Last House on the Beach (1978 Review)
aka Settima donna, La
Director: Franco Prosperi
Cast: Florinda Bolkan, Ray Lovelock, Flavio Andreini, Sherry Buchanan, Laura Trotter
Severin Films / Color / NTSC R1 / Unrated / 2.35:1 Widescreen / Dolby Surround & Mono / Language: English / 86 minutes / Purchase
Following the success of Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left, film makers jumped on the bandwagon and tried their hand at filming the sadistic and violent sexual abuse of women. Americans released the mean-spirited I Spit on Your Grave and those sleazy Italians got involved with classics like Night Train Murders and Thriller: A Cruel Picture (aka They Call Her One-Eye). While some enjoyed varying degrees of success, others were forgotten shortly after their release only to be resurrected 30 years later on Region 1 DVD by Severin Films.
Like most of the films mentioned above, the plot is very simple and very similar. Three bank robbers break down during their getaway and walk to the nearest house that just happens to be inhabited by young, virginal Catholic schoolgirls and their nun chaperon, Sister Christina (Bolkan). Their plan is to hole up there for a few days until their car is fixed. So, to pass the time, they molest a few teenage church girls for kicks, deflower a nun and murder an innocent civil service person and Hispanic maid (mostly for being so stereotypical I presume). As the hours pass and the bad guys become more sadistic, the girls try to escape, only to be caught and punished which leads to the “revenge” part of the rape/revenge genre movie.
This is a weirdly stylish entry into the Italian exploitation cannon. With odd cinematography featuring low angled shots that only show the people from their waist down and strangely blocked close-up shots of only parts of people’s faces. The whole movies isn’t shot that way, but selected scenes will jump out at you. Also falling under the umbrella of “weirdly stylish” is a couple of repulsive slow-motion rape scenes that will stick with you long after you finish the movie. The scenes aren’t very graphic, but seeing the faces of the victims as well as the perpetrators in slow-mo as your mind fills in the blanks of what is happening just off screen is almost worse than seeing it normal speed and graphically depicted.
If you are a fan of Italian exploitation or rape/revenge movies, you won’t be disappointed. Exploitation legends Ray Lovelock and Florinda Bolkan rule the screen in their roles as a cute, cunning con man and a sultry nun respectively. Flavio Andreini as the perverted “Walter” also does his part to make this movie a depraved and entertaining film. It’s not as mean-spirited as its American counterparts, possibly due to the entertaining disco/porn soundtrack by Roberto Pregadio, cheesy overacting and hilarious dubbing.
Severin’s disk looks incredible with vivid colors, sharp contrasts and not a blemish to be seen, which means the sweeping shots of the ocean really pop. The Dolby surround sounds fantastic with absolutely no hissing. It seems that Severin either goes all out with their extras (Inglorious Bastards 3-disk) or, like this one, they add a couple trailers and an interview with one of the stars. In this case Ray Lovelock rambles on about how his name really is “Ray Lovelock” and some other coma-inducing rhetoric. But don’t let that keep you from enjoying this completely entertaining entry into the annals (that sounds like “anal” in my head) of exploitation history.
