We've already covered several versions of the story Last House on the Left star Marc Sheffler has told on multiple occasions, in which he took Sandra Peabody, held her over a cliff or ledge, and threatened to drop or throw her over as a way of getting her to produce the level of anxiety required for the scene in which Mari tries to get Junior to release her.
We've looked at the Celluloid Crime of the Century version, the harsher commentary track version and the brief allusion to the incident in Szulkin (pp75–76) and Sheffler's 2020 statement on what happened. Today, we'll consider two further tellings by Sheffler, one from a 2018 interview for Without Your Head, and one from a 2022 interview with Hollywood Wade. ¹ ²
Looking at the earlier interview first, the host says he's been asked by someone to ask Sheffler whether the cliff story is true. Sheffler immediately answers, "Yes, that is true," and the host laughs. Sheffler then explains the setup of the scene and continues:
"Wes shoots my single, which is me alone in the frame [...] and sets up to do the reverse, which is her [Sandra] and she's not rising to the level of tension [...] she's not pushing me hard enough, she's not scared."
He then continues with the story we've heard before, about him getting the idea to tell Wes Craven to watch for a signal and to start filming when he gets it. Sheffler states once again that he grabbed her and put her "[a] little over the cliff" and then:
"And she got scared, you know, anybody would be scared at that."
If Sheffler believes anybody would be scared at that, it implies that this wasn't a minor drop, and indeed he gives an estimate of the distance in the next part of the quote:
"If you don't do this then I'm [...] gonna just push you. I'm crazy, I'm on drugs, I'm crazy, I'm gonna push you. And, um, you know, it's not that far, it's 10, 15 feet, 20 feet, you probably won't die, but you might get cracked up."
The drug reference is odd; perhaps it was intended as a reference to Junior's heroin addiction. As we've previously seen, a fall from even the lowest figure given – ten feet – is sufficient to activate trauma protocols, ³ and 15–20 feet can easily lead to broken bones. "You probably won't die" is not reassuring wording, either.
At this point, the host laughs and Sheffler continues, presenting his version of what Sandra said in response to his threat:
"She's, 'No no please don't no no please no no please don't come on you're cr- don't don't.'"
Those are not the words of a woman who is slightly nervous; they are those of a woman who is genuinely fearful for her safety. Sheffler then finishes by saying what we've heard before: that he picks her up and gives Craven the signal, then the director starts the take that is in the film. The host laughs – again – and says, "It all worked out for the best, right?" which feels somewhat insensitive.
The 2022 Hollywood Wade interview is a little different in tone. At 35:43, Sheffler talks about Sandra's walk-off and her fear of David Hess. Notably, he calls Sandra "sweet", "nice", "kind [and] harmless" which is considerably more sympathetic and less grumpy than his "She was a pain in the ass" on the actors' DVD commentary track.
Then, at 37:04, the host brings up the cliff threat story, albeit slightly indirectly, to which Sheffler responds:
"Yeah, that's got all blown out of proportion."
It might be asked whether the person who had earlier claimed he'd told Sandra she'd be "fucking mangled" might just perhaps have been doing some of that "blow[ing] out of proportion" himself, but still. The host says he figured, but would like Sheffler's take.
Sheffler says, as he did in the 2020 statement, that it was late and the light was going. Again he estimates the height as:
"I dunno 10 feet, something, 20 feet, not high enough that anyone could get really hurt if they fell, but it looked like that, right, and it was all like sand on the bottom."
Once again: that is high enough to get "really hurt", and while sand might have a slight cushioning effect it certainly wouldn't make the drop harmless. Anyway, Sheffler goes through the part about telling Craven about his signal, then says:
"So I looked at her [Sandra] and I said, 'Look, I could push you over here' or something along those lines. And she got scared, right, and she said, 'You wouldn't do that' and I said, 'Well, I might, if you don't get this right. We gotta get going.'"
This is a milder version than 2017's above, and much milder than the commentary track version. "You wouldn't do that" is also a very different reported response from the panicky-sounding one from the interview five years earlier.
Sheffler goes through the usual comment about how Sandra was worked up, how he gave Craven the signal, and how the scene in the film is "that disturbing 'cause that's when she's the most upset". However, he adds an extra portion that wasn't in the earlier interview:
"[T]hrough no fault of her own, it was just experience—"
It's worth noting here that Sheffler himself was only in his early twenties at the time. He goes on:
"—she wasn't getting upset, it wasn't reading real, right? [...] So in a safe manner, without really meaning her any actual harm... I need to say that these days, because I didn't—it's not me, but I just wanna make that very clear, I helped another actor achieve a much better performance."
There's never been any serious suggestion that Sheffler actually intended to hurt Sandra. But lack of malice alone does not make an action right. Certainly today, whether such an action is unethical is generally defined by what the victim credibly believes, not simply the private intentions of the person making the threat.
The host jokes, rather insensitively, "She just needed a little push", then Sheffler closes by acknowledging that:
"I think I've said that the most PC I've ever said that."
Certainly in the five versions of this particular Last House anecdote I've come across (six if you count the brief allusion in Szulkin) this 2022 version is the one where Sheffler spends the most time reassuring his audience that Sandra was not in real danger, and telling them that he was doing it to help her acting.
The core of the story – consistent across two decades – always includes some form of threat and Sandra being frightened by it. The story also always features some justification or explanation from Sheffler for what he did, based around the pressure of the clock and/or the need for Sandra to act convincingly scared and anxious for the scene.
What I have so far not found is any public expression of regret or apology to Sandra for how he scared her. Given the number of times Marc Sheffler has told this story, and given his willingness in more recent years to call Sandra "sweet" and "kind", that absence of something beyond mere acknowledgement of her fear is particularly disappointing.
Here, too, Sandra Peabody deserves better.
¹ "Marc Sheffler of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left interview". withoutyourhead, 4 Apr 2018. Timestamp 24:34
² "Marc Sheffler sits down w/ Hollywood Wade to discuss the infamous Horror film Last house on the Left", Hollywood Wade | Crime & Entertainment, 4 Sep 2022. Timestamp 37:04
³ Nau C, Leiblein M, Verboket RD, Hörauf JA, Sturm R, Marzi I, Störmann P. Falls from Great Heights: Risk to Sustain Severe Thoracic and Pelvic Injuries Increases with Height of the Fall. J Clin Med. 2021 May 25;10(11):2307. doi: 10.3390/jcm10112307. PMID: 34070640; PMCID: PMC8199183.
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