It's only a remake...it's only a remake

In August of 2006 , Rogue Pictures closed a deal to remake The Last House on the Left, Wes Craven's dirty, vicious, and excellent 1972 debut feature. A low-budget shocker, Last House was a hit in theaters and a mainstay of video-nasty rental for years. Though it has had no official sequel or remake, its success inspired a raft of copycats. "Last House" has become genre shorthand, at first for gritty exploitation, then eventually for any film purporting to shock. Many are flicks from Italian genre heavyweights reclassified for American release. A primer:

1972: Mario Bava's seminal Bay of Blood re-released in U.S. as Last House on the Left, Part II
1977: Last House on Dead End Street, Roger Michael Watkins
1977: Hitchhike (U.S. video title Hitchhike: Last House on the Left) Pasquale Festa Campanile, stars Last House on the Left's chief heavy (and soundtrack composer/singer) David Hess
1978: The Seventh Woman (U.S. title The Last House on the Beach), Franco Prosperi
1979: Sensitività (U.S. title The Last House Near the Lake) Enzo G. Castellari
1980: The House on the Edge of the Park, Ruggero Deodato, starring David Hess
2002: Last House on Hell Street (aka Beyond the Last House on the Left) Robin Garrels & John Specht
2006: Chaos (went into production as House in the Middle of Nowhere), David DeFalco
2006: The Forest Outside (U.S. title Last House in the Woods) Gabriele Albanesi

As with Hess's acting career, the films taper off, then pick up again in recent years as a new generation of would-be directorial extremists look up the classics to crib from them.

Director is Dennis Iliadis, writer is Adam Alleca; the remake takes place under the watchful eyes of Craven and Sean S. Cunningham, who produced the original. Production will begin sometime in 2008.