----
!! The 1972 film:
* AbilityOverAppearance: Creator/MartinKove was up for the role of Krug, due to his intimidating size. However he opted to play the smaller role of the Deputy, recommending his friend David Hess for the part.
* AmateurCast: The majority of the cast were inexperienced or first-time actors, with the exception of Richard Towers, Eleanor Shaw, and Sandra Peabody who were all soap opera regulars and had prior film roles.
* BannedInChina: The film was banned in the UK, labelled as one of the VideoNasties. It didn't get released uncut there until 2008.
* BreakthroughHit: For Creator/WesCraven.
* CompletelyDifferentTitle:
** Argentina: ''Panic at Midnight''
** Brazil: ''Macabre Birthday''
** Denmark: ''The Night of Horror''
** Japan: ''Fresh Blood Aesthetic''
** Turkey: ''Bloody Rape''
** Germany: ''Brutal World''
* CreatorBacklash: Fred J Lincoln (Weasel) has gone on record to say that he considers this the worst movie he ever did. Sandra Peabody (Mari) and Lucy Graham (Phyllis) also shy completely away from discussing the film in interviews, convention panels, documentaries, or otherwise [[ReclusiveArtist having any fan or public presence]]. Jeramie Rain (Sadie) mentioned at a panel that it was because the filming and subject matter were difficult for them, especially for Peabody.
* DawsonCasting: 23-year-old Sandra Peabody as 17-year-old Mari Collingwood. 20-year-old Lucy Grantham as the similarly-aged Phyllis Stone. Marc Sheffler's birthday is unknown, but it can be pretty hard to take his character, Junior, seriously, as he looks about the same age as his father.
* DeletedScene: A scene of Mari's parents finding her clinging to life long enough to tell them about her attackers was shot but cut from the movie.
* EnforcedMethodActing:
** On the special edition DVD actors commentary track, the actors playing Krug and Weasel claim they terrorized the actresses playing Mari and Phyllis, right down to hinting during the filming of the rape scene that they'd go ahead and actually commit the act if they didn't think the actresses' performances were convincing enough.
** The part where they make Phyllis pee her pants? For real.
* MidDevelopmentGenreShift: The film was originally written as a transgressive pornographic film before Lucy Graham (the actress playing Phyllis) suggested early during production that the story was strong enough to work without the hardcore scenes.
* RealLifeRelative: Creator/WesCraven's son Jonathan Craven cameos as the little boy who gets his balloon popped by Krug's cigar.
* ReferencedBy:
** Wrestling/SamiCallihan and the late Wrestling/HackMeyers were both [[PartsUnknown billed]] from "The Last House on The Left".
** ''Podcast/TheLastPodcastOnTheLeft'' takes their name from the film.
* StillbornFranchise: Vestron tried making a sequel (directed by [[Film/FridayThe13thPartVANewBeginning Danny Steinmann]]) in the 1980s. Ultimately, the proper permission to create a sequel was never secured.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The original script had a scene of Sadie cutting off Phyllis' breasts and eating them, but it was never filmed, as Jeramie Rain refused to perform it.
** Sadie was originally written as a 40-year-old woman, the wife of Krug, and mother of Junior, before 21-year-old Jeramie Rain auditioned. So desperate was the production in finding actors willing to work on the film, she was cast anyway, and the role rewritten accordingly. Rain says she still would have played the original version of the character if necessary.
** Creator/WesCraven originally wanted Mari's father to kill Krug by slicing him multiple times with a scalpel during the climatic fight. Sean Cunningham insisted that the fight be more explosive and voted to have Krug killed with a chainsaw instead.
* WorkingTitle: The film's working titles included ''Night of Vengeance'', ''Krug & Co.'', and ''Sex Crime of the Century''.


!!The 2009 remake:
* ApprovalOfGod: Wes Craven was a producer on this film, having been keen to remake his original with a bigger budget and an expanded story.
* {{Blooper}}: Bruises can be seen on Mari and Paige's legs in the hotel room scene. This was because those scenes were filmed after those in the forest, and the actresses sustained the bruises doing their own stunts.
* ContractualPurity: Invoked. The filmmakers wanted to cast an actress with this - so that no one could find any {{Fanservice}} in the rape scene. Sara Paxton fit the bill, coming from Disney and with a string of family-friendly credits to her name.
* CaliforniaDoubling: The remake was shot in South Africa.
* CreatorBreakdown: As filming went on, performing the scenes where the girls are tormented took a bit of a toll on the actresses' mental health. Heartwarmingly, the producers sent Sara Paxton, Martha [=MacIsaac=] and Riki Lindhome to a spa for the weekend to give them a break.
* DawsonCasting: The teens were played by Sara Paxton (21), [=Martha MacIsaac=] (24) and Spencer Treat Clark (22) as Mari, Paige, and Justin respectively. Given that the former two would have to endure a graphic rape scene and get stripped to their underwear, casting older actresses was arguably necessary. Paige at one point sells beer to a customer and is able to sell cigarettes to Justin, meaning the character is possibly over 21.
* EnforcedMethodActing:
** Garret Dilahunt, Aaron Paul and Riki Lindhome all did gun training to prepare for their roles.
** Sara Paxton took daily swimming lessons to believably portray an experienced swimmer.
* PlayingAgainstType:
** Riki Lindhome from Music/GarfunkelAndOates and ''Another Period'' plays Sadie, Krug's psychotic wife.
** To a lesser extent, Sara Paxton, who had mostly done family friendly comedies and played various airheads and {{Alpha Bitch}}es.
** Also, Creator/TonyGoldwyn, who, despite having a fairly prolific career, was still probably best known as the sleazy jerk who got Creator/PatrickSwayze killed in "Ghost." Here, he gets to play a hero, albeit a dark one.
* PlayingWithCharacterType: Creator/AaronPaul is playing another [[Series/BreakingBad lowlife criminal]] but instead of having a heart of gold, he's a violent psychopath and completely rotten to the core.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Early drafts of the script had added supernatural elements, but they opted to stick closer to the spirit of the original.
** Creator/EliRoth was the first choice to direct, but he turned it down to focus on ''Film/HostelII''. Dennis Iliandis was chosen based on the strength of his ShortFilm ''Hardcore''.
** The film was going to be released DirectToVideo, but positive reactions from test screenings led to a theatrical release. It grossed a respectable $45 million.
** The role of the foul-mouthed detective murdered by Sadie and Francis in the opening was originally intended as a RemakeCameo for David Hess (the original Krug), but he proved unavailable.
** Creator/BrieLarson auditioned for Mari.
* WriterRevolt: The director [[spoiler: spared Mari and Justin, and went for a more hopeful ending]], wanting to distance himself from TorturePorn that was happening at the time.
----