Through his alliance with scriptwriters Gianfranco Clerici and Vincenzo Mannino, director Ruggero Deodato made CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979), which not only turned out to be the pinnacle of his career, but one of the most harrowing pictures to emerge out of Italy. Evidently serving as a quickie follow-up to that towering achievement, more nadirs of human behaviour are plumbed in HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK (1980) than in any number of Italian sleaze epics, but then seasoned director Deodato was arguably many times more talented than most of his contemporaries. Capitalizing on the presence of star David A. Hess, who essentially reprised his ruthless - and now-legendary - character from Wes Craven’s seminal, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972), Clerici and Mannino partially based their story on the real-life Circeo Massacre along with some minor – and ingenious – variations on Craven’s film. Once again breaking boundaries and shattering taboos, this was another unique adventure for Deodato that truly stands out in a career full of interesting pictures, which gets the definitive treatment via Severin Films’ outstanding and fully-loaded 4KUHD / BD.
Hess stars as Alex, who we first see driving on the streets of New York City, and even before the credits roll, he rapes and kills a woman (Karoline Mardeck) after running her off the road. In stark contrast to this brutal act of ultraviolence, Riz Ortolani’s gentle compositions (further amplified by Diana Corsini’s angelic vocals) well convey what to expect for the next ninety-or-so minutes. Next, we see Alex at work (he’s supposed to be an auto mechanic, but his place of work more closely resembles a parking garage) while preparing to go out for the night with his often bullied but good friend, Ricky (Giovanni Lombardo Radice). As they ready themselves for a “boogie,” a young well-to-do couple (Annie Belle [a.k.a. Annie Brilland] and Christian Borromeo) pull into the garage with unexpected car trouble, but after Ricky promptly fixes their car, Alex insinuates his way into having a party with the couple and their friends at a luxurious “cottage” in New Jersey, where they soon discover in no uncertain terms Alex’s true sociopathic nature.
As expected from such a connoisseur of the form as Deodato, violence is frequent, brutal, and often bloody in this straightforward and briskly-paced film. Filmed on a very tight budget using money saved from CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, much of HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK’s longevity must be given to Hess’ central performance as the boorish Alex. Realizing these rich “bastards” are actually taking he and Ricky for a “ride,” he quickly turns the tables on his snobbish hosts unleashing a torrent of derogatory one-liners (“You heard me, twat!”) and sexually tormenting his female captors whenever the whim takes him, which is often. Even though the two other men do attempt to fight back, Hess stops at nothing to put them in their place, and even quips sardonically, “Street-fighting you don’t learn watching Savalas on TV!” which possibly refers to his time in the military; in one scene brief scene, his dog tags are clearly visible shimmering against his bright yellow waistcoat. After this, all of the women (which also includes Lorraine De Selle and French model Marie Claude Joseph) must continually fend-off Alex’s and Ricky’s aggressive sexual overtures. As played by Belle – one of the sexiest actors seen in Eurotrash movies - the ballsy Lisa character firmly establishes herself with plenty of dignity even as Alex continually paws at her and whose warped idea of a spontaneous seduction is nothing more than all-out rape. Knowing precisely what buttons to push, Lisa boldly attempts to give Alex what he wants, but if this irredeemable scumbag can’t take it by force (“She likes it! Go take a shower!”), he’s simply not interested. When Cindy (Brigitte Petronio), the next door neighbour turns up at the door ready to party, she is instead stripped and repeatedly slashed with Alex’s straight razor, a truly stomach-churning scene which also pushes everyone over the edge. Considering all of HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK’s nihilism and the sheer vileness of Hess’ character, the film’s final revelation is a solid surprise, which ultimately stresses the never-ending chain reaction of violence.
Even though the film was successfully prosecuted for obscenity and labeled a Video Nasty in the UK, HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK was easily available on U.S. and Canadian home video thanks to Vestron Video’s 1985 Beta and VHS videocassettes (“Anything could happen… Everything did!”). Eventually making its way to Laserdisc, CED, DVD and Blu-ray the world over with varying degrees of picture quality and special features, all of these different editions paled in comparison to Severin Films’ 3-disc limited edition released in 2021. Featuring a new 4K restoration scanned from the original camera negative, Severin’s work herein really brings out the best in Sergio D’Offizi’s impressive photography with solid black levels and sharp detail. Both English and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono tracks are included, minus any subtitle options for the latter. Although the Italian track is an interesting listen, which includes more music interspersed throughout the film (a detriment, really), the English track is the only way to go with David Hess dubbing his own voice alongside such veterans as Frank Von Kuegelgen and Pat Starke doing the duties for Lombardo Radice and De Selle, respectively. Incidentally, both Von Kuegelgen and Starke provided voice talent for Lombardo Radice and De Selle a year later in Umberto Lenzi’s cannibal caper, MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY (1981).
