Fearnet.com has a new interview with Riki Landhome, who plays Sadie in The Last House on the Left.
What appealed to you about this tale of sadism?
I like horror movies. I’ve just come around to them in the last four years because I was scared of them when I was younger. This was by far the best one I had ever read. The script was so different and profoundly creepy. I thought my character was creepy for no apparent reason, which chilled me to the core. I feel they don’t really justify why the three of us do what we do, and I love that. In every other horror movie it’s, “Oh, he has a mean mom.” In this, it doesn’t matter why, they just did it!
I read Wes Craven said this version isn’t as brutal as its predecessor.
I think it’s as brutal, but just in different ways. It’s more realistic. I feel that what goes on with the two main characters is something that could happen. The original probably goes further than what people could believe could happen to them. Not all the violence from the original takes place in this one, but I think that makes it scarier.
Not to sound sexist but we expect this deplorable violence from men. Were you shocked that Sadie takes joy in terrorizing these girls too?
Oh, that’s why I loved it. I was shocked! It’s always guys. It’s always the men behind the masks. That’s the reason I loved this part. I don’t remember the last time the woman was right there with the men. Sadie is equally as bad as them; she might even be worse as soullessness goes. They don’t tone her down at all. She’s not wimpy or subservient. She’s as brutal as everyone else.
Is it difficult getting into that headspace to perform these despicable acts repeatedly for take after take?
At first it wasn’t, but being on location with Martha [MacIsaac] and Sara [Paxton], and growing to love the cast and crew so much, it became more difficult as the shoot went on. That was surprising to me, but in the beginning I was able to detach myself more. By the time we were doing the scenes in the woods, it was upsetting. All night, it would be, “Let’s go have a glass of wine and not talk about it.”
It was. The week where all the bad stuff in the woods happens, the producers saw it was taking a toll on us. They sent Martha, Sara, and I to the spa on the weekend. They got us massages and everything. We were also bruised and cut up everywhere.
Having spoken to Garret Dillahunt, who plays Krug, and now you, it seems they went against typecast for the killers because you both come off incredibly friendly.
That is the genius of director Dennis Iliadis and Wes. I know it was by design that when you first meet us, we are not the people you would expect to be cast in these parts. In the typical horror movie, you go to the gas station and it’s the crazy guy with one tooth. He has yellow eyes and you know he did it. You look at Garret, Aaron [Paul] and I, and it’s like, “Ummm, no.” That’s what makes it creepier. When we first take the girls, people who haven’t seen the original aren’t going to believe what happens because we don’t look like we’d do that. It was inspired casting, especially with Garret because he’s so gentle and calm.
How was it filming that final confrontation with Monica Potter, who plays Mari’s mother Emma?
It wasn’t just with her. The confrontation has changed from the original. That was the most technical part of the movie. Actually dying was slow, technical, and shot over many days. That part was a learning experience and we had an amazing medic on set that had seen every sort of death in real life. He was advising us, “If someone gets shot or stabbed like this, this is what they do.” We were just trying to make it accurate.
To read the rest of it, go to Fearnet.com.