Franco Prosperi is best known for pioneering Mondo cinema with such films as Mondo Cane and Africa addio with partner Gualtiero Jacopetti.  As the seventies progressed Prosperi gradually delved into other areas of cinema away from the Mondo film.  In 1972 Wes Craven shocked audiences with his controversial film Last House on the Left.  Due to that film’s success producers decided to test the exploitation waters with an obvious attempt at cashing in on Craven’s film with the film La Settima donna, titled Last House on the Beach in the US.  And who better to direct than Franco Prosperi?

The film opens with a bank robbery and several casualties.  The trio of bandits flees the scene in search of a hiding place.  Armed they break into an ocean front villa to hold up for a while so they can fix their ailing automobile.  The house of course acts as a boarding house appropriately occupied by five schoolgirls and their nun teacher.  In true EuroSleaze fashion one by one the men terrorize, rape and murder the women while they fight for their lives to survive the ordeal.

Last House on the Beach is a rarely seen gem due to being so hard to find in North America over the years and definitely deserves its fair share of accolades.  The film titled akin to Last House on the Left is less like the Craven film but more like the 1976 sleazefest Naked Massacre in which a guy terrorizes a boarding house of hot nurses (someone please release this on DVD pronto!).  In Last House on the Beach we get a ton of debauchery right from the get go.  As soon as the men enter the house, lead by Aldo (Ray Lovelock, Almost Human, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) they bash the maid’s head in with an iron.  After finding out the house mother, Sister Cristina (Florinda Bolkan, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin) is a nun they force her to disrobe and wear her habit, with plenty of religious mockery.  A girl is even punished with a walking stick, Cannibal Holocaust style!  However, it’s only a matter of time before enough is enough and Sister Cristina discards her religious beliefs and fights back.

Exploitation cinephiles are in for a treat with this one as it assembles all of the obligatory subgenres: rape revenge, nunsploitation, and home invasion.  Franco Prosperi’s Last House on the Beach definitely lives up to the film it’s named after.  The wait for an uncut North American release of this film is over.  Mark this one down as another must have DVD from Severin Films.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:
- Featurette - Theatrical Trailers Severin Films presents Last House on the Beach uncut for the first time in North America in its correct 2.35:1 anamorphic aspect ratio.  ‘Holy Beast vs. The Evil Beasts’ is a 28 minute featurette with actor Ray Lovelock.  This is a great interview where he discusses his acting career as well as his experiences on set.  He points out his music career and that he performed a song for the film called “Place for the Landing”.  Rounding out the supplements are the Italian and German theatrical trailers for the film.  While the extras on this release are sparse, it is well worth your money for the movie alone.
RATING:
VIDEO: 2.35:1 / 16:9
AUDIO: Dolby Digital Mono
DVD: Severin Films
MOVIE: "Last House on the Beach "