Movie Reviews - Forums of Filth - Directors - Movie Pages - Eyeballs - Gravemusic - Anna Falchi - Links
Having problems viewing images on our site? Click here!

House By The Edge Of The Park Ruggero Deodato 1984 Italy (filmed in New York)

You can tell by the title and David Hess's presence that this is a blatant rip-off of Last House On The Left.  You could say that but the only thing is it's not completely true.  The film has Hess raping a young girl in her car.  Later we meet Hess's wacky but generally vulnerable companion Ricky played by veteran John Morghen.  A couple stop by Hess's place on their way to a party because of car troubles, supposedly.  Hess is a mechanic or has something to do with cars.  After Ricky not Hess fixes the couples car they invite Hess and Morghen to a party.

Once there Morghen makes a general fool out of himself and Hess takes over the place.  Everything goes awry though as Hess kills Morghen, which he regrets.  The suburbanites kill Hess in an over acted and over long finale.  Memorable moments include Hess slicing up a nubile virgin blonde with a straight razor, lots of soft-core sex and gratuitous nudity, Hess pisses on a guy in a pool along with beating a guys head against a table.  You feel sorry for Morghen's character but you also laugh at him especially when he boogies the night away.

Gotta love the tame lullaby theme song and swinging seventies music.  It turns out the whole party was a set up to get Hess there and kill him for raping the girl at the beginning.  I was rooting for Hess and Morghen throughout the whole film.  Those suburbanites are cold faced jerks they're characters were so unlikable it wasn't funny.  Truly though Hess was the baddie here.  Generally lame film without gore and it can't hold a candle to Last House.  It could be called a rip-off due to the less than obvious title, Hess's menacing character, the revenge plan and Hess taking the girls necklace he raped at the beginning which were all similar idea's in LHOTL.

Rating: 2 Skulls

Richard J.Taylor