notonlyamovie | The Arrow Films single-disc Blu-ray

The front and back covers of my own Blu-ray

I posted a while back about the Metrodome DVD set I own. Recently I was able to add a Blu-ray edition of The Last House on the Left to my reference material. Again, I bought this second-hand, though this time I only needed to go about 20 miles instead of 50 to find a used copy. This is the one-disc version of the Arrow Films release. My disc has a copyright date of 2020 on the box, but Arrow originally released a three-disc limited edition in 2018.

The sleeve is double sided, so there are two versions of the cover art. The primary one is slightly strange, with Sadie of all people the most prominent on the front. We also get Krug and Weasel gazing down with her, Mari in the lake – again, this isn't aimed at people who hate spoilers – bottom left and that tragic mailbox bottom right. Completing the picture is Dr Collingwood with his chainsaw. Weirdly, the film title at the top is so poorly contrasted that you have to squint to see it. I can't work out why they did that.

The reverse side of the cover is based very closely on the 1970s black and white artwork used to advertise Last House and the design will already be familiar to any even vaguely attentive fan of the movie, right down to the "13 acres of earth" gibberish and the text saying "Mari, seventeen, is dying" next to a large photo of the dying... Phyllis. The film title here is in block red on white, so it certainly stands out more. And yes, we get the bloody "To avoid fainting, keep repeating: It's only a movie..." thing again.

The back cover of is plain, either black or white depending which side you're looking at. On to the actual contents. I won't go through all the stuff that's on both the DVD and this Blu-ray. As far as I can tell, none of the older material has been edited in any way, unless you count printing "Archival" by the listings on the box. No, not even David Hess's story about threatening to rape Sandra Peabody. There's an on-screen boilerplate disclaimer for the entire disc but nothing specific.

Returning to straightforward matters, this Blu-ray offers an upgrade to 1080p (for what that's worth with Super 16 footage), an isolated score option and an actual subtitle track –my original DVD lacked that. The subtitles are only for the feature itself, however.

So, on to the extras on this disc that I haven't owned before:

Audio commentary with Bill Ackerman and Amanda Reyes
Archival introduction to the film by Wes Craven
Still Standing: The Legacy of The Last House on the Left – 2009 interview with Wes Craven
It's Only a Movie: The Making of The Last House on the Left – 2002 making-of documentary. Basically the Region 1 equivalent of Celluloid Crime of the Century. Shorter, but featuring Lucy Grantham which CCotC doesn't.
Forbidden Footage – Cast and crew discuss controversial sequences
Junior's Story – 2017 interview with Marc Sheffler
Blood and Guts – Interview with makeup artist Anne Paul
The Road Leads to Terror – Fangoria editor Michael Gingold visits the film's locations
Extended outtakes and dailies – about 45 minutes instead of my DVD's 20, and now in HD

There are a few things that are only on the limited edition version, but which I have already on my DVD set:

The Krug & Company cut – the DVD version is in SD but otherwise identical
Krug Conquers England – David Hess visiting the UK in 2000
Tales That'll Tear Your Heart Out – unfinished short film

Finally, I'll list the extras that are only available on the limited edition and that I don't have access to on the DVDs:

The Craven Touch – featurette interviewing those who collaborated with Wes Craven; not just about Last House
Early Days and Night of Vengeance – short interview with Roy Frumkes
Songs in the Key of Krug – previously unpublished short interview with David Hess about music
Marc Sheffler at the American Cinematique – a 2017 Q&A session with the actor
Soundtrack CD
58-page insert booklet
Double-sided artwork poster based on the Blu-ray cover art

My 2007/2008 Metrodome set also shouted about "WORLD EXCLUSIVE never before seen footage only recently discovered", but as that's only a few minutes long and no longer recent, I imagine that's been bundled in with the extended outtakes and dailies on the Blu-ray. Of those missing extras, the only ones I might have liked are the extra Hess interview, the Sheffler Q&A and maybe the Frumkes interview. I suppose also the booklet, depending on what exactly is in it.

Of the things that are new to me that I do get on the Arrow Blu-ray? The interview with Sheffler looks very interesting; you may have spotted that I've already quoted from it. I know nothing about Blood and Guts, so I'll certainly give that a watch in the not too distant future. The new commentary track could be anything from fascinating to tedious; at least this one shouldn't be abusive as it doesn't feature David Hess. And we'll also have to see about those much longer outtakes and dailies.