The advertising campaign for "Last House on the Left" was one of the greatest stratergies ever attempted by a film company. This is probably why the film became so infamous throughout America. It wasn't exactly a box office smash, but it had a lot of success. The main, and instantly recognisible poster tag-line, "To avoid fainting, keep repeating: it's only a movie....only a movie....only a movie," has since been recycled for other horror movies. Indeed, "Last House on the Left" caused so much controversey with it's realistic atmosphere, that the infamous tag-line was pretty appropriate. The Hallmark Releasing Company had something of a nack for providing winning ad campaigns, especially in the field of horror movies.  
Before the golden splatter age of "Last House on the Left", Hallmark had produced a film called "Mark of the Devil". To advertise this film, Hallmark had introduced 'vomit bags' to audiences who went to see the film, to express that the movie included a lot of gore. This inspired tactic proved successful enough, and "Mark of the Devil" was shown to sell-out audiences. Several posters claimed that the horror movie was one of the most shocking ever released. Not surprisingly, "Last House" was far more shocking than that.

The advertising pretty much made "Last House on the Left" the unexpected success that it was. Most of this consisted of quickly made posters, that promised Craven's movie to be more than just a simple horror flick.

However, the theatrical release was nothing like the inspired advertising campaign. It was first shown in American theatres during July 1972, as a 16mm print going by the title "Krug and Company". The film only ran for one week in the US under this name, as well as once briefly in the UK. "Sex Crime of the Century", which was the original name of the screenplay, was the title of the film during a brief playing in upstate New York in the summer of 1972. Also in upstate New York, the movie went by the name "The Men's Room". The title "Night of Vengeance" remained the shooting name, but the filming had long been completed. The reason for this plethora of different release names was in the interest of test-marketing. The company in charge of the film's release were seeing how well the movie did at the box office under various titles. As you may have guessed, the film did the best under the name "Last House on the Left", which was first played under this handle on the 23rd August 1972. The film did much much better at the box office, after the change in names. Indeed, the current title sounds much more like a horror movie, and with it's increasing success came the controversey. And what a pain that was. 
Controversey has stopped "Last House on the Left" from ever being shown in the UK ever since 1972. But then again, it's pretty clear why the film was so controversial. Not many horror movies can boast violence and scenes of terror on a truly realistic level. This is, after all, a testament to Wes Craven's ability as a director.

The film quickly became so infamous in 1972, and many US figures wanted the film banned. Rape and strong ultra-violence wasn't very recognised content for any type of movie in that era. Because of the film's unexpected attention, many of the American public flocked to see "Last House on the Left". Most of them hated it, and they disagreed strongly with it's portrayl of sex crimes and revenge. The small majority (like you reading this page) realised the film's true potential. It was a distinctive eye-opener to the crimes that go on in the world, and those kind of crimes were becoming a harsh reality in America. Before the days of legendary thriller "Psycho", horror movies involved killers of a very unrealistic variety, like aliens or vampires. "Psycho" put a very realistic face on horror, and "Last House" has furthered this trend.   
The original theatrical cut was 91 minutes. But after Craven decided to shorten the more brutal scenes, it was quite a bit shorter. The shorter cut was distributed to some theatres, but caused complaints, since people wanted to see the full and uncut version. It seems, that no matter what the film maker's did, people were always complaining about "Last House on the Left".
Quick Jump - Page One: The Inspiration / Origins of Script Page Two: Cast / Crew and Filming   Page Four: Cult Success and Full Credits