LAST HOUSE ON THE BEACH

LAST HOUSE ON THE BEACH: The Italian film industry never met a genre they didn’t like...or at least blatantly copy and try to make a quick buck. Even early torture porn like Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left inspired a few nasty imitators in its time such as Aldo Lado’s Night Train Murders and Last House on the Beach, directed by “Mondo” specialist Franco Prosperi. Actually two exploitation movies in one, the film combines the best (or worst) of a brutal crime drama with elements of the nunsploitation fetish flicks. Boasting two recognizable stars from the era –Florinda Bolkan, the grand dame of the grindhouse, and pretty boy Ray Lovelock – Last House on the Beach is a mostly unremarkable entry other than its few moments of advertised sexual depravity. A gaggle of Catholic school girls held hostage by a trio of criminals is a classic set-up for excess; but for a filmmaker whose career was built on Faces of Death-style showmanship, Prosperi is surprisingly reserved here. The most effective moments prolong the character’s (and audience’s) agony with slow-motion photography, creating a carnival nightmare of imagery and sound. There are hints of deeper characterizations hidden in the screenplay that make Last House a bit of a missed opportunity. But whatever Prosperi’s intentions, the genre’s success is measured on a sliding scale of smut that demands its pound of flesh. The finale’s all-female beatdown will look awfully familiar to anyone who sat through Tarantino’s Death Proof. Severin’s DVD looks very nice and includes a 30-minute interview with Ray Lovelock along with a pair of foreign trailers.