Top 10 original titles for popular horror movies
By Jeremy Dick
Credit: Hallmark Releasing
7. Night of Vengeance (The Last House on the Left)
Back in the early 1970s, Sean S. Cunningham and Wes Craven were hired to shoot a horror movie for under $90,000. With Cunningham producing and Craven writing and directing, what they eventually came up with was the cult classic horror movie The Last House on the Left. But that was far from its original title as it took the pair quite a while to arrive at it.
Although the original draft was much more violent than the final product, the story was basically the same. A group of vicious thugs rape and kill a pair of young women, so one of their parents exacts bloody, brutal revenge. Under this concept, Craven had titled the story Night of Vengeance. It’s accurate, but there’s just something… unimaginative about it.
Before arriving on its final title, this movie underwent several other bizarre name changes. This includes the hilarious Sex Crime of the Century, which wouldn’t entirely be inaccurate. Krug and Company was also considered, a version of which is on the DVD release. Because some of the posters featured a men’s restroom, the working title The Men’s Room was even laid upon the film at one point.
Eventually, however, someone came up with The Last House on the Left — it’s unclear exactly who. While vague and not directly addressing the film’s subject material, the title is oddly catchy and creepy. Under this name, the film found great success, and helped launch Wes Craven into a long career in the horror genre.