By Geno McGahee
I am going to start off by saying that I like Jason Mewes as an actor and I think that he can do more than just the “Jay and Silent Bob” work. Unfortunately, you can only work with what you got, and in the 2015 horror/suspense film “THE LAST HOUSE,” Mewes and the other actors have little to work with. Damn, I wanted to like this movie, but a film lives and dies by the writing and it’s wretched here.
In 1972, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT brought home invasion terror with a group of ruthless criminals hurting and killing their victims. In THE LAST HOUSE, we see much of the same. Hate (Ezra Buzzington) and his partners, Selma (Monique Parent) and Cleb (Ricardo Gray), take over a mansion that is up for purchase. They start by killing the realtor played by SLEEPAWAY CAMP’S Felissa Rose. To the credit of the producers, they did try to get some credible personalities in this one.
Ned (Mewes) is in love with a prostitute, Love (Lauren Walsh), but she is reluctant to leave her life to be exclusively with him. When she makes the decision that she is going to break away from the street life and make a run at it with Ned, her pimp, Sonny (Jack Forcinito), convinces her otherwise. He is your stereotypical pimp…aggressive and mean and he forces her to do another night. She is sent to the hijacked house with a couple other prostitutes for a night of action.
While there, the trio has sexual encounters with the group, but they discover the dark side to them. The leader, Hate, is bringing pain and judgment to this group with the overall prize being Love. Something about her has compelled him. The other two prostitutes were just nothing and outside of them being hookers, not much is known about them. So, they were more than expendable characters.
This torture/sex-fest becomes a battle for survival as Love tries to escape and her man frantically looks for her, leading to a final showdown and a rejoice from this reviewer when the ending credits rolled. Have I mentioned that I really wanted to like this movie?
THE LAST HOUSE had a very good cast and plenty of potential. Ezra Buzzington brought a lot to his role and did his best to be the preachy leader, but he just couldn’t overcome the script and awkward dialogue. I hope that this proves to be something for Jason Mewes. He played the role very sincerely and I think that his shift to indie horror is a good one for him. He is eventually going to find a good one to be in and if his acting continues to improve, I suspect that the bigger roles will eventually arise. Lauren Walsh deserves mention too. She worked her way through some clunky dialogue to come off sweet and tough. She worked very well in this role and the times that she and Buzzington were on the screen together had moments as they worked off each other.
Wild Eye Releasing is putting out THE LAST HOUSE on November 24th, and according to another reviewer, it’s a “redefining of what it is to be a horror film.” So, check this one out and maybe you’ll agree with them and think that I’m totally off here. The DVD release had director’s commentary, deleted scenes, interviews and trailers. So, there is plenty to chew on here.
Rating: 3/10 – Good cast, bad script.
