Loosely based on Craven's Last House On The Left, this foray into depravity is also a much better film. I should've known what i was getting into when i found out the director, Ruggero Deodato, was the same guy who directed the infamous Cannibal Holocaust. Just like that film, he sought out to make something that would shock and disgust people. And he got what he wanted because this film quickly found its way onto the Video Nasties.
What really sells is the atmosphere. In the earlier parts of the film there hasn't even been that much violence but something already feels "off", like a volcano about to erupt. Throughout the film, David Hess gives a spine-chilling performance as Alex, a character i can only describe as sickening. His charming smile and tone heavily contradicts with the acts he commits on-screen. All the other characters lend realistic performances, which increases the fear factor of the film.
Just like Last House, the film presents violence as being an integral part of human behaviour and through the melodic score during some violent scenes (almost similar to the acoustic guitar used during the violent scenes of Last house), somewhat presents violence as being peaceful in a sick twisted way, creating discomfort which could have been the director's intent.
While there are many great things about House On The Edge Of The Park, the excitement of the film starts to wear of on me after the first hour or so. Watching Alex forcefully undress another lady every 20 minutes is just repetitive and boring and extremely unnecessary and consequently takes me out of the film a bit. It also harms the film because it makes it looks like it's trying too hard to shock, making it look more desperate than clever. The film could've been better with a tighter pacing and atleast 10 minutes removed from its runtime. My biggest gripe however, is with the twist ending. You mean to tell me that they all allowed themselves to go through 1 hour+ of torture before deciding to kill him? Sure, he was wilder than anticipated but there was like 5 of them and only 1 of him (his friend was completely useless). The twist just came off as unnecessary and ruined what would have been a good third act, because now the characters spent the rest of the runtime explaining the twist.
For most of its runtime it is good and is almost close to being a clever twist on the rape and revenge subgenre.
Loosely based on Craven's Last House On The Left, this foray into depravity is also a much better film. I should've known what i was getting into when i found out the director, Ruggero Deodato, was the same guy who directed the infamous Cannibal Holocaust. Just like that film, he sought out to make something that would shock and disgust people. And he got what he wanted because this film quickly found its way onto the Video Nasties.
What really sells is the atmosphere. In the earlier parts of the film there hasn't even been that much violence but something already feels "off", like a volcano about to erupt. Throughout the film, David Hess gives a spine-chilling performance as Alex, a character i can only describe as sickening. His charming smile and tone heavily contradicts with the acts he commits on-screen. All the other characters lend realistic performances, which increases the fear factor of the film.
Just like Last House, the film presents violence as being an integral part of human behaviour and through the melodic score during some violent scenes (almost similar to the acoustic guitar used during the violent scenes of Last house), somewhat presents violence as being peaceful in a sick twisted way, creating discomfort which could have been the director's intent.
While there are many great things about House On The Edge Of The Park, the excitement of the film starts to wear of on me after the first hour or so. Watching Alex forcefully undress another lady every 20 minutes is just repetitive and boring and extremely unnecessary and consequently takes me out of the film a bit. It also harms the film because it makes it looks like it's trying too hard to shock, making it look more desperate than clever. The film could've been better with a tighter pacing and atleast 10 minutes removed from its runtime. My biggest gripe however, is with the twist ending. You mean to tell me that they all allowed themselves to go through 1 hour+ of torture before deciding to kill him? Sure, he was wilder than anticipated but there was like 5 of them and only 1 of him (his friend was completely useless). The twist just came off as unnecessary and ruined what would have been a good third act, because now the characters spent the rest of the runtime explaining the twist.
For most of its runtime it is good and is almost close to being a clever twist on the rape and revenge subgenre.
