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d. Fred J. Lincoln (as Weazel Padowski); scr. Fred J. Lincoln; cast. Fred J. Lincoln, Keri Sable, Nadia Styles, Otto Bauer, Brodi, James Deen, Lisa Marie, Vanilla Skye (100 mins)

Former literature professor Wes Craven’s horror film debut, Last House on the Left, proved a controversial horror movie.

Although an updating of Ingmar Bergman’s classic The Virgin Spring, its tone was less self-conscious art-house movie than graphic, violent exploitation of the kind that would proliferate alongside hardcore pornography in the 1970s, occasionally intersecting in films now barely accessible. Craven’s combination of explicit gore and nearly hardcore sexual violence, aided by producer Sean Cunningham who had emerged from the hardcore world to try his hand at horror and exploitation, made a cult out of actor David Hess and would be much imitated, especially during the boom in Italian exploitation. Last House on the Left itself would be banned in many countries, including Australia, for over two decades. Also starring in Last House on the Left was one Fred J. Lincoln. Lincoln would later achieve a place in adult lore as the owner of the world’s most famous sex-club, Plato’s Retreat, often frequented by celebrities and considered the zenith of 1970s sexual utopian idealism until it was shut down in the 1980s following the AIDS scare. Whilst owning the club, Lincoln soon segued into making adult features. Lately, and perhaps most problematically, this icon of American libertinism in two films to date – Last Whore House on the Left and 18 & Easy #2 – adopted as a pseudonym the name of the vile character he played in Craven’s work.

In Last Whore House on the Left, Lincoln appears as one Weazel Padowski (the name also claiming the director’s credit), implying the film as shaped through the sentiments of that villain in sexually violent horror.

After a brief monologue about pornography allowing one to see what the great “scream queens” of horror would have done if their director had not yelled cut, Weazel talks to a young man who then enters a room, tells a young woman not to be frightened and then proceeds to have his way with the pliant girl. The remainder of the film consists of episodes, punctuated by Lincoln’s direct interludes. Lincoln talks briefly about the sexual excitement of fear as the second episode concerns a woman in the shower who hears an intruder. She is relieved that it is a policeman and proceeds to thank him accordingly. After another brief description of fear and sex, the next episode implies the danger of being in the woods but turns into a lesbian encounter in the dark, beside a pool. Lincoln interjects again, suggesting that male authority must take advantage of a woman’s fear in stressful situations in order to achieve a greater sexual satisfaction. The subsequent episode contains a woman who is rescued from a fire and proceeds to gratify the firemen. Lincoln concludes that best of all is the simple fear of the dark and the final episode is a threesome involving two young women and an anonymous male.

Any hint of fear and danger is quickly countered and the sex thus remains routine. Lincoln seems to be donning his past persona in a kind of bewildered nostalgia, longing for what once was but in the process he is unable or unwilling to confront the wholly monstrous aspects of the sexuality he seems intent to remember. Thus, the fantasized utopian Plato’s Retreat ideal of freedom Lincoln still holds dear sits ill at ease with the arguably reactionary rapist mentality of sexual libertinism explored in the original Craven film. By presenting Weazel as a wise old man and even a philosopher of sex, Lincoln glosses over the ugliness of male authority inherent in the character’s origins. In that respect, Lincoln’s intent is perhaps revisionist: to remove the taint of violent menace from potentially fear-inspired sexual fantasies. Furthermore, although Lincoln begins the film by suggesting the mindset of the scream queens, he depicts all such women as the pliant, compliant recipients of male desire. They have no role besides sexual functionaries. Thus, where Craven condemned patriarchal sexual libertinism, Lincoln seeks to reclaim it as the properly authoritative sexual order.

In order to reclaim this patriarchal authority, the film depicts all its authoritative but non-violent male characters in positions of power whose presence when with women is enough to make these women sexually subservient in gratitude.

