Last House on Dead End Street

DVD Barrel Entertainment
1973, 78 minutes

1:33 fullscreen; Dolby Digital Mono

review by Shade Rupe

One of the most shrouded-in-mystery films in all of cultdom becomes flesh through the incredible team at Barrel Entertainment and their compatriots. For years and years Last House on Dead End Street was just one big bundle of assumptions. There were a couple of Sun Video releases, very rare and mostly never seen in original, and numerous bootlegs, and all sorts of different myths about running time. One of the more common misnomers was that the film's creators originated the project at NYU film school. Well, after a couple year's hard work, we have quite a few answers to the no-longer-mystery of Last House on Dead End Street.
 
After noticing that bootleg copies of the film were selling on the internet for over $100, director Roger Watkins' (credited as Victor Janos) partner Suzanne put a posting up on a newsgroup asking about the film. A few fevered emails later and Mr. Watkins was in touch with film fans, and then Barrel Entertainment. Headpress publisher David Kerekes was also on the scene, and met up with Watkins in upstate New York, and using the accumumlated material for the 36-page booklet that comes with Barrel's two-disc set, and longer versions and more information compiled in Headpress 23.

We now know that Victor Janos is indeed Roger Watkins, and also plays the lead role of Terry Hawkins (pseudonymously played by "Steven Morrison'). Terry Hawkins is one of the baddest ass dudes ever in film. Can you imagine this guy in The Shining? In the film, Terry has just been released from prison for marijuana possession. For some loose reasons, he's decided to "pay back' some people he worked with in the porn industry (not much of an industry in 1972) and use them in "some weird films' he's come up with. He recruits two young hippiesque chicks who "need some money,' his filmmaker friend Ken, and begins his reign of terror against those who must pay.

Terry obviously has some trouble keeping friends. When he goes to visit Ken the cinematographer the door is held shut in his face. Terry wedges his way in however and soothes his "friend' and lures him into his latest film crew. Their "set' is an abandoned buildig and they lure a blind man into a role, and kill him while wearing bizarre masks. Ken films this action and it's shown to Steve and Jim, two porn producers who have been looking for something different. So far Jim's only been able to make tepid porn-lite with his own wife merely undressing and bathing, and a little girl-on-girl touchy feely. Meanwhile, downstairs at a bizarre party, Steve's wife has covered her face with black make-up and is whipped by a hunchback, accompanied by laughter from the partygoers.

Steve and Jim make a very bad move though. As usual for independent distributors, they've stolen Terry's movie, without paying for it. And much to filmmakers delight the world over, Terry decides he's gonna make them pay for it Ü the hard way. Terry's gonna make a new movie this time, and Steve and Jim are going to be two of the film's stars, in addition to a "Suzy' we've never seen before. Terry and his pals will be much more than director, cinematographer and producers. They're also judge, jury and most gloriously, executioners.

The "snuff' film has caused excitement from moralists to perverts, hoping to get that one more news story, that one more reason to condemn, that one more thrill. Roger Watkins really wanted to give it to us with this film. Give it all to us. His camera never strays from the subject of Terry Hawkins' films. There's no shying away. It's all here. Right here. Screamingly, gorily presented as entertainment. There's no morality. There's just action. There are no character arcs. As soon as we meet Terry, and hear his voiceover, we've heard all we need to know this man. His added outburst of "I'm directing this fucking moooovieeeee!" just enunciates what we already know: he's a fucking hardcore sleazebag and he'll go down in flames to make the world pay for its crimes against him.

Barrel have quickly gained a reputation as cause celebre any time they pick up a new film. Their release of Nekromantik was chock full overflowing with goodies, and their Last House on Dead End Street release performs far above and beyond the call of duty. This two-disc set includes the only known existing print of the film (generously provided by the Fant-Asia Festival's Mitch Davis), sans the 91 seconds discovered on the out-of-print Sun Video tape. These precious few moments have been reinserted by Barrel's staff, and although the video artifacting is present, there are no complaints that they've chosen to weave this material into this already hard-to-find film.

Other extras include running audio commentary with Deep Red editor Chas. Balun and Roger Watkins, 20 minute of rare outtakes from a work print of the film, the original trailer (actually bits of footage from Watkins' next film "Shadows of the Mind" strung together for this trailer), a segment of The Joe Franklin Show from 1973 with Watkins and LHODES' Blind Man Paul Jensen being interviewed (although Jensen is asked more questions), alternate beginning and end credits as "The Fun House," an hour-long radio interview with Watkins and actor Ken Fisher from 1973, a still gallery with cool pics of Watkins with horror film celebrities Christopher Lee and Freddie Francis, and a Jim Van Bebber, directed Necrophagia music video, which is a tribute of sorts to the film (neither Van Bebber nor Necrophagia had anything to do with the original film).

And all that's on the first DVD alone! The second disc includes four early Regular 8mm films by Watkins with running commentary on each. The sound stripes for the films had all but disintegrated and there music rights problems which halted adding sound. Still, also cool to see back-of-the-closet extras like these included in a DVD package. One more film, "Amputee Grand Prix," was also to be included but was removed for legal reasons. An incredible extra here is the inclusion of over 70 minutes of phone calls Watkins taped during the making of the film. The sound is a bit muffled, considering the source, but it's wild to be so "included" in the behind-the-scenes making of a pervert film like this one. Barrel has also included a "documentary" of sorts of Roger Watkins called "05-23-88," about a half hour of footage of Watkins dealing with this sort of nerdy filmmaker. There's also an easter egg video from the commentary recording session with Roger Watkins, Jim Van Bebber, Sherri Rickman, "Last House on the Left" biographer David Szulkin, and Barrel's staff having a blast.

To top off the whole deluxe package, Headpress editor David Kerekes has put together a 36-page booklet with stills and interviews with the film's creators.

The only thing that would make this package better is if someone has stepped forward with the original prints of Cuckoo Clocks from Hell and the materials for The Fun House and Last House on Dead End Street, so that Barrel would have more to choose from when putting the package together. As it is, the once great mystery is now available to seen, discussed, devoured and enjoyed. Bon appetit!
 

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