House on the Edge of the Park (1984)

I ended up with this film in a 9 film Horrorlicious collection. This is one of the scariest films in the pack.What is scarier than being held hostage by a couple of wacko's and being raped and tortured by them never knowing when your life or someone you care about life will end? This film is kinda that situation.David Hess plays the creep Alex which is a villain much like his character in The Last House on the Left (1972). This film, House on the Edge of the Park, is a film that is similar to "Last House (1972). Both are scary films.7.5/10

Let's be honest here: you didn't come to this for an elaborate mise-en-scene (such a horrible word) that reveals an allegory on the displacement of modern man. Hell, you don't even know what a mise-en-scene is. You don't care. It sounds like something you would like to punch a hole through. Do you like balloons or ribbons? No, you're a guy who likes guy stuff: dynamite, karate, trucks, kickass movies.No, you came to this because you know David Hess is going to hole up in a fancy cottage house holding hostage a host of snotty New York characters who think they are too good to boogie down with disco. Because he's going to be wearing a lemon yellow jacket and something close to an afro and he's going to oogle and leer at women in that perverse way between rapist uncle and protective big brother. Giovanni Radice is going to be his imbecilic sidekick. Girls are going to get undressed whether they want to or not, a razor is going to be put in use.So by all accounts this must be the brutal, intense, grueling experience other viewers describe. Deodato is involved and that used to mean something back in the day. But it's not, not really, and I'm not just preening with aloof jadedness here.No, it's glorious exploitation as the term used to have meaning. Hysterical, cheesy, dirty, but so enjoyable. There are no politics here, just one long sexual fantasy about forceful sex and degradation that can be enjoyed equally well from both ends. David Hess exudes raw animal magnetism and gets to have his way, that is until the mandatory moral denouement. The ladies get to enjoy being had or play along for the game. That is all.Now the guerrilla shots from inside a moving car at the beginning of the film that capture night rolling down on New York, these are pure film poetry to my mind. As far as a film New York off the beaten track is concerned, I rate these highly and next to Jean Rollin's cold cityscapes from Lost in New York.

This is another one of the video nasties that was banned in Britain. They eventually allowed it in, but only after almost 12 minutes was cut.It certainly started off with a bang. Alex (David Hess) stops a car and rapes the driver. It establishes just what a dirtbag he is.Later, he and a friend manage to worm their way into a party. I could not figure out who would want to invite him. All this ties together at the end, but it was very confusing when it happened.Alex is just a twisted psychopath and takes over the gathering to do his nasty deed. It was more of Alex preening and boasting than any actual action. There was a rape and brutality to a young girl, but mostly it was just aggressive behavior that never really led anywhere.The ending was great and left you with a sense of justice being done.

This got re-released in 1985 in my area when the first wave of "X" rated horror films (like Re-Animator and Day Of The Dead) swept the theaters.However, unlike some drek (I'm looking at you "Mutilator.") THIS was worth finding.It's a thriller with horror scenes in it. And David Hess just EATS the scenery with his role. I always enjoy watching him play his style of utter creep. It made the film.The payoff at the end was the only wrong point. They knew all along he was the one who raped that one guy's sister? So they set this up? Allowed the humiliation and pain? Just to get him in the end? Bullcaca! Just have them kill him and his pet geek. No need for the rape angle at all.The pet geek by the way was Giovanni Lombardo "John Morghen" Radice. The same guy that got his head drilled in "Gates Of Hell" and got his wanger lopped in "Cannibal Ferox/Make Them Die Slowly." He has a knack for scene making himself.And Lorraine De Selle, another CF/MTDS veteran was also there. She's better than you think.But Hess owned the film. Thumbs up to him.