The Last House in the Woods (2006)

Saved from a rape attempt, a woman and her boyfriend take up shelter in their rescuer's house, unaware of the deadly secret they hide within that is soon unleashed upon them with a ferocious vengeance.This was one of the more impressive and enjoyable Italian slashers in the scene. One of the better elements in here is the general sense of unease and discomfort found within here as it details several different tactics quite successfully. While hinted at somewhat with the early scenes after the rescue, the film begins to really get into the discomfort when it brings their deformed child into this. Looking suitably distressed and gruesome, there's enough off about his behavior and appearance to lead to quite a distinctive feature here, and even more to that point is the discovery scene where they find him hiding in the bedroom after one of the many escape attempts. That fact that there's some rather decent ones in here is another rather enjoyable feature, providing this one with some enjoyable action that keeps it flowing along nicely. Starting with the main escape attempt, where the group is able to get out onto the dirt road which is pretty dark and chilling here, and a secondary attempt here through the woods leads to some pretty chilling stalking scenes in the bushes. This one also manages to set-up some rather intriguing action in here as not only are those thrilling yet there's a lot of other fun times featured elsewhere with these alongside such scenes as the opening car-crash on the highway, the assault in the motor home off in the woods and the final retribution against the gang-members which takes up the entire final half in the house which is over-the-top gory, brutal and just a lot of fun featuring the chainsaw action, cannibal attacks and tons of suspense here with the encounters in the child's bedroom and down in the basement. That all of the action scenes result in tons of gory, bloody and rather inventive kills tops off the film's positives here, as these are enough to hold off the relatively few flaws. The main one here is the rip-off nature of the film during the dinner sequence, which is cribbed so heavily that it never manages to stand on its own because so much of it is shot-for-shot that prevents it from being enjoyable. Beyond that, there's minor problems that don't really amount to much such as the shaking camera preventing a lot of the action in the woods from being clear or the brawl in the garage looking incredibly lame with the weak choreography really taking the sting out of it. Otherwise, this one proved to be a lot of fun and really enjoyable.Rated R: Extreme Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, a rape scene and children-in-jeopardy.

I've been on quite a gore kick of late with some zingers like Day of the Dead (1985), High Tension, Land of the Dead, and May. I'd put this one in amongst them in terms of gore alone. Some "Unrated" movies I'll get done with and ask myself why they were branded with such a rating. Some of the above, including Last House, left no doubt as to why they deserved to be beyond Restricted (R).The story, acting, soundtrack, and ambiance initially was enough to make me want to stop the film and get to bed early. It is very poor quality in all of the above. That must have been the point as a direct homage to some of the 70's and 80's films of the same nature. They were bad, but yet had an undeniable power to them with their disturbing scenarios, gratuitous gore including many gross-out scenes, and overall non-PC actions.The crazies in this one initially played it straight, and seemed like a loving family as do many in such films at first. I wish they had kept this demeanor and tried to be somewhat sympathetic instead of turning into completely sadistic psychopaths - it would have made the crazy setup more disturbing than the generic looney pastiche that I'm so accustomed to.So if you're looking for a thought provoking and well acted film with a great storyline, then go elsewhere. If you have a bit of a horror vice for being disturbed and grossed out without any of the aforementioned in tow, then pour yourself a tall one and get ready for a stomach churning experience...

