Sister Cristina(Florinda Bolkan)plays a nun who takes 5 teenage girls in her care to a remote house where they rehearse 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.Three bank-robbers(Ray Lovelock,Flavio Andreini and Stefano Cedrati)show up,brutally raping and terrorizing the girls,killing one by raping her with a cane,until Bolkan renounces her teachings and seeks bloody revenge."The Last House On the Beach" by Franco Prosperi is a typical Italian exploitation film.There are some nasty scenes of misogynistic sexual violence,but the action is slow and the characters are uninteresting.Still if you like terror cinema you can give this one a look.I still think that Deodato's "House on the Edge of the Park" or Lado's "Late Night Trains" are much more disturbing films.7 out of 10.
20 Reviews
Life's a beach and then you die.
BA_Harrison8 February 2016
A group of pretty, female Catholic school girls and their teacher, Sister Cristina (Florinda Bolkan), are terrorised by a trio of armed bank robbers (Ray Lovelock, Flavio Andreini and Stefano Cedrati) who opt to hideout in the beach-front property where the girls are studying (when they're not sunbathing topless by the pool).
Franco Prosperi's Last House On The Beach is, rather unsurprisingly, another Italian rip-off of Wes Craven's Last House On The Left, which wouldn't bother me one bit if only it wasn't such a tame affair, the director clearly wanting to disturb, but reluctant to get his hands dirty when necessary.
Rather than wallowing in the depravity that such films demand, Prosperi merely dips his toe in, withdrawing quickly whenever things start to get interesting. The rape scenes are extremely mild, the murders are tepid, and the power of the film's most extreme scene—the fatal penetration of a young woman by a large piece of wood—is severely diluted by a laughable POV shot of the leering thug brandishing the weapon.
I'm not saying that the film has to show every last graphic detail to be a complete success, but for the audience to be 'on board' with the revenge part of the film, they must first be shocked by the abuse suffered by the victims—and Prosperi repeatedly fails to do so.
4/10, bumped up to 5 for the song that sounds suspiciously like Roxy Music's 'Let's Stick Together', but with different lyrics, and for the scene in which the thugs watch my favourite part of dodgy giallo 'Eyes Behind The Wall' on telly (if you're given the choice, watch that film instead).
Franco Prosperi's Last House On The Beach is, rather unsurprisingly, another Italian rip-off of Wes Craven's Last House On The Left, which wouldn't bother me one bit if only it wasn't such a tame affair, the director clearly wanting to disturb, but reluctant to get his hands dirty when necessary.
Rather than wallowing in the depravity that such films demand, Prosperi merely dips his toe in, withdrawing quickly whenever things start to get interesting. The rape scenes are extremely mild, the murders are tepid, and the power of the film's most extreme scene—the fatal penetration of a young woman by a large piece of wood—is severely diluted by a laughable POV shot of the leering thug brandishing the weapon.
I'm not saying that the film has to show every last graphic detail to be a complete success, but for the audience to be 'on board' with the revenge part of the film, they must first be shocked by the abuse suffered by the victims—and Prosperi repeatedly fails to do so.
4/10, bumped up to 5 for the song that sounds suspiciously like Roxy Music's 'Let's Stick Together', but with different lyrics, and for the scene in which the thugs watch my favourite part of dodgy giallo 'Eyes Behind The Wall' on telly (if you're given the choice, watch that film instead).
You can help me Sister. You can help me get better.
lastliberal13 February 2009
Not a surprise that The Last House on the Left would have remakes. This is one of them with a twist - it is also a nunsploitation film.
Florinda Bolkan (Flavia the Heretic) is Sister Cristina, who has some Catholic schoolgirls in a beach house rehearsing a play when some dastardly evildoers crash the party.
The maid (Isabel Pisano) gets killed almost immediately and this serves to terrorize the group. When they strip the nun and make her put on her habit, the camera is on everyone but her. They even rape her off-camera. They did brutally rape one of the schoolgirls (Sherry Buchanan - Zombie 3), and raped and killed another with a stick.
Sister Cristina has had enough. As one of the thieves is suffering and pleading for help, she put him out of his misery. She then shows her capability with his gun. All the girls join in and have their fun with the last one.
Not nasty enough to be banned by Britain, but nasty enough.
Florinda Bolkan (Flavia the Heretic) is Sister Cristina, who has some Catholic schoolgirls in a beach house rehearsing a play when some dastardly evildoers crash the party.
The maid (Isabel Pisano) gets killed almost immediately and this serves to terrorize the group. When they strip the nun and make her put on her habit, the camera is on everyone but her. They even rape her off-camera. They did brutally rape one of the schoolgirls (Sherry Buchanan - Zombie 3), and raped and killed another with a stick.
Sister Cristina has had enough. As one of the thieves is suffering and pleading for help, she put him out of his misery. She then shows her capability with his gun. All the girls join in and have their fun with the last one.
Not nasty enough to be banned by Britain, but nasty enough.
A sad, sickening examination of mankind's potential evil.
EyeAskance12 March 2004
A trio of obdurate bank-robbers who are barely evading the authorities hole up in an incommunicado beach house where several girls from a parochial school are having a field trip with their drama teacher. Instantaneously, the girls are sucked into a living nightmare of sexual assault, inexorable degradation, torture, and death. At one especially disturbing point in the course of events, one of the brutes becomes seriously injured, and callously demands to be cared for by the very people he has been so cruelly tormenting.
