Celluloid Crime of the Century

Celluloid Crime of the Century (2003)

**** (out of 4)

This 40-minute documentary can be found on the Region 2 Anchor Bay release of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. In America there's another documentary on the MGM disc that is pretty good but this one here covers a tad bit more ground so if you get a chance this is the one will want to check out. Wes Craven, Sean Cunningham, Fred Lincoln, Jeramie Rain, Marc Sheffler, Martin Kove and David Hess are interviewed on a wide range of topics. Craven and Cunninghan go into great detail on how the movie ended up getting made and they're also quite open about all the controversy that would follow its release. The most interesting comments come from the cast when they talk about how the movie had a negative impact on their lives and Craven even talks about how his girlfriend's friends wouldn't let him around their children. Rain discusses her parents not wanting to have anything to do with her and it's clear that Lincoln holds quite a bit against the film. Lincoln makes several claims that a lot of what happens in the film was actually his idea and this includes some of the murder sequences. The cast seem to have a good time talking about the production of the film and they also go into good detail about how terrified Sandra Peabody (Mari) was of them. If you've seen the film then you know how violent and brutal the film was and this portion of the film is discussed at great length. Craven clearly isn't overly impressed with this film but he gives his reasons for the violence and when it comes time to talk about the film still being shown in a cut version in England, Lincoln comments that the film should also be banned in America. Fans of the film will certainly want to check this out because it's always great seeing the cast of a film that when made I'm sure they all thought they wouldn't be discussing it thirty-years later. The documentary covers a wide range of topics and nothing really gets overlooked.