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Last House on Dead End Street

1c0ae893e7a0258d112df010 AA240 LLast House on Dead End Street. 1977. by Brian Kirst

Roger Watkins’ 1977 cult film Last House on Dead End Street has been called everything from a masterpiece to a master blight on the face of cinema. Little seen and widely debated, this grind house classic is neither exemplary or a total waste of time – it lies somewhere in between. Watkins, himself, who died of heart failure in March of 2007, is something of an enigma. He began making films in grade school, graduated to a recurring role on the soap opera The Doctors in the mid-70’s and ended his career by writing and filming (supposedly only the non-sex scenes) aggressively hardcore porno.

His Last House on Dead End Street is sloppy, murky and weird (footage of two cows being slaughtered appears randomly in the first handful of minutes and is perhaps the most devastating footage on display). Watkins supposedly edited and dubbed the film in 3 hours and it shows. According to numerous reports the film was soon stolen from him and some unscrupulous producers re-titled it to latch onto the popularity of Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left and began to show it on the flophouse theater circuit.

Watkins (as Steven Morrison) also plays Terry Hawkins, the film’s lead, with a greasy ferocity. Hawkins, recently released from a mental institution, decides to take revenge on society and gain fame as a snuff filmmaker. When his efforts are seemingly rejected, Hawkins and his mini-cult kidnap four of his former mentor-associates and brutally slaughter them. The film then abruptly ends with a brief onscreen note saying that Hawkins and his followers were eventually captured and imprisoned.

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The plot is relatively hard to follow as no character motivations are presented – one doesn’t quite gather how or why Hawkin’s followers join up with them and no clear scene of Hawkins’ work being rejected is illustrated to balance out his final meltdown. The effects are either meek (one important stabbing is done purposely off screen) or excessively grotesque (one victim’s innards are ripped from her then heaped upon her body like a chunky bouquet).

Still there is much rag-tag compulsiveness to this outing. No other film captures both the angst ridden violence of the Vietnam years and the seductive thrill of the Manson murders with such accuracy. This film (available from numerous bootleg outfits), therefore, is highly recommended for those qualities – although its pervasive legends and rumors have perhaps given it a fame it otherwise does not deserve.

2 Comments

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  1. I've never thought about the nam/manson mentality angle to it. What an interesting observation…I first bought a vhs bootleg copy in 97' and man, was it grainy and low-quality!!!!

    Oh, the good old days!!!!!! I'd like to have seen it in one of those seedy, low-rent grindhouses back in the sick and mean-spirited days of yore. this depressing film

  2. WET WILDERNESS would make a most appropriate companion to this depressing film. THE ASPHYX or maybe MACABRE also come to mind…especially when dwelling on the horror and tragedy associated with the death of Karen Carpenter!

    Anyone have any idea of what I'm trying to get at? It's weird and hard to describe…

    Please help me…

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