This film is often compared to LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, though despite axiomatic similarities in the general mien, little else between the two films is consonant. LA SETTIMA DONNA is an emotionally exhausting steamroller of tribulation, pathos, and senseless inhumanities...highly unpleasant, but effective, like a hard punch to the gut.
6.5/10
This film is often compared to LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, though despite axiomatic similarities in the general mien, little else between the two films is consonant. LA SETTIMA DONNA is an emotionally exhausting steamroller of tribulation, pathos, and senseless inhumanities...highly unpleasant, but effective, like a hard punch to the gut.
6.5/10
Last House
BandSAboutMovies21 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Also known as La Settima Donna, Terror and Terror and The Seventh Woman, this is what happens when filmmakers dare ask, "What would happen if we mixed up The Last House on the Left with nunsploitation?"
In Roberto Curti's Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980, he writes that this film was filled with "a succession of grim, misogynist and exploitative scenes: adolescent nudes, slow-motion sodomizations, vicious wounds, assorted killings." I list this in case you are wondering why I decided to watch it.
Sister Cristina (Florinda Balkan, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Don't Torture a Duckling) and the girls in her care (Sherry Buchanan from Tentacles and What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Laura Tanziani, Laura Trotter from Nightmare City, Karina Verlier from Emanuelle In America, Luisa Maneri from Demons 6) are rehearsing A Midsummer Night's Dream when three thugs, led by Rave Lovelock, show up to hide out from the cops. Of course, they also decide to terrorize everyone and probably kill several of the girls along the way. Can Sister Cristina renounce her Holy Vows and help the girls to escape?
Of course she can.
A movie that takes a disco scene from Eyes Behind the Wall and has a brutal murder occur in full view of a Scrooge McDuck poster, this is the Italian exploitation in its most undiluted form. Lovelock is a complete scumbag - and sings on the soundtrack - while there's no way that Tarantino didn't rip off the ending of this movie for Death Proof.
Francesco Prosperi - who wrote Hercules In the Haunted World - would go on to the next big craze, barbarian movies, making one of the better ones, The Throne of Fire. He also had his hand in a few cannibal films, like The Green Inferno and White Cannibal Queen. He should also not be confused with Mondo Cane director Franco Prosperi.
In Roberto Curti's Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980, he writes that this film was filled with "a succession of grim, misogynist and exploitative scenes: adolescent nudes, slow-motion sodomizations, vicious wounds, assorted killings." I list this in case you are wondering why I decided to watch it.
Sister Cristina (Florinda Balkan, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Don't Torture a Duckling) and the girls in her care (Sherry Buchanan from Tentacles and What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Laura Tanziani, Laura Trotter from Nightmare City, Karina Verlier from Emanuelle In America, Luisa Maneri from Demons 6) are rehearsing A Midsummer Night's Dream when three thugs, led by Rave Lovelock, show up to hide out from the cops. Of course, they also decide to terrorize everyone and probably kill several of the girls along the way. Can Sister Cristina renounce her Holy Vows and help the girls to escape?
Of course she can.
A movie that takes a disco scene from Eyes Behind the Wall and has a brutal murder occur in full view of a Scrooge McDuck poster, this is the Italian exploitation in its most undiluted form. Lovelock is a complete scumbag - and sings on the soundtrack - while there's no way that Tarantino didn't rip off the ending of this movie for Death Proof.
Francesco Prosperi - who wrote Hercules In the Haunted World - would go on to the next big craze, barbarian movies, making one of the better ones, The Throne of Fire. He also had his hand in a few cannibal films, like The Green Inferno and White Cannibal Queen. He should also not be confused with Mondo Cane director Franco Prosperi.
The Last House Left!
The_Void31 July 2006
Well, Wes Craven's Last House on the Left sure was an influential film, as there's been a barrage of rip-offs released since 1972, and this is one of them. The Last House on the Beach tends to get put down, and certainly isn't one of the better rip-offs to be released since Craven's masterpiece; but still, I've got to admit that I have a penchant for films like this, and The Last House on the Beach hits the spot. The only real difference between this film and the rest of its ilk is that, as the title suggests, the action takes place close to a beach this time around. Director Franco Prosperi seems keen to capitalise on his film's only original element, as the beach setting is often sun-drenched, and the director has seen fit to implement several upbeat pop-rock songs into the mix...which actually works quite well. The plot is paper-thin as you would expect, and follows a bank robbery. On the run, the thieves decide to hide out in a nice house on the beach; which just happens to be where a nun is taking care of a bunch of teenagers rehearsing a Shakespeare play...rape, torture and murder ensue.
The main thing I like about these sorts of films is that the focus tends to stay on just one idea, which means that the audience is allowed to see into the situation. This film doesn't do it as well as, say, The House on the Edge of the Park, did; but all the actors play their parts well, and considering that there's barely any character on display; it is testament to their talent that we are actually allowed to feel for the characters. Then again, it's always going to be difficult NOT to feel for someone that is being brutally raped and humiliated. This film never received the notoriety of some of its counterparts, and that's hardly surprising as the violence is never particularly shocking and the rape scenes don't go on for long, nor do they occur often. The girls in this film are typically young, which gives it a lot more shock value; but the real problem here is that there isn't a lot of invention, and it ponders along, which may annoy some. I do have to say that I enjoyed the relaxed style of this movie, however, and since I personally found the action interesting; I am perhaps rating is a little above the rating that many exploitation fans would give it.
