Promotional material capitalized on the film's graphic content and divisive reception, featuring the tagline: "To avoid fainting, keep repeating 'It's only a movie' ..." advertising campaign. Under the "Last House"... title, the film proved to be a hit. Anecdotes as to where the advertising campaign originated vary somewhat. Cunningham claims that marketing specialist who devised the "Last House..." title was watching a cut of the film with his wife, who continually covered her eyes, prompting him to tell her that it was "only a movie". Other origins have been suggested, however, as it had been used twice before: first for H.G. Lewis's 1964 splatter film "Color Me Blood Red" and then for William Castle's "Strait-Jacket" the following year. The tagline was so successful that it was re-purposed by many of Hallmark's other releases, such as "Don't Look in the Basement" and "Don't Open the Window", and other exploitation films, sometimes with a unique spin. The film's title was also imitated, as in the cases of "Last House on Dead End Street" and "The House on the Edge of the Park", another film starring David Hess; other films, such as the aforementioned "Twitch of the Death Nerve", were later marketed as unofficial sequels with such titles as "Last House Part II".