Sexually liberated Aurora(Daniela Virgilio)has tired of former boyfriend, Rino(Daniele Grassetti), but he's in love with her and is able to coerce her into sex in his car out of the city. Three hooligans, Cesare(David Pietroni), Ginger(Geremia Longobardo), and Diego(Cristiano Callegaro), on a trip, interrupt their conversation on continuing the bumpy relationship by beating Rino to a pulp and terrorizing Aurora, almost sexually molesting her when a couple, Antonio(Gennaro Diana)and Clara(Santa De Santis)pull up in the nick of time. The thugs warn Antonio to bugger off, but he has a gun and isn't afraid to use it. Able to shoo them away, Antonio offers Aurora and Rino a ride to their home for a moment or two of rest, and they accept..little does Aurora know what plans they have for them. Alternating through the plot, a young boy is running through the woods to get away from a mysterious man who hit his mother with his van as she was attempting to flag him down(..their car run over broken glass, careening head-on with a tree, killing the father).Director Gabriele Albanesi mentions in the documentary for this film that his story and content was highly influenced by the 70's and 80's(..specificially Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, Lucio Fulci, Ruggero Deodato and especially Dario Argento)and you certainly see that here. Buckets upon buckets of blood and hideous gore. The film features cannibalism( sharp teeth ripping flesh), nasty chainsaw activity(an arm and leg are removed;stomach is torn through with the intestines exposed), human freaks(..a child with shark-like teeth with a hunger for human flesh, along with his "brothers", one with a large tumor-like growth on his neck and another with a hideous skin infection on one side of his face), other degrees of potent violence(..a large knife is stabbed multiple times into a torso, another gets his throat sliced open;a gun is used to bash a victim's skull;a bullet wound to the forehead squirts blood), and, to cap it all off, the shocking fate towards the kid we see running through the woods seeking help. The film works off the familiar premise of innocent couple falling prey to a family who appears on the surface to be a normal member of the bourgeoisie society..although, anyone who lives so far into the woods most of the time is hiding a secret. The dinner table scene is memorable as poor Aurora, tied to a chair, must watch Rino's decapitated leg being feasted on, while also getting showered in blood as the chainsaw is used to hack away his arm. Also, the hooligans, who almost raped Aurora, were bound to return to confront Antonio(..although, Albanesi fashions a rather contrived way for them to find his home). The film is played completely straight, with a classical music score complimenting the serious tone. The film, at it's core, is a showcase for make-up/special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti(..who was, at first, confronted by the director and his producer Gregory J Rossi on issues regarding his opinions on their effects)who takes the small budget his young unproven filmmakers have at their disposal, delivering an extravaganza of bloodshed and grue. It's neat seeing practical effects, not CGI, used again, even if some of the set-pieces are considered primitive by today's standards. As expected with an Italian horror film, the material presented is full of bizarre behavior and strange characters. My major beef is Albanesi's decision to shoot certain action and violent set pieces in that frenzied, shaky-cam method(..he called it "warfare", a change from the more polished, fluid Italian style, the kind of style I thoroughly enjoy). Albanesi mentions that several bloody set-pieces were inspired by Argento's Tenebre(..particularly the final gory set-piece). For old school gorehounds, this might be entertaining..for the squeamish, not so fun.

A couple with child are driving on a road in the woods. The man loses control of the car, crashes into a tree and dies. As the mother tries to stop a car for help, she's run over. The driver stops, grabs a rock and smashers her to death. When he hears the hiding kid he goes after him.Later we meet a young but estranged couple as they drive to the woods. They stop for romance and are assaulted by some drugged gang members. He's beaten up, she stops a car for help. The man who helps her has a gun and makes the gangster run for their life. Also in the car is the man's wife. The young couple is taken to their estate in the woods. But something isn't right here. When she awakens, she's tied to a chair. Next to her is her ex also tied up but passed out. His lower leg is missing. In front of her, the dining table and a child munching on his leg! Eventually she escapes and ends up in an RV that belongs to some deformed retards. They take her captive and bring her back to the home in the woods. Our gangsters from earlier hear the noise and make it to house as well. Turns out the 2 retards and the kid who has shark-like teeth are all children of the couple that lives there. The kid has some need to devour flesh and the parents find the human meat when necessary. At this point all sorts of struggles take place between the crazy family and the gangsters who now have become good guys.The final scene is quite powerful, when we see a sort of shrine in the basement. At the center is the kid from the accident at the beginning of the movie. He is alive but his limbs have been removed. He and the monstrous kid meet presumably for the first time.This movie has an interesting premise but the production cannot make the best of it. Too many characters, none of which are particularly interesting or arouse sympathy. There's some gore here and there. Quite a bit of this movie is rather dull.