For Lincoln, women may fear intrusive male sexuality but are turned on by the authority also found in such fear. Submission then is the natural female role. Although the film alludes to such male dominance as potentially justifying the notion of “forced entry” it dilutes any real threat by emphasizing the female compliance with authoritative consensual sex. Any male aggression is thus uncriticized and the aura of natural subservience takes away any potential power this film may have had as a pornographic horror movie. For Lincoln, dominance and authority are right and proper and although fear is a turn-on for women, they acquiesce to serve male desire. This constant stress on willing and pliant submission may be just the pre-feminist nostalgia that Lincoln seeks to remember – hence he begins the film as an old man (the libertine figure so frequent in hardcore porn of the 1970s) passing advice on to the younger generation in order for them to re-attain the sexual thrill of such masculine dominance. Although this extends to the jokily handled suggestion that innately submissive women should be taken advantage of at any opportunity, the film is dull rather than insulting or provocative.

Vision
The clean fullscreen visual transfer preserves the rather minimalist design of this adult video feature. The standard title sequence offers highlights of the sexual action to follow. The women here are pliant and submissive, the first encounter with its ass to mouth scenes being particularly rough. The second number features a little more playful performer whilst it is in the last number that there is finally a suggestion that the male, and the penis, exists for the potential pleasure of actively sexual women. The women are young and one of the final two has visible acne. Sets are sparse and functional – what looks like a motel bathroom. The scene beginning with the woods is particularly silly when the camera pulls back to reveal the dangerous woods as mere poolside foliage. Sex scenes are rote, with minimal shot variety. Although the camera is often mobile, the visual emphasis on close up sexual action is crude and repetitive, cutting from orifice to orifice eagerly servicing the ubiquitous penis. Some variety in sexual position (particularly in the intense and dirty first number) offers a break from this repetition but the unrelenting close-ups never integrate into a greater style. Many of the performers have tattoos. The switch from indoors to outdoors and a segue from fire to water never really translates into an elemental motif although shooting through flames, and with a poolside reflection, adds a minimal visual texture.

Sound
The sound transfer is a crisp and functional Dolby Digital “ultrabit” although this gimmick is put to use in a very bland and uneventful aural design. It is a low key mix, minimally scored with much emphasis on the expected moaning. Dialogue reflects authoritative males and submissive females (“nice cum sir” after a facial cum shot) and is blandly stereotypical in that sense as to render the film laughably clichéd macho erotica. Often there is no score or the intro of a score simply fades down to the diegetic sounds of flesh on flesh. A particular motif is made of the slap of a penis against the female flesh around various orifices as if such is yet another demonstration of masculine domination. The minimal sounds are, however, edited smoothly so that there are no discontinuous jumps. Lincoln’s direct to camera addresses act as punctuation between self-contained mundane power-fantasies – only the last episode has any of the joy of females in more active roles with a man. Coarse language and a parody of mannered submission are found in isolated moments. The second episode features a brief shower in the background before giving way to standard sucking noises as the traffic outside suggests a makeshift motel location once again. Despite the pretence and Lincoln’s attempts to mythologize fear’s role in sexuality and gender definition, there is little to contemplate in what is a total missed opportunity of an adult movie.

In the way of special features is a photo / star gallery for such performers as Victoria Sin (the fireman girl, pictured), Lisa Marie and Nadia Styles (apparently a newcomer if the lack of description is anything to go by). This is the only special feature to have any relevance to Last Whore House on the Left itself. There are previews for Art School Sluts, Reality Sucks and for Misty Beethoven the Musical. The last of these contains in its couple of minutes more creativity, humour and ideas than found in the feature DVD presentation. Of compilation interest is a “personals” section which offers a series of phone sex promotional ads on various themes – Asian, African-America, S&M and more generalized options. The ads are blandly narrated in the expected, stereotypical fashion and the visual presentation accompanying them comprise highlights from various adult films – apparently unrelated to the actual models presumably doing the actual phone sex should the numbers be called. In addition are internet details for distributor VCA and contact details for the VCA team. The lack of any explanatory features related to the film’s allusions to Wes Craven and the joint ethos of both utopian pornography and violent exploitation in the 1970s underscores the condescending attitude to those viewers who appreciate such allusions and suggests the distributor’s lowest common denominator approach to DVD packaging.