The Last House on Dead End Street (1977)

the audience applauded

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Written, directed, produced and staring Roger Watkins (he used the pseudonym Victor Janos for this title), in 1973, but not released until later - he had only previously (and subsequently) made porn movies, Last House on Dead End Street is a gruelling piece of cinema. This is not to say that the gore (or special effects), are of particular note, but that it is, in the essence of the film, an incredibly hateful, almost evil one, that pervades the raw material of the cheep 16mm home-style movie cameras. The title was a cash-in, by distributors, of the success of The Last House on the Left (1972), but was previously named The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell, and The Funhouse. The film poster also "used" the ...on the Left tag line: 'It's only a movie....only a movie'.Terry Hawkins (played by Watkins), is a pornographer, who wants to film something new, something different. He settles on the idea of making a snuff movie. It would be quite an epic, as Hawkins finds a derelict mansion, with many empty rooms, decaying and dank. He invites friends over to 'make a movie' - albeit people who had f****d him off in some way. They are humiliated, abused, and many don't survive. Hawkins is the "snuff" movie director, barking a vicious hate from his very soul (this is quite tense and realistic acting from the actor). You can believe these excruciating scenes seem painfully real, as Watkins/Hawkins genuinely excretes animosity, to the other actors, to the audience. At moments during the filming, another cameraman would move the lens of his 16mm camera towards the screen we see. The audience is almost made implicit to the horrific torture played out on screen, the camera now staring into your eyes, watching you viewing gruesome terror.The film has many of these harsh and morally contentious moments. You do question yourself whilst watching. It actually does appear to have been made by a psychopath. In one strange sequence, a man is forced to suck on an animals hoof that is protruding from the unzipped trousers of a woman. There is a lot of pseudo-Grecian mythological iconography here. Masks and mild symbolism can be seen in the 'rituals' of the torture/killings.It is an exercise in sadism, much more gruesome than modern day torture- porn (also known as gorenography) such as Hostel, or the Saw franchise. This is because it gets under our skin with its deep-rooted malevolence, and its ability to almost scrutinise us. The amateurish style of the film really adds to this. The original cut of the film, has been authorised by Watkins, was nearly 3 hours long. Not sure if could handle the 'directors cut' for this one. Filmed in New York, it could almost have been an Andy Warhol film, before Paul Morrissey started directing movies for Andy Warhol Productions. I'm doubtful that I will ever watch this film again.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Reading the reviews here I can't help but notice there hasn't been a recent one for some time. Here goes. The plot is as follows: A newly released convict with a big chip on his shoulder against society ropes in a couple of old friends and some Manson Family type females to make snuff movies and proceeds to do just that. This movie has more than a few W.T.F scenes which easily place it higher than the usual grind house fare of the seventies, some of these scenes are just plain bizarre with the whipping of a young lady dressed in a maids outfit with her face covered in black and white mistral make-up by a dwarf!!!. The atmosphere of violent misanthropy and amphetamine abuse which this movie is saturated in is powerful to say the least, the rage filled moment when the lead character kicks a director to death while screaming "I'm the ******* director here" is particularly memorable. But what I came away with most from this movie was the sheer strangeness of it all. The very early primitive-synthesizer soundtrack really is creepily effective. The otherworldly behavior of the Manson family type girls is disturbing and the Greek Mythological masks the characters wear while torturing and killing their victims hint at something deeper, more thought provoking and just plain scarier than other movies of this ilk. Even the opening sequence/trailer with the revolving screaming head jumps at you. And this movies' history, where for almost 2 decades it was all but lost with the names in the opening and closing title sequences being pseudonyms leading to the idea that this movie really was a snuff movie help give this film it's undoubted uniqueness. Some of the oddness can be explained by the fact that in it's uncut form this movie was about 3 hrs long!!! and it's original title was the "Cuckoo Clocks from Hell" But unfortunately this version remains and will probably always remain lost. Ahhhh we can but hope it will turn up in a New York warehouse until then buy a 6 pack stick the DVD in your player and sit back and enjoy this hallucinogenic scare flick

Last House on Dead End Street (1972) * 1/2 (out of 4) Infamous and notorious horror film that most people have only heard about instead of seen. This was put the rest with the DVD of course. A film student (Roger Watkins) gets out of jail and returns to the world of making porn but this isn't paying the bills so he, along with some twisted friends, decide to start making snuff films. The history of this film is actually a lot more entertaining than the actual film. The original version ran 180-minutes but couldn't find a distributor but the film was released behind the director's back under the current title to cash in on Wes Craven's film. This version ran just under 80-minutes and the longer cut is lost forever. Perhaps something more was in that longer cut but this one here is rather poor. In some ways I guess the film works since it was shot for $1,500. The bad acting, bad lighting and bad cinematography adds to a "snuff" film look but this is rather annoying and sometimes hard to watch. Director Watkins should have stayed behind the camera because he's very annoying in the lead role as well. The music score is very good and the gore scenes (some rumored to be real) are great but the film didn't do too much for me.

First off - I can understand the two differing opinions that I often read about LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET. One opinion is that it's trashy and cheap film-making with little redeeming value - the other side is that it is a "masterpiece" of exploitation cinema. I can't say that I fall fully into the latter category, but I definitely feel that DEAD END STREET is a must-see for all TRUE exploitation film fans...The plot revolves around Terry, a recently released convict, looking to break into the film business by making something a little "different", namely - snuff films. Terry gets together with a cameraman that he used to shoot porn loops with, and another guy and two girls - and the gang embarks on their directorial debut. The first film they make is of them strangling a guy. Terry lays the film on a sleazy and washed-up porn producer who's looking for something new - and Terry's film is just that. The producer slaps his own name on it and makes a few bucks hocking Terry's reel - but Terry doesn't take to kindly to being cut out of the loop. As revenge, the gang decides to make the producer, his wife, and their associates the "stars" of their next film...First the down-sides of DEAD END STREET: The first half of the movie is relatively dull so it takes awhile for the film to really get into gear. The dubbing is some of, if not THE most inept that I've ever been exposed to and can be quite annoying. The film was obviously shot on a near-zero budget which will probably bother some that aren't used to micro-budget films.Now for the good stuff: After the first half, the film takes off and there's not a dull moment. Where some may see the budget as being a problem with this film - I personally believe that DEAD END STREET has the "feel" of the 70's grindhouse and "roughie" porn films of the era, and given the subject-matter, this sort of atmosphere adds significantly to the film. The acting is decent for a production of this scale. Also the gore scenes (though obviously done on the cheap...) are strong and effective.LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET is a powerful film for what it is. There's nothing "funny" or "campy" about it - it's pretty much an exercise in sadism. The orgyistic and insane nature of the violence in the second half of the film is undeniably strong, if somewhat poorly done. I also feel that DEAD END STREET is important from a historical stand-point, as it is an obvious precursor and and laid the ground-work for such modern pseudo-snuff films as FLOWER OF FLESH AND BLOOD, the AUGUST UNDERGROUND FILMS, and Tamakichi Anaru's PSYCHO: THE SNUFF REELS. DEAD END STREET is by far not going to appeal to everyone - but I consider it a must-see for TRUE exploit fans, at least as a one-time view...8.5/10