Nice effects though.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

I am going to keep this one short because I really do not have much to say. This is one of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen in my entire life. I know that it is a cult favorite and usually I gravitate towards these types of movies, hell I liked The August Underground Trilogy, I enjoy movies like The New York Ripper and I even enjoyed Cannibal Cookout and I love exploitation films. I'm a huge fan of Jack Hill, his whole filmography is a huge part of what got me through high school. So I thought that I would have a blast with this one but it was just atrocious. The acting was horrible, absolutely horrible the performances here make The Room look like Oscar winning material, that by far is the worst part. The writing, I mean I'm not expecting Shakespeare what I am expecting at least some level competence but the dialog was so ridiculous and hackneyed oh my god, I can't decide which is worse the acting or the writing. It is laughably stupid, the dialogue is so ridiculous that even Dolemite would be embarrassed by it. It is actually very rare that I don't enjoy movies like this. I've been waiting to see it for years and now that I have, I want that hour and twenty minutes of my life back. This is retarded, plain and simple this movie is retarded. I don't know how it has found this large of an audience, it is just crap. If I could give it a zero star rating, trust me I would.

Personally I don't like exploitation and snuff films. I feel that they are grim and upset the viewer and impair his ability to discriminate between humane and animalistic. 'The Last House on Dead End Street' was released 5 years after Wes Craven's depraved exploitation classic 'The Last House on the Left', but this one surpassed the record of depravity that Craven had set 5 years before. I don't like praising this movie for it made me upset and empty for many months, but I need to be true while reviewing it. As I watched this flick, I kept repeating 'This is just a movie'. I confess I didn't do this when I watched Craven's 'The Last House on the Left', which bore the aforementioned tag line. Although an amateurish effort by all means and produced out of a budget sufficient only to buy a few sacks of potatoes, this film will rule your senses forever and will haunt you in your dreams. The film doesn't pick up instantly and waits until the viewer has grown suspicious about the actions of the misanthropes and begins thinking 'What are they up to?'. Their questions are answered when the protagonist begins showing his true color which is as black as death itself!The film begins with Terry Hawkins (Roger Watkins, who closely resembles Quentin Tarantino), who has just finished his jail sentence for drug charges and is now looking for a new livelihood. He meets two cheese directors and now wants to try his hands with film making. Terry claims that he had earlier made few porn films but was unable to sell them. Terry and the directors want to try their hands with the new sensation of horror, Snuff films. They soon begin luring victims to a derelict and abandoned palatial building, where they are hacked, cut, drilled, decapitated, tortured, sawed and finally killed on screen. Their methods are so elaborate that they would definitely cause the viewers to puke on their nastiness. This goes on with several victims, until the viewers come to know that police had received a tip about their vicious and depraved deeds and they raided the place and arrested all the culprits and perpetrators.This might look like a documentary of a failed man, but you must see it yourself if you have the nerves to watch and forget this stuff. I say again, you may watch it, but it will live with you forever. The murders and slaughterhouse scene may induce nightmares and arouse abhorrence. Yes, the protagonist wants that you should hate him. This is a hate worthy film, but I can't give it 'zero' on the basis of my own dislike. May be it was hard for me to throw this film out of my mind, but its penetrative and lingering nature is certainly something that keeps this one infinite miles ahead of the modern stinkers like Fred Vogel's 'August Underground Mordum' and Nick Palumbo's 'Murder Set Pieces'. This film actually lets you dive deep into the mind of a depraved killer and answers some of the questions like 'How are they different from us? and 'What is his motive?''. Roger Watkins is the guy who hides behind the name Victor Janos and many other pseudo names that show on the performer/production credits. It's said that Roger Watkins had a planned budget of $3000 to make this film, but he spent more than $2,200 on amphetamines alone during the shooting and what remained was used to make the film. Unbelievable? Believe it!

