If it's called a "horror" film, doesn't it make sense to give the audience plenty of "horror" for their money? Ruggero Deodato, the director of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and CUT AND RUN, certainly thinks so, and that's why THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK is such a damn fine pic.
Vocalist Tina Corsini's rendering of Riz Ortalani's "Sweetly" opens this grim chiller and its placement in the film is a masterstroke. After thug Alex (David Hess) rapes a woman in her car, we follow him and fellow thug Ricky (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) to a party at a house on the edge (or thereabouts) of a park. It is here that the film's tense, sexually-charged drama unfolds.
Deodato, a director of great skill and intelligence, conducts the tension like a maestro as Alex and Ricky upset their hosts and force several confrontations that end in assault and rape.
HOUSE depicts a microscopic class clash and strips all players bare until all that remains is animalism.
The film turns the throttle right up on the psychological violence while keeping the blood and guts to a natural, realistic level.
Hess is totally believable as Alex, as is Radice, Alex's marginally retarded offsider, who questions his loyalty to Hess when the situation threatens to ignite.
Climax raises questions that can not be adequately answered, but Deodato wraps everything up so swiftly you hardly have time to complain.
This is tense, rugged, uncompromising horror.
Bless the talent of Ruggero Deodato, a director who truly delivers the goods with a basket of style.
Vocalist Tina Corsini's rendering of Riz Ortalani's "Sweetly" opens this grim chiller and its placement in the film is a masterstroke. After thug Alex (David Hess) rapes a woman in her car, we follow him and fellow thug Ricky (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) to a party at a house on the edge (or thereabouts) of a park. It is here that the film's tense, sexually-charged drama unfolds.
Deodato, a director of great skill and intelligence, conducts the tension like a maestro as Alex and Ricky upset their hosts and force several confrontations that end in assault and rape.
HOUSE depicts a microscopic class clash and strips all players bare until all that remains is animalism.
The film turns the throttle right up on the psychological violence while keeping the blood and guts to a natural, realistic level.
Hess is totally believable as Alex, as is Radice, Alex's marginally retarded offsider, who questions his loyalty to Hess when the situation threatens to ignite.
Climax raises questions that can not be adequately answered, but Deodato wraps everything up so swiftly you hardly have time to complain.
This is tense, rugged, uncompromising horror.
Bless the talent of Ruggero Deodato, a director who truly delivers the goods with a basket of style.