The main thing I like about these sorts of films is that the focus tends to stay on just one idea, which means that the audience is allowed to see into the situation. This film doesn't do it as well as, say, The House on the Edge of the Park, did; but all the actors play their parts well, and considering that there's barely any character on display; it is testament to their talent that we are actually allowed to feel for the characters. Then again, it's always going to be difficult NOT to feel for someone that is being brutally raped and humiliated. This film never received the notoriety of some of its counterparts, and that's hardly surprising as the violence is never particularly shocking and the rape scenes don't go on for long, nor do they occur often. The girls in this film are typically young, which gives it a lot more shock value; but the real problem here is that there isn't a lot of invention, and it ponders along, which may annoy some. I do have to say that I enjoyed the relaxed style of this movie, however, and since I personally found the action interesting; I am perhaps rating is a little above the rating that many exploitation fans would give it.
Sometimes nasty, but wholly forgettable, LAST HOUSE copycat.
capkronos29 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Wes Craven's 1972 shocker THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (itself "inspired" by Bergman's THE VIRGIN SPRING) was such a popular and notorious film during its day that it spawned a whole slew of wannabes, imposters and imitators, particularly in Europe. Some of these movies were actually rip-offs, while others merely tried to cash in on the familiar title but actually had little else in common with Craven's film. At one point, distributors even tried to pass off Mario Bava's REAZIONE A CATENA (aka BAY OF BLOOD), filmed a year before "Last House," as a sequel. There was also "Hitch Hike: Last House on the Left" (better known as simply HITCH HIKE), "The New House on the Left" (aka NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS), THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK (1980), LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET (1977), TERROR EXPRESS (1979) and many others. The formula was pretty simple - have a group of criminals/thugs/ killers/psychos take a random group of people (normally women) hostage and proceed to humiliate, abuse, terrorize, rape and kill some of them off before allowing the survivors to turn the tables on their attackers and get revenge. And that brings us to Franco Prosperi's 1978 cash-in LAST HOUSE ON THE BEACH, which was originally filmed as LA SETTIMA DONNA (THE SEVENTH WOMAN) and was also released under the more generic title TERROR. It follows the above formula pace-for-pace, plot point-for-plot point and though it's watchable for the most part, it brings absolutely nothing new or all that interesting to the subgenre.
Florinda Bolkan (who is too talented to be appearing in ripoffs such as this one) stars as Cristina, a teacher and sister-of-the-cloth who is spending an extended weekend at a remote beach house preparing for a Shakespeare performance with five female students. Elsewhere, three thugs; Aldo (Ray Lovelock), Walter (Flavio Andreini) and Nino (Stefano Cedrati), have just robbed a bank and left several dead bodies in their wake. They end up needing a place to hide out for a few days and stumble upon the beach house, where they quickly murder the maid (with an iron to the head) and take Cristina and her nubile students hostage. From then on out, the films plays out basically as a series of sexual humiliations, gropings, beatings, attempted rapes and actual rapes. The captors do such nice things as making Cristina strip and change into her nun's habit in front of her students, sticking their hands down the girls panties to see if they're still virgins and forcing Cristina to watch one of her students get bent over and raped (in slow motion, no less). The guys finally send Cristina over the edge when they rape one of the more troublesome girls, Eliza (Sherry Buchanan), to death with a cane. The final revenge exacted by the women is almost as bland as it is predictable.
Though numerous scenarios play out in an unpleasant way, the film isn't nearly as harrowing or impactful as it could have been. One reason is the stereotypically obnoxious portrayal of the three bad guys, which is so frequently OTT and one-dimensionally sleazy that it detracts from the overall realism of the film. Another is the portrayal of the anonymous wide-eyed schoolgirls, who aren't allowed even a glimpse of individual personality. These are simply evil oversexed bad guys versus virginal cowering good girls of the cardboard cut-out variety that don't make one care much either way about what's going on to whom at any given time. Bolkan helps out the best she can. She's the type of actress who is able to convey a lot in a subtle, quiet way - minus the hysterics - and she did a fair job contrasting the grating OTT male attackers to an extent.
So while this film is basically a lesser copy of something better (and even sits in the shadow of some of the other lesser imitations), it's still fairly well scored and photographed for what it is. The beach house setting itself was pretty good setting, and there's enough nudity, sleaze and sexual violence directed toward underage-looking teenage girls for those wanting to see that. Personally though, I can't say that I was all that impressed. There aren't very many suspenseful or thrilling moments, just lots of progressively tedious attacks scenes leading to a predictable and ho-hum finale.
