La Maison au fond du parc

I've actually been searching for this film for ages. They sure won't sell it in the UK, so the best place is the internet. Alas, no joy. Without using a credit card (I'm not old enough to have one), it seemed like this notorious video nasty was never going to be added to my collection.

Then, on a trip to Paris, I wander into a video store, and what do you know? There are two copies of it, tucked away in a box half pushed under the bottom shelf. And it was in English too. I mean, do we put that down to fate, or what?

I'd already watched Last House on the Left, and so was familiar with David Hess, and the character he portrayed (who, let's face it, was just a re-named Krug). Even so, I wasn't prepared for the graphic nature of this film. Last House on the Left actually turned out to be a lot less graphic than I'd expected, and I'd even got the uncut version. Since both films fall into the same genre, I was expecting this to be somewhat similar in terms of content. Oh man, was that a mistake....

The most repugnant moments in this film are unmatched, and I suspect they will only be surpassed by Cannibal Holocaust/Cannibal Ferox. Acting was somewhat dire to begin with, but did seem to pick up as the film went on. Also, the numerous scenes of rape were never distasteful in their own right. Last House on the Left kept flicking back and forth between a rape scene and a comedy scene, which is distasteful in the worst sense. Yet in this, the rape was never glamourised, it was never presented as anything other than rape, and it was never short of gruelling (or graphic).

Plot? Well, there is one, but it doesn't truly unfold until the end. I must confess that, for someone who successfully predicted the ending of Se7en, I never saw the plot twist coming. But I agree with a lot of the comments on here. The characters at the party were in the large part, very unlikeable, and I ended up hoping Alex would murder them all, which I don't think was the desired effect.

Still, if this is your cup of tea, then you want to make getting this film a priority. It's only going to become and and more rare as time gets on. And they don't make them like this anymore...

Caution advised: Content is extreme.

7/10 - For all its faults, it's very powerful stuff. I lent it to three people in the first week I purchased it.

Perhaps one of the most infamous violence-exploitation films ever made, and for good reason!

Slick rapist and his simple-minded buddy get invited to a snobbish get-together, where they quickly take over the house.

Disturbingly dark, oddly erotic, and subtly directed, Deodato's House on the Edge of the Park is an unforgettable tale of lust and violence. While the violence of this film is extreme, Deodato is careful not to let any of the characters become uninteresting. Even as the story is a somewhat convoluted, the occurrences on screen between the villains and their victims keep the audience well on edge. Also of note is the haunting music of Riz Ortolani, the song 'Do It To Me Once More' being especially appropriate for the film.

The cast is fairly good, the best is undoubtedly David Hess. Hess is no stranger to playing sleazy B villains, as he brings such fierceness to every character.

If you're seeking a sleazy exploitation film, or just a strong guilty pleasure, House on the Edge of the Park may just work! Definitely not for all (or even most) tastes.

** 1/2 out of ****

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.

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 is interesting sleaze in a lot of ways, mainly because it's one of those movies that looks like nothing more than cheap, hateful sex trash when there are underlying ideas (even though I will not dare call this an intellectual film by any means). One thing I would like to say is that it is true that some of the things going on here can be viewed as romantic if you view it in a very unconventional way. One of the "rape" scenes definitely seems more like a rough, consensual sex game rather than a brutal, totally forced rape. At the same time, a lot of this can really be viewed more as about a guy (David A. Hess as Alex) who has had some serious female trouble at one point and is so terrified of a woman he loves leaving him that he responds animalistically with hateful, misogynistic acts of rape and abuse so that he can get close to all the women he likes in the only way he knows could work for him, no matter how cruel and damaging it is to anyone else. His companion Ricky is obviously someone who is mentally slow and hated by society, finding friendship only in scum like Alex, who he looks up to like a big brother/mentor type. He is shown to not know any better for the most part, but we know there is good in him when he not only can't bring himself to violate a woman, but he is also the one who tries to stop the terror from continuing. This leads to a twist ending that I thought was actually surprisingly clever for this type of film. This one's not quite as good as "The Last House on the Left" if you're going to compare movies with mean David A. Hess characters, but, despite similarities, this film stands up fairly well on its own, in my opinion.