"The Last House on Dead End Street", the brainchild of writer / director / star Roger Watkins, is the kind of utterly potent trash flick that one respects & admires even if they don't quite enjoy it. It refuses to ever be playful or fun, which makes it worlds apart from modern exploitation throwback films, which are often full of that wink-wink / self-conscious attitude. This is deadly serious stuff. It tells the story of a depraved reprobate named Terry Hawkins, played by Watkins, a pornographer who's served time in prison and is now seething with anger and contempt for society in general. Now he's determined to get revenge by shooting extra special stuff - not just run of the mill low budget adult fare but out and out snuff. His pacing of this twisted nightmare of a film is very deliberate, which might displease some viewers hoping for more action and less talk, but this is what allows the grim, scuzzy, depressing atmosphere to really take hold. I'm sure you've heard of the phrase "I felt the need to have a shower afterwards" associated with trash films, and it definitely applies here. Despite the deliberate pacing, though, there are scenes here so nasty one *will* remember them. A scene at a party where a woman is being whipped is a prime example, not only for the ferocity and frequency of the blows, but the audience's reactions. What really makes it all worthwhile is when Hawkins and company finally get down to the business of making their snuff films; the final dozen or minutes are mind boggling. The gore is pretty good for the budget (less than $2,000!) and we get to see some scenes of bodily mutilation that are impressive to see. Overall, "The Last House on Dead End Street" is so heavily oppressive and creepy that it takes a real hold of the viewer, and then gives them some violent shakes. I can now see why this would be so heavily treasured by trash aficionados. Eight out of 10.

There are some films that simply should never get made; Last House on Dead End Street is definitely one of them, for many reasons. I know moral boundaries are there to be broken, but they're also there for a purpose. I've always been a great advocate for freedom of speech and believe that raging psychos are a result of a lot more than just listening to Marilyn Manson and watching violent films, however, I believe Last House… has taken things too far. The low budget production makes the film appear horrifically real and almost glorifies the levels of violence being portrayed on screen. I am very glad to have watched this as I can now see the argument from the other side of the coin; an argument I once viewed as ignorant. My reaction after watching this film, asides from immense shock, was that my entire belief system had been challenged. I've watched many of Takeshi Miike's films and always found the graphic violence and disturbing nature shocking but purposeful and I think that's where Last House… falls short; there is no reasoning behind the violence, no rationale whatsoever why people would do this. Terry's psychotic nature is expressed very well and it is clear to see he is capable of committing such horrendous acts but the foundation of this being him getting thrown in prison for a year is not very believable. This film could argue that it was questioning the morals of the time by illustrating how demanding black market cinema audiences were for explicit material but if this is the case, Last House… is the antithesis of what it primarily set out to be.Moral dilemma's aside, Last House… is a pretty poor film. Clearly on a shoestring budget, which the director mainly blew on drugs apparently, the cinematography is awful. It looks as if it is being shot with a hand-held when the camera pans side to side in certain scenes and there are definite shots out of focus at some points. Despite this, the direction is actually rather good. There are some first person shots which are very effective and do very well at stepping up the horror and there some off camera goings on which seem so juxtaposed when considering what is actually being shown on screen. The insert shots, in the introductory narration, of the climatic torture scene are quite artistic and makes sure the audience know what they're in for. Roger Watkins appears to fancy himself as the Orson Welles of Grindhouse cinema and if he was the equivalent, it's of no surprise that these exploitation horrors are now near impossible to find. In some ways, I feel sorry for Watkins as he does seem to be quite visionary in his approach, but the vision is somewhat misguided. The score is very atmospheric and perfectly matches the murky scenes and low budget feel of the film. The music, despite being so simple, is probably one of the strongest aspects of the film.As no respectable actor would want to appear in this, it is a dead cert that the acting in the film would be nothing short of dreadful. Terry Watkins pulls off the psychotic nature of Terry quite well but in all the build up scenes and when he is taunting his victims, he is awful. No charisma and no believability whatsoever. The rest of the cast I doubt have ever been in a film since and used pseudonyms for a good reason; I wouldn't want to admit to being in this film. The characterisation of the characters is very bad; four people do not just follow some psychotic moron in to making a bunch of snuff films. This probably did little to help their performances but they're not actors, they're more likely friends of the director who just wanted to help him out.The plot is just an excuse to provide tons of gore and reveal frequent doses of female flesh, there is little substance and as a film, it suffers. There are of course millions of people who will lap this film up because they actually like to be shocked or even disturbed by the extremes of human nature; I am not one of these people. I like to see a rationalisation of nastiness and a more subtle approach to film making. The torture scene at the end is very graphic and very unpleasant to watch but the surreal, grotesque torturing of the final victim is one of the most disturbing and uncomfortable experiences I've had watching a film.Apparently Last House… is the film no one will admit to having seen; I'll admit to it as it opened my mind and expanded my view on cinema but in no way did I find it enjoyable and can't see myself watching it again. This is definitely a proud video nasty!