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For
years shrouded in mystery, finally much is becoming known about the nihilistic
cult horror classic Last House on Dead End Street. Comprehensive information
on the film and its director Roger Watkins can be found in a lengthy interview
I conducted with Watkins in Ultra Violent Magazine #4 (www.uvmagazine.com)
and in a series of articles by David Kerekes in Headpress #23 (www.headpress.com).
Instead of repeating information available elsewhere, I will instead address
the technical merits of Barrel Entertainment's incredible double DVD Special
Edition of what is one of the greatest pieces of confrontational cinema in the
annals of film.
Being a Last House fanatic, I drove 600 miles from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Montreal, Canada to see a 35mm screening of the print Barrel used for its DVD. Naturally, seeing the film in a theater blew me away, but after watching it I was very skeptical that such a damaged source could produce a quality DVD transfer. I was mistaken. It is unbelievable what Barrel managed to do with this print. After much color correction, the film finally has its intended color scheme. Annoying red flecks on portions of the print remain apparent on the DVD, but the color correction makes this version the first accurate version ever released.
As fantastic as the transfer of the film itself may be, it's the extras that really make Barrel's Last House such an amazing DVD release. The commentary track from Deep Red Magazine editor Chas. Balun and director/star Roger Watkins is hilarious and provides much insight into the making of the film. Of particular interest are Watkins' remarks regarding alternate scenes that were shot but not used. Easter egg hunters will find a riotous clip of the commentary being filmed, as well as Watkins, Jim Van Bebber and company hanging out.
In addition to the commentary, there is an excellent 60-minute radio interview with Watkins and actor Ken Fisher from 1973 where they discuss a range of topics including the merits of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left. The DVD also contains 19 minutes of outtakes from the film, which due to Barrel's painstaking transfer work look better than the film itself! Fans will want to view the scene of Terry Hawkins checking his mailbox repeatedly, and keep your animal rights friends away from a clip of a stubborn cat literally thrown into the frame by an irate woman on the set. In addition to the outtakes, there's an insanely scarce 20-second TV ad for Last House featuring a clip from Watkins' obscure second horror film, Shadows of the Mind. And for completests, there's alternate opening and closing credits of the film under the title The Fun House. Fans will notice that during the closing credits of the Fun House version, the voiceover states that the snuff filmmakers "are now serving a 999-year sentence," which is omitted from most other versions of the film.
The DVD also contains four well-done short films Watkins made over the course of his pre-Last House career. These films are presented silent, with commentary over them. At one point, he gets bored and allows Balun to explain the images presented, making the shorts as interesting to Balun fans as to Watkins fans. Yet another extra is entitled 5-23-88, which is raw footage from a documentary a friend of Watkins' began shooting in 1988. The clips show Watkins trying to get a call through to someone in the adult film industry for a film he was to possibly work on, presumably the uncommon shot on video feature Decadence. Watkins also gives a tour of his home and hunts for the house and grave of his idol, the crippled writer Carson McCullers.
The
best and most unique extra on the DVD is a mind-numbing feature called At Home
With Terry Hawkins, which is composed of 75 minutes of telephone conversations
Watkins taped while shooting the film. Topics include the day-to-day struggle
to secure locations, car trouble, talking women into taking their clothes off,
and trying to keep a guy named Palmer from pressing assault charges against
Watkins. It's no wonder the main villain in Last House is named Palmer!
But the disc doesn't stop there. A TV appearance of Watkins and Paul Jensen on the Joe Franklin Show from 1975 is featured, where fans will salivate over the pristine Last House stills Mr. Franklin is holding up. This footage looks much better than most Franklin clips available on other recent releases, such as the badly damaged Franklin clips on Ramones: We're Outta Here! There's also a gallery of lively photos, accompanied by Watkins quotes from the Ultra Violent interview. Another extra is a fun Necrophagia music video directed by Jim Van Bebber, presumably included because it contains clips from the film. To top it all off, the DVD menus are fully animated.
As if the extras on the disc itself were not enough, a 36-page booklet of excerpts from the Headpress article make the two-disc set an even more desirable package. Even after having personally met and interviewed Watkins, I learned a great deal from the DVD's extras. Barrel Entertainment is a rare DVD company that not only achieves technical excellence, but also takes a fan-based approach to include types of supplemental material few other companies would dare take on. Now everyone with a DVD player can spend some time "at home with Terry Hawkins." No genre fan with taste will pass up this once unthinkable opportunity.