Florinda Bolkan (who is too talented to be appearing in ripoffs such as this one) stars as Cristina, a teacher and sister-of-the-cloth who is spending an extended weekend at a remote beach house preparing for a Shakespeare performance with five female students. Elsewhere, three thugs; Aldo (Ray Lovelock), Walter (Flavio Andreini) and Nino (Stefano Cedrati), have just robbed a bank and left several dead bodies in their wake. They end up needing a place to hide out for a few days and stumble upon the beach house, where they quickly murder the maid (with an iron to the head) and take Cristina and her nubile students hostage. From then on out, the films plays out basically as a series of sexual humiliations, gropings, beatings, attempted rapes and actual rapes. The captors do such nice things as making Cristina strip and change into her nun's habit in front of her students, sticking their hands down the girls panties to see if they're still virgins and forcing Cristina to watch one of her students get bent over and raped (in slow motion, no less). The guys finally send Cristina over the edge when they rape one of the more troublesome girls, Eliza (Sherry Buchanan), to death with a cane. The final revenge exacted by the women is almost as bland as it is predictable.
Though numerous scenarios play out in an unpleasant way, the film isn't nearly as harrowing or impactful as it could have been. One reason is the stereotypically obnoxious portrayal of the three bad guys, which is so frequently OTT and one-dimensionally sleazy that it detracts from the overall realism of the film. Another is the portrayal of the anonymous wide-eyed schoolgirls, who aren't allowed even a glimpse of individual personality. These are simply evil oversexed bad guys versus virginal cowering good girls of the cardboard cut-out variety that don't make one care much either way about what's going on to whom at any given time. Bolkan helps out the best she can. She's the type of actress who is able to convey a lot in a subtle, quiet way - minus the hysterics - and she did a fair job contrasting the grating OTT male attackers to an extent.
So while this film is basically a lesser copy of something better (and even sits in the shadow of some of the other lesser imitations), it's still fairly well scored and photographed for what it is. The beach house setting itself was pretty good setting, and there's enough nudity, sleaze and sexual violence directed toward underage-looking teenage girls for those wanting to see that. Personally though, I can't say that I was all that impressed. There aren't very many suspenseful or thrilling moments, just lots of progressively tedious attacks scenes leading to a predictable and ho-hum finale.
Sister Acts
ferbs5422 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
A nasty piece of exploitative Eurosleaze, Franco Prosperi's "The Last House on the Beach" (1978) yet tells a very simple story. In the film, a trio of particularly brutish thugs, led by the handsome Aldo (Ray Lovelock), breaks into a hilltop mansion to lay low after a violent bank heist. Too bad that the house they've chosen at random is occupied by a quintet of Catholic schoolgirls, presided over by Sister Cristina (cult Eurostar Florinda Bolkan). The three goons waste little time before starting to rape and kill the young women, until Cristina decides that...well, nun or no nun, she's mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore! The vengeance that she and the younger ladies dish out on their persecutors is both a swift and satisfying one. I must add that despite the plot's simplicity, this film proved a bit hard to watch at times, largely due to the convincing performances by Stefano Cedrati and Flavio Andreini as those other two maniacs; they really do make for thoroughly hateful characters. Florinda, as usual, is impeccable, and the film offers up some additional pleasures in the form of lovely oceanside scenery (a stark contrast to the ugliness transpiring inside the house; wherever did they film this?) and a dynamic, propulsive score by Roberto Pregadio; the piece of music that accompanies Aldo's pursuit of Eliza (the prettiest of the girls, IMHO) down the hillside to the sea is especially dynamite. Prosperi directs his film to ensure a good deal of suspense, and in all, this is a pretty darn gripping presentation, with, thankfully, little in the way of explicit violence (what is suggested is quite terrible enough!). This nice-looking Severin DVD also includes a 1/2-hour interview with the still hunky Lovelock of today, during which the Italian confirms that "Ray Lovelock" IS indeed his real name. The actor's sincerity and charm make the character of Aldo seem, if possible, all the more monstrous.
How many of these "Last Houses" were constructed?!?
Coventry6 June 2006
Another vile and rapidly edited Italian exploitation effort that just mildly succeeds in cashing in on the enormous 'popularity' of Wes Craven's horror landmark "Last House on the Left". Three bank robbers drive up to a remote beach house where they plan to hide from the police after a successful heist. Staying at the house at that moment are an attractive nun and five teenage girls under her supervision. The schoolgirls become the objects of violent torture games, vicious rapes and eventually murder. Bloody vengeance by the remaining girls and the nun is the inevitable consequence. What can be said about this type of cinema that hasn't been said a thousand times before? It's mean-spirited, sickening and not the type of film to watch if you already feel a bit depressed. Peculiar, however, is that the victims of these rape-flicks continue to get younger and more innocent. I suppose it's some sort of competition among the directors to be the sickest bastard of all? How else do you get the crazy idea of exploiting sexual aggression towards teenage girls? The girls in "Last House on the Beach" barely look 15 years old, so mission accomplished for director Franco Prosperi, but the overall tone of the film isn't half as offensive or shocking as Ruggero Deodato's "House on the Edge of the Park" or Meir Zachi's infamous "I spit on your Grave". Not recommended, unless of course if you're on a sole mission to watch every rape/revenge flick ever made. In that case, you can watch this one on par with "Late Night Trains" and "Terror Express", which are equally bad.
