Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman made the Virgin Spring in 1960, and based it nearly scene for scene from a poem titled "Tore's Daughter in Vange." Of course, he added an extra character for drama and plot enhancing purposes, but it was worked in quite well. The film tales place in the Middle Ages and revolves around two main characters, a servant who is pregnant out of wedlock and an innocent but lazy girl named Karin. One day, on the way to church, Karin and the servant are met by three herdsmen, three brothers; two older, one a child. Karin is savagely raped and murdered in the woods, while the servant witnesses the whole thing, and the herdsmen take her clothes on the road to exchange for a place to stay. Little do they know, they end up taking that cloak to the home of Karin's family, and when her parents find out what happened, all hell breaks loose, and her father kills them all, including the child. After the servant leads the parents to Karin's body, the father decides that a church should be built on the spot where she was murdered to make up for the wrong that he and the swineherds have done.

Not even a decade later, Wes Craven directed the first Last House film, and did for the Virgin Spring everything that a good remake should, except credit its original for the ideas. The original Last House took the Virgin Spring, made it time appropriate, put a spin on its theme, but kept it true to its roots all the same. Wes Craven transformed the swineherds into serial rapists and murderers who just escaped from prison. The younger brother became the drug-addicted son of Krug, and Sadie was added to the group as a badass female character. Mari Collingwood replaces Karin, and she and a friend are captured, raped and murdered on their way to a concert. This time, when the team shows up at the Collingwood home, Mari's mother too takes a hand in getting justice for her daughter, instead of the father only. The concepts and the characters still hold true in this film, except the murders that the parents commit are much more ruthless and guiltless, and without consequence.

Only a few months ago, a remake of the 1972 Last House on the Left was released, and whether or not it keeps the story intact, changing it up to make it an original remake is debatable. The film attempts to do something completely new with the concepts illustrated in both the original Last House and the Virgin Spring, removing a lot of what made those films utterly ruthless and turning them into something more inspirational. In this version, the killers are given a motive, and Krug's son is made into a somewhat good character who is willing to help the victims of his father and company's crime. While a murder still takes place in the woods, and the Collingwoods still get their revenge, it is a much more emotional feat than it was in the original. The characters are all disturbed, and the parents seem reluctant to give the gang who raped their daughter what they deserve. The film overall ends up being much more about faith, family, love and strength than it really is about murder and guiltless vengeance.

Over the past 800 years, the tale that began as one of great sorrow and guilt has been transformed into one of ruthless murder and vengeance, and it now is a story of the overcoming of obstacles through collaboration and strength. What began as a foreign prestige film by one of the best foreign directors of all time was turned into one of the most successful mainstream films among exploitation film fans. And now, the most recent installation is a must-see for current mainstream horror fans who want to feel good when they leave the theater. It is hard to say whether or not this film will ever be adapted again, but it is no doubt that its timeless themes of murder and vengeance will be present in the horror and exploitation genres for years to come.