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| Film critics and followers of Ingmar Bergman's cinematic efforts, will no doubt have come across The Virgin Spring (aka Jungfrukallan (1960). It is a little known fact that Last House on the Left was based upon this classic drama, and writer/director Wes Craven used the story as a dramatic template for his own work. However, Craven's film is pure horror and exploitation fare, while Bergman's movie is a deadly serious drama set within the 14th century. When writing his screenplay, Craven found it easy to transport the film's key issues and structure into 1970s America, albeit with his own generation's issues in mind too. The similarities between the two films are obvious, but each of them are extremely different in tone. Here, these similarities shall be examined, in order to determine the real influences behind Last House. The Story Set in beautiful 14th century Sweden, 'The Virgin Spring' is a sombre, powerful fable of peasant parents whose daughter (Birgitta Pettersson), a young virgin, is brutally raped and murdered by swineherds after her half sister has invoked a pagan curse. By a bizarre twist of fate, the murderers ask for food and shelter from the dead girl's parents (Max Von Sydow & Birgitta Valberg), who discovering the truth about their erstwhile lodgers, exact a chilling revenge. In Last House on the Left, Craven used this same plotline without expecting anyone to notice the similarity. In his film, the daughter takes the form of character Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassel) who is very much a virgin. The "swineherds" of the piece are obviously Krug Stillo (David Hess) and his posse. Since the criminals' getaway car breaks down, they ask for shelter at the murdered girls' home, and meet with the retribution of her parents, played by Gaylord St. James and Eleanor Shaw. The "half sister" character of The Virgin Spring is evidently Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham) in Craven's film. While the two pictures follow the same basic structure, Bergman's piece was more haunting and mysterious, while Craven's flick was assaultive and graphic. The Virgin Spring offers a running commentary on religion, and in the conclusion there is hope for the characters. Craven's film leaves nothing holy, and no sign of hope. |
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| It is definitely worth mentioning that Craven wasn't the only one to draw on existing material. For The Virgin Spring, Bergman took the basis of a 14th century medieval legend, called Tore's Daughter in Vange, which had appeared in ballad form. Using this as a starting point, screenwriter Ulla Isaksson wrote the Bergman film which went on to win Academy Awards. So, in this respect, Craven felt that he could use the story, considering it's existence before Bergman's release. The two pictures are very different though, and Last House has a greater sense of the violence, and an inclusion of gore. Many have since stated that the transition of the plot from 14th century Sweden to 1970s America is seamless - a statement which shows the true power of the source material. The message projected in Bergman's drama, is the same one that Craven utilises - the fact that anybody can be brought down to primitive and murderous instincts. The revenging parents in both examples, display this message with uneasy accuracy, and it was arguably more suited to the 1970s that it was in 1960, when The Virgin Spring opened. |
| Technical Details "The Virgin Spring" (1960) aka "Jungfrukallan" (Sweden) Directed by Ingmar Bergman Screenplay by Ulla Isaksson Max von Sydow............Töre Birgitta Valberg.............Märeta Gunnel Lindblom..............Ingeri Birgitta Pettersson...........Karin Axel Düberg..............skinny shepherd Tor Isedal.............mute shepherd Ove Porath.............shepherd boy Allan Edwal..............beggar Axel Slangus.............bridge keeper Gudrun Brost.............Frida Oscar Ljung...............Simon Tor Borong, Leif Forstenberg.....farmhands |
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