THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (2009)

THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is a modern remake of a 1972 horror feature about a gang of violent criminals who assault a teenage girl then unwittingly find themselves seeking refuge at her parents’ home. The film was classified ‘18’ for strong bloody violence and strong sexual violence.

The film contains many scenes of strong bloody violence, many of which breach the BBFC Guidelines at ‘15’ which state that ‘violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury’ and that ‘the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable’. In the assault on the teenage girls, which includes a graphic stabbing and shooting, and in the scenes where the parents get their revenge, there is extended focus on the actual process of the infliction of wounds and the resultant blood loss. These scenes include a bullet being shot through a woman’s eye, a man’s arm being caught in a waste disposal unit and a man’s head exploding after being put in a microwave.

The film also contains a mounting sense of sexual threat as the criminal gang take the two teenage girls into the wood; a threat which culminates with the rape of one of the girls. This extended scene went beyond the ‘discreet and brief’ depiction of sexual assault that is allowed by the BBFC Guidelines at ‘15’. However, the focus on the girl’s anguish and the lack of sexualised nudity or graphic sexual detail means that the scene did not ‘eroticise or endorse sexual assault’ and therefore did not require intervention beyond the ‘18’ category.

There is also one use of very strong language and multiple uses of strong language in the film alongside some strong verbal sex references and scenes in which the teenage characters smoke cannabis.