a slightly better rating, but it leads a lot to be desired. It's just disturbing and gruesome. There's no suspense, no plot, the movie doesn't go anywhere. It's literally like watching it just for the torture. A good movie is supposed to build up tension and the plot. This movie does not do that. I'm not a big fan of gore in horror movies as there are much better ways to make it scarier and build suspense at the same time.
Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki
"The events you are about to witness are true. Names and locations have been changed to protect those individuals still living"Ha! Already the filmmakers have over done the comic elements.With the opening credits seemingly censoring the nudity in the opening scene, we're off to a really odd start, and it gets even weirder, in this early slasher about a mother and father taking brutal revenge on the group of thugs who killed their 17 years old daughter and her friend. Brutally horrifying, almost impossible to watch scenes of pedophilic, thieving killers Krug and Co. (one of this film's alternative titles) taunting, torturing the two girls, before killing them, are juxtaposed with the most inane, idiotic hillbilly banjo music, and super lame country hick humour. Mary's slow, hypnotic walk into the lake, resigned to her fate, as Krug takes aim, fires, the fatal shot piercing the silence and ringing in the air, is a genuinely terrifying moment, exactly what every horror film wants to achieve - immediately followed by a hillbilly jamboree, as the parents (unaware of the horrors committed) cheerfully plan their daughter's birthday party.Even after the crimes have been discovered, and the parents are exacting their revenge, the hillbilly banjo music and local yokel cops seem to commandeer every other scene. Between that, and the theme song, I wonder if this was originally two separate films, edited together by someone who hadn't watched either cut?Even the theme song itself (written by Krug himself, David Hess) seems to be begun by one writer with one tone in mind, but completed by someone else who hadn't listened to its beginning: "And the road leads to nowhere" All right, that is appropriately dismal and bleak, but the next lyric: "And the castle stays the same" What? What castle? "And the father tells the mother, wait for the rain" So, in the midst of all this horror, there is still room for the weather report.I can't honestly rate this from 1 to 10, nor can I recommend it, but if you have a strong stomach for things like this, maybe give it a go, just be prepared for some unbearably tense moments, and jarring changes in tone.I watched an old Vestron VHS tape of this, getting another early start on my 31 days of Halloween, and the tape includes a post-credits text: "Coming soon to a theatre near you. From the producers of Last House On The Left, and the director of Friday the 13th Part V, ... The Last House On The Left, Part II. You won't believe your eyes!" Apparently, due to an injury Friday the 13th part V's director suffered, the sequel never happened.
SnoopyStyle
It's Mari Collingwood's 17th birthday. She and her friend Phyllis Stone go to NYC for a concert. They try to buy some weed but are kidnapped and raped by a gang of criminals. They are stuff in the car trunk and driven to the woods near Mari's home. The girls are tortured and killed. The gang ends up coincidentally at the Collingwood home while the bumbling local cops struggle to track the gang down.This is definitely an exploitation film. I'm sure it was derided by the critics at the time. Some of those exploitation parts are actually the best parts of the movie. Being forced to pee in her pants is a compelling scene. The rest of the movie is amateurish, silly and simply bad. The comic stuff with the cops is groan-worthy. The coincidence of running into the Collingwood home is ridiculous and unnecessary. The gang could have gotten the address from Mari. The overall need to create a peaceful happy tone while counteracting it with the brutal violence does not come off well. Then there is the killing of the girls which splits the movie in two. The second half fades and the intensity never fully recovers. It's one of Wes Craven's first and it's at the level of a good student film.
