La casa sperduta nel parco

Italian Horror maestros have always been revered, regardless of whether their films are really any good and by whom or what they've been, umm...influenced by. This pic is sort of a carbon copy of a few other flicks, given a discreet roll of the fluffy dice to change the story around here and there. However it was all enough to satisfy the new bloodthirsty and thrillseeking generation of filmgoers in the 80s and thus delivered the goods, earned its sleeper reputation for cult classic status in the next 30 years or so and got promptly banned on the UK Nasties List, sealing the whole deal. We come to worship at the alter, in as much as what we're actually expecting from a film like 'La casa sperduta nel parco' in terms of quality, enjoyment and originality. The film has dated, and badly. But Hess's disco stud is incredibly good value, along with the Dil's 'Class War' thrown in and a few psychological insights that 'may' have been pertinent at the time. A few neon drenched shots of NYC in the retro age are always welcome - a trademark found in Spaghetti Horror of this breed. You're either partial to this genre within a genre or you're not - I had fun with it and so did a whole world of other people. You know who you are.

This film is one of the best made of the video nasties. Alex (David Hess) rapes and strangles a young woman in the back of her car before the credits start to roll. Soon after a young rich couple pull into their garage to see if they can fix their car. They agree but only if they can tag along to their party. After fixing the car Alex and Ricky (John Morghen AKA Giovanni Lombardo Radice) tag along. They spend the best part of the film terrorizing the 5 yuppies at the party. There's gore, torture and rape applenty. Hess is awesome as the crazed rapist and Morghen is equally great as the retard. This film is one you must see. The ending is truly amazing.

David Hess became semi-famous in horror circles for his performance in Wes Craven's overrated 70s relic "Last House on the Left." Untalented Italian directors took notice and decided to repeat formula in several sleazy and downright inept exploitation films such as "Hitch Hike" and this musty, steaming pile of excrement. Here David gets to stretch his acting muscles (no, not really) playing an all around greasy bloke named Alex, who might as well be named Krug 2.0. Alex is having a slow night at the auto shop where he works and decides to spice up his evening by terrorizing a bunch of uptight yuppies at a remote house. He also has a semi-retarded accomplice (Giovanni Lombardo Radice aka John Morghen) who helps him out for awhile before growing a backbone. There's less violence than you might expect, but plenty of tasteless scenarios and nudity provided by sleaze regulars Annie Belle and Lorraine De Selle. The dialogue and plot are incredibly stupid, the acting is terrible and the music is ear-splitting then-trendy disco but behind all the raunch is a twist to the story. A pathetic twist only the most gullible would buy into, but a twist nonetheless.

A psychopathic rapist and his simple-minded companion brutalize a group of wealthy young people. Starring David Hess and Giovanni Lombardo Radice (in his film debut).

Deodato calls this film a "mistake" made only "to satisfy the producers". He says the "screenplay was really poor". So, if you think the movie is a failure, you would be in agreement with its creator. For me, there was little offered beyond a few cute naked women.

Taking place in the disco era with the appropriate music and outfits, this is a truly odd experience. Somehow a Radice striptease comes into play here.. which is, um, interesting to say the least. And then you have people who realize they are going to get tortured, so rather than fight they just accept it...

Luca Palmerini sums up the film as a "listless remake of Last House on the Left. Boring." Of course, it is not a remake, though it was clearly influenced by "Last House" and adding David Hess to the cast only calls that to our attention. Jim Harper calls the plot "paper-thin" and the characters illogical. Harper also believes the film "goes too far" in its treatment of rape. This may be due to the script being written by Gianfranco Clerici, who also wrote "New York Ripper" and "Nazi Love Camp 27", among others.

"The House on the Edge of the Park" has David Hess again playing a psychopathic murderer-this time, he's a New York City mechanic who canoodles his way into a private party alongside his friend, Ricky. At first his interests lie in bedding the women there, but things quickly unravel as his homicidal tendencies come to the fore.

This film is beloved by many fans of Eurosleaze, and for quite obvious reasons. It was Ruggero Deodato's follow-up to "Cannibal Holocaust," and while it's not nearly as interesting, it is just about as shamelessly gratuitous. There is little plot to speak of here, and much of the film's power hinges on Hess's ability to command the space he's in, using both his body and his voice; this is an easy feat for him as he was a natural charismatic, so the film can rest on that laurel alone to some degree.

The set pieces are gawdy and very much of the time period, which lends the film a period-piece feel, and there is a claustrophobic sensibility to the film because of its limited confines; that being said, it is noticeably dated, more so than many films of the '70s are today. The gore, when it hits, is ample and fairly well-designed. There is also plenty of gratuitous nudity, mainly of females, but even a hunky Hess shows the majority of his body during a pointless shower sequence with a female partygoer. The conclusion comes in a fashion that is fairly standard, but it ultimately satisfies.

Overall, "The House on the Edge of the Park" is a prime piece of grim and gruesome torture-horror from a filmmaker whose career has been in the art of violence. It's not nearly as good as some of Deodato's other films, but Hess provides a charismatic, appropriately sleazy villain (ala his turn s Krug in "Last House on the Left"), and there are some well-orchestrated scenes. A minor entry in the grand scheme of things, but a decently-made one, if not dated. 6/10.