Last House on the Beach (1978)

aka La Settima Donna

Movie Info

Following the 1969 Manson Family murders, lots of movie-makers (especially of the grindhouse/drive-in variety) jumped on the marketable notion that threats to one’s domestic security can come from anywhere and at any time. So it is with this one. A group of high school girls and their chaperone/drama teacher Christina (Florinda Balkan) have occupied an isolated, school-owned seaside retreat house to polish up their staging of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Meanwhile, a trio of bank robbers drive down the oceanfront road looking for a place to hide out for a few days. There’s a handsome one, an idiot and a wacko. Two barge into the front entrance, wielding weapons, while the third checks out the basement.

A rather incongruous scene develops as the pair of thugs interrupts a full dress rehearsal. Among other things, the animal-head costumes deprive us of the reactions of a few of the girls.

Meanwhile, the housemaid, who is engaged in ironing elsewhere in the house, spies what’s happening and tries to make an escape. The thug who entered through the basement blocks her path, slaps her around, pushes her down on the table and smashes her face with the steam iron.

Back upstairs, one of the girl’s asks to go to the bathroom. Once there, she promptly strips down to change her clothes. (Thank you) The wacko steps into the bathroom seizes the naked girl and stuffs a washcloth in her mouth. But before he can do the deed, she grabs a sharp-handled comb and plunges it into his thigh.

(The GIMP Manual's chapter on Home Invasion is very clear in its warnings about certain rooms of the house where sharp objects may be available to the victim, such as the kitchen, garage and bathroom).

His buddies take the wounded warrior into Christina’s room, where they discover a white habit; yes, the teacher is a nun in civilian clothing. Just for fun, they take all the hostages into one room where they rip Christina’s clothes off and make the girls watch while they force her to put on her uniform. Later, they get Christina to take them to a storage room and unlock a booze cabinet. As she does so, they begin to grope her, force her down on a table, and menace her with a knife. What happens next is not shown, but some type of sexual assault is implied.

That night, the guys drag a lovely, dark-haired girl out of her bed for some action. Christina hears the commotion, and upon investigation, finds them stripping the girl. When Christina intervenes, she’s slapped around and forced to watch as two of them bend the girl over a couch and take turns reaming her from behind. The scene is shot in slo-mo, and the look of agony on the girl’s face is pretty hot as she stares pleadingly at her teacher. IMO this is the best scene in the movie.

Next day, two of the girls hatch a plan. The cute blond runs in one direction, while the comb-wielding brunette tries to make it to the beach swim to a nearby shore. But they are both caught, and the brunette is now in bigger trouble.

She is made to sit down on the couch with the stupid one and the wounded one in the room. The injured man has a large stick that he’s been using as a walking cane. The first one sticks his hands up her skirt rips off her panties and then puts a puny-looking tape gag on her mouth. Then the guy with the walking stick approaches her. The next shot is a pussy-cam view as he slips the stick under her skirt and then rams it home. We see the girl’s baby blues open wide. Later, Christina comes upon the aftermath of the assault on the now-dead girl.

The rest of the movie involves the moral dilemma Christina faces and her attempts to expunge these fiends from the house.

Movie minuses: There’s no bondage and the two gags employed are flimsy. Plenty of violations of the GIMP manual. In between the good scenes, there is a lot of dialogue, which is tedious if you don't know the language. But other reviews have said that the English dubbed version is pretty bad. Subtitles might have highlighted nasty talk, assuming there is any. I didn't like the cop-out on the rape of Florinda Balkan’s character.

Movie pluses: Even without bondage, there is a pervasive mean-spirited tone to this flick. A nun is slapped, assaulted, forced into a humiliating stripping scene and compelled to witness the rape of a pupil. Teenage girls are groped, threatened, brutalized and murdered. The acting is good, most of the girls are attractive, and the movie itself is a cut above drive-in fare in its production values. Tension permeates the proceedings.

As for Florinda Balkan, I will say that she looks pretty damn fine for a nun. (The nuns in my Catholic school never looked this good). And she gives a very strong and gritty performance.