Movies For Metalheads: The Last House on the Left, Slime City Grindhouse Collection, Animalada, Cravings

One of the classic underground horror movies of the early 1970s, the debut offering by Wes Craven, 'The Last House on the Left,' was grim, graphic and unrelenting. But it hasn't aged all that well and, like a lot of '70s cinema, now seems dated and a little hokey. The bad guys are goofball greasers, the hillbilly score doesn't fit the narrative and the booby traps are a little cartoonish.

So it made sense that Craven greenlit and-co-produced a remake 37 years later. Directed by Dennis Iliadis ('Hardcore,' 'I Liza Kai Oloi Oi Alloi'), the new version is updated with believable characters, excellent cinematography and state-of-the-art special effects. While there are some plot diversions, the basic story remains the same. A group of convicts running from the law bumps into two teenage girls, killing one, then raping and assaulting the other and leaving her for dead.

Disgusted by their own barbarism, they flee the scene and, through a sinister twist of fate, wind up at the house of the parents whose daughter they defiled. At first, the two hosts are unaware of their guests' identities or their daughter's condition, but after they find out the ugly truth, the hunters become the hunted.

While the new 'Last House on the Left' (Universal) is definitely gripping and brutal, it's not as savage or gory as the original. The legendary disembowelment and dismemberment-by-fellatio scenes have been removed, as has the clip of a thug humiliating his victim into peeing her pants. Most of the killings are done with knives and other conventional weaponry, and there's a totally new 'Hollywood' element that may disappoint fans of the first 'Last House.' Still, the psychological core of the film -- which reveals how animalistic civilized people can become when that which they love and cherish is destroyed -- remains intact.

'Slime City' Grindhouse Collection (Shock-o-Rama) -- The 1988 debut by indie splatter director Greg Lamberson, 'Slime City' was a low-budget schlockfest cut from the bowels of movies like 'Toxic Avenger' and 'Street Trash.' The almost nonexistent plot involves a dude who rents a New York City apartment that was once owned by an evil alchemist. Through the years, surviving members of the alchemist's cult have resurrected the souls of the dead by having new tenants consume a mind-altering beverage that turns their flesh to goo. So, of course, it isn't long before the new guy is chugging away at the bastardly brew and watching his face melt before his eyes. The only way to repair the damage, he discovers, is to kill victim after victim. The double-DVD 'Slime City Grindhouse Collection' also features two of Lamberson's other films, a throwaway vampire story called 'Undying Love' and 'Naked Fear,' a compelling psychological thriller about an agoraphobic man who takes in a psychotic roommate who targets the neighborhood lowlifes. Finally, the collection contains the eight-minute short 'Johnny Gruesome,' which was based on a book Lamberson wrote in 2008. The story revolves around a heavy metal rebel who gets murdered by a druggie and returns from the grave to seek revenge against all posers. Too bad this one's not longer.

'Animalada' (Synapse) -- This bizarre Argentinean black comedy is about a wealthy man named Alberto (Carlo Roffe) with a farm house, a wife he's grown weary of, two adult children he cares little for and a sheep named Fanny, for which he develops an unnatural interest. Yes, he has sex with the animal, but Fanny isn't just there for sheep thrills. Alberto falls deeply in love with her, and when he catches a farmhand taking advantage of the lady, he grows enraged and attacks the man with a pitchfork. Complicating matters, his wife sees him commit murder, but when she reports him to the police no one believes her, and she winds up in an institution. This leaves Alberto with more time to explore his relationship with Fanny -- until his kids start to meddle, and then more people begin to die. 'Animalada' is offbeat, funny, disturbing and even a little sad, exposing the depths to which a lonely man can fall and the extent to which he'll to go cover the cloven hoof tracks.

'Cravings' (Lionsgate) -- Originally released in the U.K. as 'Daddy's Girl,' 'Cravings' is a psychological horror film that usurps traditional elements of supernatural terror and inverts them like a Satanic cross. The main characters are Nina (Jaime Winstone), a destructive and suicidal girl who believes she's a vampire, and her doctor, Steven (Richard Harrington), a dedicated, but obsessive psychiatrist whose wife recently committed suicide. While Nina is deeply disturbed, the poor doc is the real hard luck case. Eager to cure Nina of her lust for blood, he somehow makes all the wrong moves and winds up jeopardizing everything he stands for. 'Cravings' is dark and disturbing, but it's not really a vampire flick. There are no pointy fangs, wooden stakes or garlic cloves. Instead, director DJ Evans draws on elements of supernatural mythology to create a very realistic and sad portrait of mental illness and skewed ethics.