The Last House on Dead End Street

source: The Last House on Dead End Street

First of all I just wanted to say the chances of you finding this at your local Blockbuster are slim to none. Secondly, this is most definetly the most disturbing movie I have ever seen. The plot concerns a totally unlikeable sleazy pimp fresh out of prison that wants to get even with society by making some snuff films. The footage itself of the snuff films are horrifying. I don't easily get grossed out by a movie, but I had to turn from the screen once during the totally twisted surgery scene. The film looks like it was way overexposed so don't even try to get a copy that looks perfect, it was simply made that way. This film is hard to recommend, but if you're looking to be totally creeped out, then by all means track this one down.

Terry Hawkins is out of prison and he desperately needs some money.Tired of making porno movies for a small group of wealthy perverts,he decides to make snuff films("I wanna make some films,really weird films").He enlists his old porno cameraman and a couple of girls-Nancy and Suzie-in anticipation of his next project.Then he abducts his backers and films their graphic torture and death."Last House on Dead End Street" is one of the most notorious horror films ever made.The general misanthropy displayed throughout the film is simply overwhelming.There are some scenes of sheer sadism and depravity,especially the torture of a young woman(Janet Sorley)on a table by her surgical masked captors.Both her legs are sawn off above the knee while she is kept conscious with smelling salts.Then she is cut open and disembowelled using a pair of wire-cutters,her entrails being held a lot for all to admire.My copy runs 77 minutes,but I'm not sure if my version is the uncut one:some people claim the operation scene has the woman being disembowelled,but the disembowelling takes place in the first two minutes of the film,and the torture scene late in the film fades to black as the killer starts to cut in to the sheets-I doubt they would repeat the same gore sequence twice...Lots of people hate this film,personally I loved it and would recommend it to any fans of cool trashy exploitation cinema of the seventies.To be honest,it's not very gory film,but the pure nastiness of the murders will certainly shock you!

You'll read plenty about the background of this movie, how it was nearly lost, miraculously saved and lovingly restored. You'll read about the trials and travails of Roger Watkins in the making of this film (much of it revealed by the excellent deluxe edition DVD release; nice work, Barrel Films). But what you might not read about is exactly why this film works as well as it does. The thing is, it really shouldn't work at all. The viewer should be scoffing and snorting from scene one at the appalling acting, the flimsy plot (especially in the first half of the film, where the plot has to hold us), the muddy sound, poor lighting, and so on. This film should be dismissed out of hand and roundly ignored. Just try it. If you allow yourself to be carried off into this film, however, you'll find something so utterly engrossing, so roundly terrifying, that you may very well have to tell yourself, "It's only a movie...it's only a movie." In its weird, hell-bent way, the film's inadequacies trap the viewer in the madness on the screen. Unlike a normal slasher film, the viewer doesn't get a chance to step out of the horror to rate the special effects, or even to laugh at the badness of the thing. This movie grips you by the throat and doesn't let go. I've read comments about this film saying that the first half of this film is the worst horror film you'll ever see and that the second half is the best horror film you'll ever see. That's a very accurate assessment, and it's this aspect of the film which adds to its impact. By the time the real horror starts, the viewer is unprepared for its intensity. Watch this film in a dark room, all alone. Let this film pour over you and drown you in its madness, and it'll scare the hell out of you more effectively than anything else you've ever seen. This movie is unique. There's nothing else like it, nor will there ever be.

Well, this would have to be one of the worst, if not the worst, film I have ever seen. It is simply utter, utter rubbish: A guy is released from prison and decides to get revenge on society by filming disturbing acts of sexual violence resulting in death - "snuff". Ridiculous. I'm not sure if this film is officially one of the Video Nasties, but due to its content it should be. Terrible acting and perhaps the worst voice dubbing I have ever seen (every word is slightly out of synch) make the film even more difficult to watch, and as far as the title being a rip off from "The Last House on the Left", another film dealing with some unsavoury social issues, what an insult. At least "The Last House on the Left" had some class. Avoid this "Dead End" film like the plague.

LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET, a topnotch exploitation title, is the best thing about this film. Originally titled THE CUCKOO CLOCKS OF HELL, one of the most evocative titles I've heard, this was reworked, reshot here and there and refurbished by director Roger Watkins (aka Richard Mahler aka Victor Janos). Watkins' porno flick with Jaime Gillis, MIDNIGHT HEAT, is a much better, more accomplished thriller than this. The first ten minutes set a grim, nihilistic tone as Watkins' snuff filmmaker character is introduced outside an abandoned college. The music here is extremely effective and foreshadows a pretty rough trip. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is drawn out and saddled with an almost indecipherable sound mix. It's a low budget exercise, but it's simply inept for the most part and the climactic "snuff" footage is plain silly. There's a little gore here and there and some ugly fornicating, but the endless scenes of losers talking produce boredom and the main character's one-dimensional ranting wears very thin. Barrel's DVD features some terrific extra material about director Watkins that is more interesting than his film. I will hold onto my Venezuelan dupe as the film seemed seedier on crap tape.