Last House on the Beach
Scarecrow-8823 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Franco Prosperi directs yet another exploitation flick inspired by Craven's notorious Last House on the Left, this time a trio of bank robbing hoods(led by Ray Lovelock, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie)besiege a group of Catholic teenage students and their Nun supervisor, setting off a reign of terror over the course of three nightmarish days. Sister Christina(Florinda Bolkan, Don't Torture a Duckling)tries without fail to rescue her girls from constant harm, sexual molestation and degradation, even suffering depraved persecution herself. The three hoodlums, pretty-boy Aldo(Lovelock)and his unhinged co-horts Walter(Flavio Andeini)and Nino(Stefano Cedrati), often resort to diabolical acts mistreating the girls, and Christina, making extra efforts to humiliate and frighten their weaker prey. The girls watch as Christina's clothes are ripped away by Walter, forced to put on her nun outfit for their amusement. One of the girls, chosen by Walter as a victim of constant abuse, is held down as Nino penetrates her from behind, with their sole purpose being to "pop her cherry." It's even shot in slow motion for extra impact as Aldo holds Christina in a position where she's forced to watch without the ability to turn away. When one of the girls is almost raped by Nino, she stabs him in the leg with a comb, later caught after almost escaping by Aldo, and penetrated with a large sharpened stick by the very one who almost sexually molested her. Aldo spends a great deal of time setting himself up as an innocent among two depraved monsters, but he's even worse than they, with his true self really awakening at the end when the girls revolt out of outrage for their captors' behavior. Thankfully, director Prosperi doesn't actually elaborate the evil actions of the cretins in vivid detail, finding ways to shoot around the explicit acts such as the vaginal violence which leads to the victim's death, or the maid who is bashed across the head by an iron when Walter becomes enraged for no reason whatsoever. The film works off the idea that we will be impacted by who the chosen victims are, teenage girls and their nun. The hoods are your typical scumbags, relishing their activities watching the victims squirm in fear, taking full advantage of them. They are cowards with big weapons who cause harm to those who supposedly pose no threat which always builds up the violent climax where the innocents develop a primal nature, getting even with the ones who caused them such harm. Nothing really special about this umpteenth Italian terror film except the fabulous location on a fine piece of property overlooking a beach with a typically fine performance from Bolkan who plays it completely subtle, using her eyes as a means for communicating with the viewer and has this strength which is credible and admirable. We understand why she snaps(..although, it's not a theatrical snap, but a very quiet one, where she contemplates her actions and can not overcome her hostility after the horrifying murder of one of her girls, who almost got away), and that also relates back to Craven's infamous film where a very mature and sensitive person can become overpowered with the urge to kill, if pushed to the breaking point.
seriously nasty affair and most compelling
christopher-underwood16 December 2008
This may not be quite as explicit or in your face as, 'House at the Edge of the Park', but it is still seriously nasty affair and most compelling. I found the pacing tight and the action fast moving. 'Action', of course includes, stripping, raping and torturing the various youngsters who are in a desolate house practising a play for their catholic church school with their nun. Florinda Bolkan does very well in her role as the nun, at first stoical and gradually coming around to a more vigorous defence of herself and her girls. Ray Lovelock is excellent as the more charismatic of the baddies who intrude upon the ladies, but everybody helps to make this a most entertainingly brutal and sexy outing. 'Guilty pleasure' I think is the apt description.
Well made misogynistic junk
jameselliot-115 August 2019
No filmmakers have brutalized women more than the Italians of the 1960s and 1970s. What Bolkan and Lovelock were doing in this technically well-made piece of garbage is a puzzle considering their busy careers. Director Prosperi was an exploitation king.
Neither the best nor the worst of its kind
lazarillo24 April 2007
As successful as Wes Craven's "Last House on the Left" was, it was such an unpleasant and notorious film that it didn't spawn too many imitators in American. Italy, however, was a whole different story, There "Last House" and its home-grown, pseudo-sequel "Late Night Trains" spawned an entire subgenre (albeit a pretty small one) known as the "terror film". These films usually fell into two categories. Some are flat-out sexploitation films like "Terror Express" and "Escape from a Woman's Prison" that are pretty hard to take seriously, where others, like "Late Night Trains", are pretty disturbing but are also usually much more stylized and less graphic than the infamous American film (the one exception to all this was Ruggiero Deodato's "House by the Edge of the Park" which might even be MORE harrowing than the Craven film).
This movie falls more into the latter category. It is a more-or-less serious film about three fugitive bank robbers who rape, murder, and generally terrorize a nun and a gaggle of Catholic schoolgirls at an isolated cottage by the beach. The violence is pretty nasty, but not especially graphic. There are three rapes, including a fatal one involving a walking stick, but they are highly stylized and/or take place mostly off camera. There is a general lack of character development,however, so that even the strongest actors like Florinda Bolkan and Ray Lovelock are not as effective as they could have been (having seen "Flavia the Heretic" and "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" I would have expected more from a face-off between nun-heroine Bolkan and bank robber/villain Lovelock). The girls are all nubile but not particularly young or innocent looking (Sherry Buchanon, for instance, had been playing abused schoolgirls since "What Have They Done to Your Daughters?" in 1974). This is somewhat appropriate, however, since the movie seems unsure at times whether it wants to pity them or sexually exploit them.
The ending is interesting although I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Neither the best nor the worst of its kind.
