THE FUN HOUSE

Terry Hawkins is released from prison after serving a few months for minor drug-related offenses. Once out, he decides to make some money by making pornographic films, but when his collaborators try to exclude him from the project, the original idea turns into something very different. To get revenge, the young director tortures his enemies until he kills them in the most gruesome ways, filming everything to make snuff movies. Shot in the early '70s but released only a few years later, "The Last House on Dead End Street" is one of the first—if not the first—films to address the theme of snuff movies. Roger Watkins, hiding behind the pseudonym Victor Janos, creates a simply insane and rambling work that has become a true cult in the underground horror scene thanks to the numerous rumors that have circulated over the years: the film's unavailability fueled the idea that the violence depicted was real and not fiction. The DVD release in 2000 definitively dispelled any doubt but left the aura of mystery that contributed to enhancing the fame of this unhealthy gem, especially in the '80s. Watkins directed the film in a drug-altered mental state, which he procured using most of the (ridiculous) budget: out of the $3,000 available, only $800 was actually invested in the film's production. Not surprisingly, one gets the feeling of watching a hallucinatory, perverse, and acid trip; the perfect film adaptation of a disturbed and completely detached mental state. The original footage was cut by 30 minutes, along with various editing changes, clearly noticeable during viewing. The plot, which might remind one of "The Life And Death Of A Porno Gang" (M. Djordjevic, 2009), is nothing more than a pretext to paint with disarming cruelty the portrait of a rich but terribly bored society that compensates for its existential malaise by participating in "exciting" parties based on torture and humiliation. On the other hand, there is the economic necessity that pushes a young director—who is not quite right in the head—to commit any kind of atrocity to make a profit. The film is set almost entirely inside a building in New York. The fragmented and disjointed screenplay is poorly supported by an approximate and almost improvised direction; to this is added the poor acting performance of the various actors, struggling with insignificant lines and uncontrollable, delirious laughter. Despite the disastrous technical aspects, the film is far from being forgotten. A first, rather disorienting and confusing part, which mainly serves to introduce and prepare the viewer for the final massacre, is followed by a brutal and bloody conclusion. Indeed, the madness of the protagonist and his gang takes shape in the final segments, in a very sick and surreal atmosphere where lights, masks, and a desolate setting serve as the backdrop to what appears to be a theater of horrors: dismemberments, mutilations, and sexual abuses follow in a brutal manner, without sparing any macabre detail to the camera's eye. Completing the unsettling picture is a hypnotic tune that accompanies the most shocking sequences ("It's just a movie! It's just a movie!"), reinforcing the climate of total alienation that is felt from the first to the last second. Far ahead of its time, "The Last House on Dead End Street" shocks not so much for the visual violence—well-staged thanks to a sufficient dose of homemade gore—but above all for the innovative idea on which it is based, in relation to a cinematic context still fertile, which was just beginning to open the door to controversial and controversial themes. While the film struggles due to a very poor technical/stylistic approach, on the other hand it stands out for the brilliant insights of the director and the visionary spontaneity with which certain contents, definitely strong for the time, are represented. An interesting and dreamlike viewing experience to be rediscovered; a mandatory and fundamental stop for every exploitation fan.