The Last House on the Left at 50: Wes Craven’s shock horror retains its power

David Hess and Jeramie Rain in The Last House on the Left. Photograph: Collection Christophel/Alamy

Here’s the tagline to Wes Craven’s controversial 1972 horror movie The Last House on the Left: “To avoid fainting, keep repeating, ‘It’s only a movie … Only a movie … Only a movie …”

And here’s the epigraph: “The events you are about to witness are true. Names and locations have been changed to protect those individuals still living.”