This movie falls more into the latter category. It is a more-or-less serious film about three fugitive bank robbers who rape, murder, and generally terrorize a nun and a gaggle of Catholic schoolgirls at an isolated cottage by the beach. The violence is pretty nasty, but not especially graphic. There are three rapes, including a fatal one involving a walking stick, but they are highly stylized and/or take place mostly off camera. There is a general lack of character development,however, so that even the strongest actors like Florinda Bolkan and Ray Lovelock are not as effective as they could have been (having seen "Flavia the Heretic" and "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" I would have expected more from a face-off between nun-heroine Bolkan and bank robber/villain Lovelock). The girls are all nubile but not particularly young or innocent looking (Sherry Buchanon, for instance, had been playing abused schoolgirls since "What Have They Done to Your Daughters?" in 1974). This is somewhat appropriate, however, since the movie seems unsure at times whether it wants to pity them or sexually exploit them.
The ending is interesting although I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Neither the best nor the worst of its kind.
Unpleasant rape revenge thriller
Leofwine_draca16 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
As its re-titling suggests, LAST HOUSE ON THE BEACH is one of the many rip-offs that came out in the wake of Wes Craven's terrifying shocker LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. Each film is caught in a '70s time capsule of sleaze and perversion, depicting innocent young women being terrorised by ruthless criminals. There are two types of rip-off in this case: the low budget US grindhouse flick, and the Italian knock-off. LAST HOUSE ON THE BEACH is one of the latter and it's one of the most boring of the rip offs I've seen. I'd admit right away that these films aren't my idea of entertainment anyway; I'll watch them for the sake of completeness, but I'd rather watch a gore or kung fu flick than see women being raped.
Of the ones I've seen, the little-known DAY OF VIOLENCE has been the best and has this one beat hands down. The problem with LAST HOUSE ON THE BEACH is that there's a lot of sitting around and waiting around in between the inevitable bursts of violence, and there's no tension or suspense to be had during these long, drawn out moments. There's a certain repetitiveness to the action which makes this one a chore to watch. For me, these types of hostage films should be all about the suspense but there's little to none here.
Instead, what we do get are a couple of deeply unpleasant rape sequences which are played out in bizarre slow motion. It's as if director Franco Prosperi saw Sam Peckinpah's unique editing during the rape of Susan George in STRAW DOGS so decided to try and make his own rape scenes as unforgettable. It certainly highlights the cruelty of the criminals and one scene, involving a woman impaled on a guy's walking stick, crosses way over the line of taste and decency. The only good thing is that the film is far from graphic, keeping things off screen so the viewer uses their imagination instead, but in a way this makes the horrors only more effective. I don't think I'm spoiling too much to say that the trio end up getting their just desserts, but this is annoying as the punishment definitely doesn't fit the crime and is over all too soon (unlike in the Craven film).
A few neat camera tricks – disguising the participants in the robbery to begin with, for instance – help to lift this one a little, and there's also a good cast of Euro stalwarts doing their bit. Lead Florinda Bolkan, subject to much humiliation here, was familiar from lots of '70s giallo flicks like Lucio Fulci's DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING, as well as playing the title role in FLAVIA THE HERETIC (clearly the inspiration for her role as a nun here). Ray Lovelock is well known for his turn as the hero of THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE, and he carved out a niche in quite a few crime flicks as well. Victims Laura Trotter and Sherry Buchanan starred in a couple of zombie flicks, NIGHTMARE CITY and ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST respectively. Director Franco Prosperi was no stranger to exploitation, having been the guy who kicked off the mondo genre with 1962's MONDO CANE. This is far from his best film.
Of the ones I've seen, the little-known DAY OF VIOLENCE has been the best and has this one beat hands down. The problem with LAST HOUSE ON THE BEACH is that there's a lot of sitting around and waiting around in between the inevitable bursts of violence, and there's no tension or suspense to be had during these long, drawn out moments. There's a certain repetitiveness to the action which makes this one a chore to watch. For me, these types of hostage films should be all about the suspense but there's little to none here.
Instead, what we do get are a couple of deeply unpleasant rape sequences which are played out in bizarre slow motion. It's as if director Franco Prosperi saw Sam Peckinpah's unique editing during the rape of Susan George in STRAW DOGS so decided to try and make his own rape scenes as unforgettable. It certainly highlights the cruelty of the criminals and one scene, involving a woman impaled on a guy's walking stick, crosses way over the line of taste and decency. The only good thing is that the film is far from graphic, keeping things off screen so the viewer uses their imagination instead, but in a way this makes the horrors only more effective. I don't think I'm spoiling too much to say that the trio end up getting their just desserts, but this is annoying as the punishment definitely doesn't fit the crime and is over all too soon (unlike in the Craven film).
A few neat camera tricks – disguising the participants in the robbery to begin with, for instance – help to lift this one a little, and there's also a good cast of Euro stalwarts doing their bit. Lead Florinda Bolkan, subject to much humiliation here, was familiar from lots of '70s giallo flicks like Lucio Fulci's DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING, as well as playing the title role in FLAVIA THE HERETIC (clearly the inspiration for her role as a nun here). Ray Lovelock is well known for his turn as the hero of THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE, and he carved out a niche in quite a few crime flicks as well. Victims Laura Trotter and Sherry Buchanan starred in a couple of zombie flicks, NIGHTMARE CITY and ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST respectively. Director Franco Prosperi was no stranger to exploitation, having been the guy who kicked off the mondo genre with 1962's MONDO CANE. This is far from his best film.