It's not often I'm disappointed by a gritty, disturbing flick. Hell, I can probably count them on one hand. Well, looks like I got another one. Last House on Dead End Street, has been repped to me by a number of people. And I have no clue why. It may be one of the first snuff- based stories out there, but hell, that doesn't make it a good one. It's just so, damn, dull. It took me three attempts to finish it actually. Usually I enjoy the grit and the grime movies give off, but this is just something completely different. It felt like these people embodied grit. Sh!t, and I would be one to say that is a cool thing to say about characters in a flick. Man, I'm confusing myself. It was just a very uninteresting, and uneventful flick. When things took place, you didn't give a damn. Well, I didn't give a damn, or a sh!t. The movie wasn't a total bust afterall though. I did appreciate some of the camera-work. It was amateurish, but once in a while they'd hit this noir-type cinematography that looked pretty cool and stylish. But it was most likely just a fluke luck shot. And even though I disliked almost every single character I did like the lead, a little. The raspy voice, the alright delivery, the sketchy look...it worked. LHonDES is a hardcore flick. It's perverse, gritty, amateurish, and just a tough watch. But it's a tough watch for all the wrong reasons. And surprisingly, not a single scene of the snuff shots were even slightly disturbing. But again, it's a flick for a specific crowd. Even if you call yourself a fan of gritty exploit flicks, beware, this still may not be for you.

simply atrocious on every level imaginable........couldn't't be any worse than it is, surely. gives cult movies a bad name- the acting is abysmal, the plot stinks and the gore recalls HG Lewis at his most inspired. The film is a miserable, depressing mess from beginning to end and now that it is readily available on DVD, the aura of mystery around the film has also evaporated leaving it exposed as a worthless piece of drivel that it is. Basically just a cheap and dire rip off of Last House on the Left, which is a majestic work of art in comparison to this turgid garbage. Only for die hard horror fiends who simply have to watch everything

I'd heard a lot about this film over the years and a friend recently sent me a copy which I just finished screening. In my opinion, its notoriety is totally unwarranted. There is nothing disturbing or even remotely unsettling about it, except for the fact that some people think it's a good movie. They speak of its aesthetic qualities and how the grainy images (looks like it was shot on super-8) lend an authentic feel, but for the life of me I can't see how considering the amateur acting and dime store special effects, not to mention that all of the dialogue and sound was obviously post-dubbed and completely out of sync. I expected something uneasy along the lines of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Clean, Shaven, but with less production value. Or perhaps subversive cinema in the tradition of Cannibal Holocaust and Nekromantik. Instead, I saw a film which barely rivals the 8mm movies I used to make with friends back in high school. Come to think of it, if Dead End Street can do it, I should dig out all my old reels and string them into a feature. Heck, I may have a cult hit on my hands! What a joke...

Terry, a drug-dealer recently released from jail, decides to venture into film-making, and sees a possible gap in the market—snuff movies. He and a group of like minded sleaze-bags show their first attempt to a pornographer who is looking for something new to sell to his jaded customers, but are cheated when the smut-peddler releases the film under his own name. They decide to exact revenge by making him and his associates the stars of their next movie. Shot on a shoestring budget, The Last House on Dead End Street is a poorly made 'grindhouse' shocker that has gained much notoriety through the years due to its mysterious origins (the cast and crew all used pseudonyms) and controversial subject matter. With grainy, washed-out visuals, bad dubbing and shaky camera-work, the film achieves a genuinely seedy quality that is befitting of its iffy themes, but even with its convincing atmosphere, exploitative subject matter and and some nasty scenes of gore, I found the whole affair rather disappointing. The first half of the movie is incredibly dull, and a real test of endurance: with some ponderous scenes more akin to an art-house movie than an exploitation film, The Last House on Dead End Street meanders from one dull, badly directed scene to another for what seems like an eternity, before finally delivering the yuck-factor that most viewers have been waiting for. When Terry and his gang of sick reprobates finally mutilate and kill their three victims for the benefit of the camera, the movie lives up to its notorious reputation as one sick little puppy. The first victim is stabbed and kicked to death, and the last is drilled in the eye, but it is the second that receives the most brutal demise. A knife is run all over her face and then her legs are removed with a surgical saw. As a finale, she is opened up with a pair of huge cutters and her organs are removed. The 'snuff' footage is admittedly disturbing, but it doesn't compensate for the wearisome dreck that precedes it, and my final impression of the film was that, whilst it was an interesting curiosity that I was glad I had been able to watch, it just didn't live up to my expectations.