Sunday, December 2, 2018

PRIME EVIL: LAST HOUSE ON MASSACRE STREET (1973) *** ½


Barbara (Robin Strasser) is madly in love with David (Arthur Roberts).  Her rich father (John Beal) doesn’t want her to marry David, but she does so against his wishes.  On their wedding day, Barbara catches David in the arms of his ex-girlfriend (Iva Jean Saraceni).  She stabs him with a pair of scissors, destroys the wedding cake, and takes off.  Barbara’s father insists David not divorce her (you know, that whole “for better or for worse” thing), but after her disappearance he grows restless.  He shacks up with his old girlfriend and soon, the two begin receiving threatening phone calls and having weird dreams where the cackling bride endlessly torments them. 

The first twenty minutes of Last House on Massacre Street (which, let’s face it, is one of the coolest titles ever) would make a great contained short film.  It stands on its own as a nifty piece of exploitation filmmaking with a potent set-up and an even better punchline.  What’s surprising is that director Jean-Marie Pelisse (who unfortunately never made another movie) deftly maintains the same level of atmosphere throughout.  Most directors would run out of gas after the spectacular first act.  Pelisse is somehow able to keep the suspense brewing while the film spins off into wilder, weirder directions.

The third act contains a twist that veers into the realm of the supernatural.  Now, a lot of films wouldn’t have been able to survive this sort of sudden turn.  Incredibly enough, this one defies the odds and manages to get even better as it goes along.  Last House on Massacre Street is the rare flick that actually lives up to its junky exploitation title.  It’s an eerie and effective little chiller I won’t soon forget, and one that deserves to be better known. 

AKA:  The Bride.  AKA:  The House That Cried Murder.  AKA:  No Way Out.  AKA:  Scream.  

You can find Last House on Massacre Street streaming on Prime for free here:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C353T8K?ref_=imdbref_tt_wbr_piv&tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_piv-20 

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