Connect with us

Home Video

Arrow’s ‘The Last House on the Left’ Blu-ray Gets MORE Special Features and New Date

Published

on

As we recently told you, Arrow Video is releasing a brand spankin’ new Blu-ray of Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left in both the UK and US this year, boasting THREE different cuts of the film, all of them restored in 2K. The bad news? The release has been bumped from its original May slot. The good? It’ll have even MORE features.

Arrow details today, “We’ve sadly had to bump the release dates to June 18 in the UK and July 3 in the US. However, the good news is, we’ve managed to squeeze in yet more extras including the complete, newly remastered film score on CD!

Full contents now include:

3 DISC LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS 
– Three cuts of the film newly restored in 2K from original film elements
– Original uncompressed mono audio
– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
– 6 x collector’s postcards
– Double-sided fold-out poster
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
– Limited edition 60-page perfect-bound book featuring new writing on the film by author Stephen Thrower
– Soundtrack CD

DISC ONE [BLU-RAY] – THE UNRATED CUT
– High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the Unrated Version
– Isolated score newly remastered from the original 17.5″ magnetic tracks
– Brand new audio commentary with Bill Ackerman and Amanda Reyes
– Archival audio commentary with writer/director Wes Craven and producer Sean S. Cunningham
– Archival audio commentary with stars David Hess, Marc Sheffler and Fred Lincoln
– Archival introduction to the film by Wes Craven
Still Standing: The Legacy of The Last House on the Left – archival interview with Wes Craven
– Celluloid Crime of the Century – Archival documentary featuring interviews with Wes Craven, Sean S. Cunningham, actors David Hess, Fred Lincoln, Jeramie Rain, Marc Sheffler and Martin Kove
– Scoring Last House – archival interview with actor/composer David Hess
– It’s Only a Movie: The Making of Last House in the Left – archival featurette
– Forbidden Footage – the cast and crew discuss the film’s most controversial sequences
– Junior’s Story – a brand new interview with actor Marc Sheffler
– Blood and Guts- a brand new interview with makeup artist Anne Paul
– The Road Leads to Terror – a brand new featurette revisiting the film’s original shooting locations
– Deleted Scene: “Mari Dying at the Lake
– Extended Outtakes and Dailies, newly transferred in HD
– Trailers, TV Spot and Radio Spots
– Image Galleries

DISC TWO [BLU-RAY] – THE ‘KRUG & COMPANY’ AND R-RATED CUTS
– High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the Krug & Company and R-Rated cuts of the film
– The Craven Touch – a brand new featurette bringing together interviews with a number of Wes Craven’s collaborators including Sean S. Cunningham, composer Charles Bernstein, producer Peter Locke, cinematographer Mark Irwin and actress Amanda Wyss
– Early Days and “Night of Vengeance” – filmmaker Roy Frumkes remembers Wes Craven and Last House on the Left
– Tales That’ll Tear Your Heart Out – unfinished short film by Wes Craven
– Q&A with Marc Sheffler from a 2017 screening of the film at The American Cinematheque
– Krug Conquers England – archival featurette charting the theatrical tour of the first ever uncut screening of the film in the UK

DISC THREE [CD] – ‘THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT’ ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK
– CD featuring the complete, newly remastered film score

“On the eve of her 17th birthday, Mari and friend Phyllis set off from her family home to the big city to attend a concert by shock-rockers Bloodlust. Attempting to pick up some marijuana on the way, the pair run afoul of a group of vicious crooks, headed up by the sadistic and depraved Krug (David Hess). Gagged and bound, the young women are bundled into a car trunk and driven to the woods, where the gang subject them to a terrifying ordeal of sexual humiliation, torture and murder.

Unleashed on an unsuspecting public in 1972, The Last House on the Left shocked audiences with its graphic and unflinching portrayal of interpersonal violence, paving the way for a whole host of cheap imitators looking to capitalise on its success. It is Wes Craven’s original alone, however, that remains one of the true watershed moments in horror (and indeed, film) history.”

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

Home Video

‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

Published

on

Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

Continue Reading