Revenge for rape and murder!
RodrigAndrisan28 April 2020
A nice'n'nasty Italian thriller
Woodyanders7 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
A trio of vicious criminals -- charming, but ruthless leader Aldo (Ray Lovelock in fine wicked form), savage Walter (essayed with frightening intensity by Flavio Andreni), and ferocious Neanderthalic brute Nino (a positively simian portrayal by Stefano Cedrati) -- pull off a bank heist and seek refuge in an isolated seaside villa when their getaway car breaks down. The loathsome threesome terrorize a quintet of teenage Catholic schoolgirls and Sister Cristina (superbly played by Florinda Bolkan), the tough and resolute nun who's in charge of the girls. Naturally, the hoods have their foul way with several of the girls until Sister Cristina renounces her vows and exacts a harsh vengeance on the creeps. Director Franco Prosperi milks plenty of gut-wrenching tension from the grim and compelling story. Said story of course becomes more progressively mean and unpleasant as it unfolds, complete with rape, murder, humiliation, and the inevitable exciting last reel turn the tables revenge by the ladies on their vile and hateful tormentors. The startling outbursts of raw, ugly and strikingly stylized violence pack a really strong punch. This film further benefits from uniformly sound and credible acting from a capable cast: Lovelock excels as the deceptively laid-back and amiable Aldo (Lovelock also sings the cool hard-rocking theme song!), Andreni and Cedrati are genuinely repulsive and unappealing as a pair of extremely base and cruel degenerates, Bolkan does well as Sister Cristina, and Sherry Buchanan, Laura Tanziani, Laura Trotter, Karine Velier, and Annalisa Pesce are all quite fetching and believable as the scared and vulnerable schoolgirls. Roberto Pregadio's funky, syncopated score and Cristiano Pogany's sparkling widescreen cinematography are both up to snuff. A satisfying serving of in-your-face rough and unflinching celluloid sadism.
Film does not quite deliver the goods
horrorbargainbin27 June 2002
While my copy reads "The Terror", the Italian translation "Last House on the Beach" clearly identifies this as a tribute to (or rip-off of) Craven's early 70's Last House on the Left. Both films involve the revenge victims inflict on their kidnappers and tormentors.
I had high hopes for this film as I enjoy the stylistic violence of Italian horror. Wes Craven, however, was more creative with his movie. The Terror may take the torture to extremes, but it's a less powerful film. Craven's cast was also more convincing.
The camera work is excellent and the movie is well directed. Still, I was left unmoved at the conclusion and maybe that was because I'd seen it done better before.
I had high hopes for this film as I enjoy the stylistic violence of Italian horror. Wes Craven, however, was more creative with his movie. The Terror may take the torture to extremes, but it's a less powerful film. Craven's cast was also more convincing.
The camera work is excellent and the movie is well directed. Still, I was left unmoved at the conclusion and maybe that was because I'd seen it done better before.
Violence and Terror at it's best!
ray-1001 April 2002
Three armed bank robbers hold a nun and several young women hostage. The girls are subsequently raped and tortured and subjected to many degrading activites. But when one of the girls is murdered after being violated with a caine they decide to take revenge, a bloodbath follows.
If you enjoy terror movies then this one is definatley worth tracking down.
If you enjoy terror movies then this one is definatley worth tracking down.
An OK LHOTL cash-in...
Rapeman1313 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Here's another Last House on the Left cash-in, this one comes from notorious Mondo filmmaker Franco Prosperi.
After pulling a bank robbery, three thugs (Ray Lovelock, Flavio Andreini & Stefano Cedrati) seek a place to hide out for awhile. They stumble upon an isolated beach house and decide to crash there for a few days. The house is owned by the nearby Catholic School, and Sister Cristina (Florinda Bolkan) and five of her female students are occupying it for a few days as they study for upcoming exams.
The men break in and hold the women hostage, and while searching the house to make sure there's no one else around, one of them comes across a maid hiding in the basement he slaps her around a bit then caves her head in with an iron, promptly killing her. Another of the men finds one of the girls in the bathroom getting dressed and makes unwanted advances towards her; she swiftly grabs a comb and stabs the pointed handle deep into his leg, crippling him for the remainder of the film.
When we meet Sister Cristina she is dressed in civilian clothes but as soon as the men discover she is a nun they force her to undress in front of her students and put her habit on. Later on two of them viciously rape her in the wine cellar. The action pretty much never leaves the interior of the house and moves pretty slow as the men lounge around sunbathing and drinking wine (the wounded one even finds time to read a bit of William Faulkner!?).
Eventually the ladies manage to do away with their captors as Sister Cristina gives the wounded man a lethal injection, shoots the 2nd man and one of her students blasts the last thug in the stomach with a shotgun. When he refuses to die all five girls beat him to death with sticks!