Extras on this 3-disc set begin with a new – and very entertaining - audio commentary with Cinema Arcana’s Bruce Holecheck and Ultra Violent’s Art Ettinger who pull out all the stops and attempt to cover every last detail of this Italian exploitation classic, which Mr. Ettinger regards as one of the “all-time greatest films.” They discuss everything from the film’s strong opening, the “Cannibal Holocaust font” reused here for the opening and closing credits, the Italian location doubling for New Jersey, David Hess’ lengthy singing and songwriting career, which even included writing music for Elvis Presley, their time spent with Hess at various horror conventions, the “genre-bender” aspects of the film, it’s various rip-offs, it’s limited use of music, the history of Vestron Video, Deodato’s career and filmography, and of course, all of the cast members. Whether you’re a fan of the film or just Eurocult films in general, you definitely don’t want to miss this comprehensive and engaging listen.
Given the film’s long history on home video, Severin still managed to assemble several new extra features beginning The Man Who Loved Women (31m40s), an excellent on-camera interview with director Deodato. In it, he covers the film’s aforementioned and “most incredible” genesis, which also included shooting the NYC scenes during the making of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, how they got Hess (“A hulking man and a good actor.”) to appear in the film and how it was originally based on an old idea about the infamous Circeo Massacre, an incident which spawned other – and inferior – films like Renato Savino’s THE CHILDREN OF VIOLENT ROME (1976). Lastly, he talks about his initial hatred of the film (“It terrorized me!”), Hess’s charisma, which carries the entire film, and lots of details about the mostly game cast in what was a lightning-fast shoot. Director of photography Sergio D’Offizi also discusses this film’s back-to-back filming with CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (“We didn’t even have the time to think!”) in Lights On (12m03s) as well as the film’s location, and the challenges of lighting the picture. Despite the many challenges involved with the project, actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice enjoyed the “theatrical nature of the film,” which he discusses at length in the very frank interview Like a Prairie Dog (37m08s). Having studied ballet, he decided to focus on acting after injuring his back and landed this role almost by accident through his agent at the time, Maria Spaziano (“If there is any money in it, I’ll do it!”). Although being his film debut, he clicked immediately with most of the cast including Hess who was “larger than life,” while at the same time developing a very close relationship with Lorraine De Selle (“She was very cultivated.”). He also talks about his many personal hardships including his drug problems and the film’s proposed sequel, which never materialized. Originally appearing on Shriek Show’s 2002 DVD, the late David A. Hess is interviewed in External Beauty & Internal Ugliness (22m53s), a re-edited archival piece wherein he discusses his time making the film and his many fond memories of his fellow cast members including his then wife Karoline Mardeck. Last of all, the ubiquitous Massimo Antonello Geleng goes over his costume and production design work in House Sweet House (26m12s) and admits to many “embarrassing mistakes,” the challenges of working so quickly, and the film’s similarities to Larry Peerce’s THE INCIDENT (1967). Finishing off the extras are an extensive gallery (6m34s) of posters, stills, lobby cards and video artwork (including several autographed samples), most of which were provided by Art Ettinger who also adds a nice little surprise at the end. The film’s misspelled English-language trailer is also included (2m41s), and for those willing to look for it, there is also a nice Easter Egg. And if that wasn’t enough, disc two includes Felipe M. Guerra’s feature-length documentary DEODATO HOLOCAUST (71m33s), which covers the director’s entire career with a solid focus on many of his earlier, and less-talked about films, while disc three is a soundtrack CD of Riz Ortolani’s complete score (6 tracks, 25m31s).
It’s difficult to imagine Severin’s Blu-ray looking any better than it already did, but in 2025, they decided to issue a truly stunning 2-disc limited edition UHD, complete with HDR10 Dolby Vision, which reveals even more detail alongside some striking colour reproduction without ever destroying the film’s natural film grain. It’s a beautiful upgrade and well worth adding to your collection. Once again, DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono tracks are included in both English and Italian, but this time around, properly translated English subtitles for the latter, which is a nice bonus. As expected, the UHD features the Bruce Holecheck and Art Ettinger audio commentary and the film’s trailer, while the Blu-ray includes the five aforementioned on-camera interviews and the extensive press material gallery. Unlike the 3-disc edition, the feature-length documentary and soundtrack CD have not been included, so some viewers may want to hold on to their 3-disc set.
While Ruggero Deodato’s CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST is impossible to live down or even live up to, HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK is a prime example of lean, mean filmmaking at its best, which, thanks to Severin Films’ pristine restoration and amazing supplements, proves that it can definitely stand on its own merits alongside his magmun opus. Highly recommended!
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