In 1960, legendary film maker Ingmar Bergman shocked audiences with "The Virgin Spring". In 1972, Wes Craven would amp up the carnage with his nihilistic updating, "The Last House on the Left". Countless ripoffs (i.e. "I Spit on Your Grave", last year's "Chaos") would eventually follow. This updated version of "The Last House on the Left" is more in tune with Craven's take. Gone is the strong moral message that was at the very heart of the Bergman film. What all adaptations of this source material do have in common, is their pro capitol punishment sentiment. Not that the majority of audiences will take this particular message away with them after watching this film.

In this version of The Last House on the Left, the parents (Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter) of a teenage girl (Sara Paxton) take matters into their own hands after their daughter is brutally attacked by a murderous escaped convict (Garret Dillahunt) and his equally deranged band of cohorts (Joshua Cox and Riki Lindhome).

Where this version of The Last House on the Left really differs from Craven's take is in the production values. Director Dennis Lliadis has certain luxuries Craven and crew didn't have. Namely, a budget. As was the case with Alexandre Aja's The Hills Have Eyes reboot, The Last House on the Left benefits from a bigger budget and a more seasoned cast.

How is the movie? Well, it is competently made from a technical standpoint, but your enjoyment of it will depend on your personal definition of entertainment. The Last House on the Left is no picnic. It's a movie about bad things happening to good people. There are portions of the film that are horrific and incredibly uncomfortable to sit through. As was the case with past versions, there is a rape scene here and it's unpleasant to say the least.

Once the horrific act at the center of the film is committed and the vengeful plot is set into motion, The Last House on the Left degenerates into a pretty boring movie to be completely honest. As hard as the earlier portions of the film are to stomach, they still evoke an emotional reaction. As the parents exact a little revenge on their daughter's evil tormentors, I didn't feel much of anything. While some audiences will feel compelled to stand up and cheer as the wrong doers in this picture meet their maker, I just wanted the movie to end. Not because I didn't feel that these individuals didn't have it coming (God knows Dennis Lliadis and screenwriters Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth go out of their way to make these thugs as despicable as possible), but because the whole movie turns into a by the numbers snooze fest. There's nothing remotely realistic about the parents' vengeful actions in this film. The Last House on the Left attempts to show this couple as animalistic in their methods, but as individuals acting in the name of vengeance and self preservation, I didn't buy into any of it. Everything just felt completely mechanical.

I don't mind over the top violence in movies, but the fashion in which this couple dispatch these nasty individuals undercuts any sort of realism the film might have to offer. The final grandiose execution in The Last House on the Left is perversely creative, but it belongs in a completely different movie.

The Last House on the Left is surprisingly well acted for a genre picture. Sara Paxton is convincing as a teenager who must endure the unthinkable while Garret Dillahunt is positively terrifying as a monster who'd loving nothing more than to pass down his violent legacy to a frightened son who wants nothing to do with him. As the vengeful parents, Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter are hit and miss. I could feel t their heartbreak at the site of their own flesh and blood lying there, bleeding on a table, but I had a hard time buying into everything that followed.

This Last House on the Left is more skillfully made than Craven's version, but aside from the film's brutal center piece, I wasn't particularly affected by it.