Overall this flick isn't too nasty, shocking or even that entertaining, especially when compared to some of the far superior Last House knock-offs: House on the Edge of the Park, Last House on Dead End Street, Night Train Murders, etc. Although it does contain a few notable scenes: the creepy slo-mo rape of one of the girls set to a ''trippy'' acid-rock score, the violent - although non-graphic - rape-with-a-stick scene (again in slo-mo), a bizarre scene where the men force the girls to watch naked disco dancing on TV while they molest them (!?), and the aforementioned beaten-to-death-with-sticks scene.
Some of you will recognize Florinda Bolkan from Flavia the Heretic, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin or Don't Torture a Duckling, Ray Lovelock from Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, Murder Rock or Autopsy and one of the female students as Susan Kelly from Zombie Holocaust. It also features a fantastic upbeat score from Roberto Pregadio (SS Experiment Camp, White Cannibal Queen, and SS Camp 5: Women's Hell). Recommended to rape / revenge completists and fans of Italian sleaze. 6/10
After pulling a bank robbery, three thugs (Ray Lovelock, Flavio Andreini & Stefano Cedrati) seek a place to hide out for awhile. They stumble upon an isolated beach house and decide to crash there for a few days. The house is owned by the nearby Catholic School, and Sister Cristina (Florinda Bolkan) and five of her female students are occupying it for a few days as they study for upcoming exams.
The men break in and hold the women hostage, and while searching the house to make sure there's no one else around, one of them comes across a maid hiding in the basement he slaps her around a bit then caves her head in with an iron, promptly killing her. Another of the men finds one of the girls in the bathroom getting dressed and makes unwanted advances towards her; she swiftly grabs a comb and stabs the pointed handle deep into his leg, crippling him for the remainder of the film.
When we meet Sister Cristina she is dressed in civilian clothes but as soon as the men discover she is a nun they force her to undress in front of her students and put her habit on. Later on two of them viciously rape her in the wine cellar. The action pretty much never leaves the interior of the house and moves pretty slow as the men lounge around sunbathing and drinking wine (the wounded one even finds time to read a bit of William Faulkner!?).
Eventually the ladies manage to do away with their captors as Sister Cristina gives the wounded man a lethal injection, shoots the 2nd man and one of her students blasts the last thug in the stomach with a shotgun. When he refuses to die all five girls beat him to death with sticks!
Overall this flick isn't too nasty, shocking or even that entertaining, especially when compared to some of the far superior Last House knock-offs: House on the Edge of the Park, Last House on Dead End Street, Night Train Murders, etc. Although it does contain a few notable scenes: the creepy slo-mo rape of one of the girls set to a ''trippy'' acid-rock score, the violent - although non-graphic - rape-with-a-stick scene (again in slo-mo), a bizarre scene where the men force the girls to watch naked disco dancing on TV while they molest them (!?), and the aforementioned beaten-to-death-with-sticks scene.
Some of you will recognize Florinda Bolkan from Flavia the Heretic, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin or Don't Torture a Duckling, Ray Lovelock from Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, Murder Rock or Autopsy and one of the female students as Susan Kelly from Zombie Holocaust. It also features a fantastic upbeat score from Roberto Pregadio (SS Experiment Camp, White Cannibal Queen, and SS Camp 5: Women's Hell). Recommended to rape / revenge completists and fans of Italian sleaze. 6/10
Last House on the Beach
Michael_Elliott16 June 2008
Last House on the Beach (1978)
* (out of 4)
Yet another Italian rip off of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, which of course was nothing but a rip of Ingmar Bergman's masterful The Virgin Spring. A nun and her five students are practicing a concert in a house far away from anyone when three thugs, running from the police, break in on them. Soon the thugs are raping, torturing and beating the girls so the nun finally gets fed up and takes her own revenge. I've seen a lot of these rips over the years but this one here is without a doubt the worst of the bunch. If you're looking for a watered down version of the Craven film then this is the movie for you as the violence all takes place off screen and we're often just shown the aftermath. The rape sequences are very tame and often don't even feature any nudity. As with the Bergman film, this movie tries to use religion as an undertone but it never works. The entire film is very lazy but what makes the film unwatchable are all of the characters who are annoying from the start and only get worse. The performances are what you'd expect from a film like this but the direction is quite horrid as Prosper brings no energy, suspense or drama to the film. Florinda Bolkan, a Euro Horror favorite to many, plays the nun and does a decent job with the role.
* (out of 4)
Yet another Italian rip off of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, which of course was nothing but a rip of Ingmar Bergman's masterful The Virgin Spring. A nun and her five students are practicing a concert in a house far away from anyone when three thugs, running from the police, break in on them. Soon the thugs are raping, torturing and beating the girls so the nun finally gets fed up and takes her own revenge. I've seen a lot of these rips over the years but this one here is without a doubt the worst of the bunch. If you're looking for a watered down version of the Craven film then this is the movie for you as the violence all takes place off screen and we're often just shown the aftermath. The rape sequences are very tame and often don't even feature any nudity. As with the Bergman film, this movie tries to use religion as an undertone but it never works. The entire film is very lazy but what makes the film unwatchable are all of the characters who are annoying from the start and only get worse. The performances are what you'd expect from a film like this but the direction is quite horrid as Prosper brings no energy, suspense or drama to the film. Florinda Bolkan, a Euro Horror favorite to many, plays the nun and does a decent job with the role.
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