Tom Servo
12-15-2003, 03:50 PM
This Italian film (originally called La Casa speduta nel parco) is about a young mechanic named Alex (David Hess) who is a little unbalanced. The movie opens up by showing him chasing down a fellow motorist, cutting her off, raping her, and killing her. The opening to the film has no lead in at all and you are thrust unknowingly into the movie as if you had been watching it for 15 minutes. It is a very unique and refreshing way to open up a movie.
Now, we switch over to Alex at his mechanics shop finishing up and getting ready for a night on the town. As he just finishes getting ready another car pulls in and a young couple asks if he could fix their car quickly. Alex’s friend Ricky (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) fixes the car the car for the young couple as Alex manipulates the two travelers into taking him and Ricky to the “party”. The group joins up with the party and everyone seems to be having a good time. That is until Alex suspects the group of five are taking advantage of his friend Ricky (who is a little slow). The party really starts for Alex as he pulls a razor blade and starts to have some fun of his own. What follows are hours of terror as Alex and Ricky have their way with the women and beat up the men. Alex is by far the more aggressive of the two and takes control early and doesn’t let up on the helpless group. The movie continues on in this way (almost a continuing circle) until the end where the movie throws in a plot twist.
After seeing The Last House on the Left and The House on the Edge of the Park I have to say that if I saw David Hess walking down the street I would get to the other side. He pulls of the psychopathic sex maniac so well in both films it almost comes off as being natural. His performance really decided what type of film this would be. If it were a weak actor I could easily see the film as becoming mediocre and somewhat boring. He brings life to the character that makes the whole film seem to come alive. Alex has a tough love relationship with his friend Ricky. It is clear that Ricky looks up to him and Alex feeds off the artificial power. He acts rough with Ricky, but it is easy to see that he genuinely cared about him. He looked after him and made sure he wasn’t left behind. When I look at this film I think it is easy to say that the characters made this film. The setting was unchanged through the whole film so the actors really had to step it up to keep the movie fresh using their characters. The plot was basic and I think the “twist” at the end of the film was unneeded and seemed trite. I liked the flow that the film had it seemed be well balanced in the way it sped up and slowed down. It was done in a very gradual way and I was very pleased. The movie was very graphic and definitely not for everyone. If sex crazed maniacs aren’t your thing, then don’t see this film. If you’ve seen The Last House on the Left and like it this film is more of the same and is deserves a look.
The DVD I have is a horror classics disc that is about $5 and gives 4 classic horror films on DVD. That being said the extras are…nonexistent! I’m not too disappointed by this because it gave me many horror films for a small amount of money. The audio of the film is a little uneven and if you live in an area where you need to keep the sound at a certain level, be prepared to keep the remote handy to adjust the volume. If you have free range on the volume I suggest you turn the volume up so you can hear it all. The video for the film is typical of a low budget 1980’s film. It is grainy and washed out, but if you watch a lot of horror films it is nothing out of the ordinary. I would always like a clearer picture, but I am fine with a decent looking copy of an already older low budget film. Like I said before the extras don’t exist, but for $5 the disc is a great deal and I suggest picking up every volume of this great set.
Breakdown
Story: 8 / 10
Audio: 2 / 5
Video: 3 / 5
DVD: 1 / 5
Total: 5.6 / 10
Now, we switch over to Alex at his mechanics shop finishing up and getting ready for a night on the town. As he just finishes getting ready another car pulls in and a young couple asks if he could fix their car quickly. Alex’s friend Ricky (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) fixes the car the car for the young couple as Alex manipulates the two travelers into taking him and Ricky to the “party”. The group joins up with the party and everyone seems to be having a good time. That is until Alex suspects the group of five are taking advantage of his friend Ricky (who is a little slow). The party really starts for Alex as he pulls a razor blade and starts to have some fun of his own. What follows are hours of terror as Alex and Ricky have their way with the women and beat up the men. Alex is by far the more aggressive of the two and takes control early and doesn’t let up on the helpless group. The movie continues on in this way (almost a continuing circle) until the end where the movie throws in a plot twist.
After seeing The Last House on the Left and The House on the Edge of the Park I have to say that if I saw David Hess walking down the street I would get to the other side. He pulls of the psychopathic sex maniac so well in both films it almost comes off as being natural. His performance really decided what type of film this would be. If it were a weak actor I could easily see the film as becoming mediocre and somewhat boring. He brings life to the character that makes the whole film seem to come alive. Alex has a tough love relationship with his friend Ricky. It is clear that Ricky looks up to him and Alex feeds off the artificial power. He acts rough with Ricky, but it is easy to see that he genuinely cared about him. He looked after him and made sure he wasn’t left behind. When I look at this film I think it is easy to say that the characters made this film. The setting was unchanged through the whole film so the actors really had to step it up to keep the movie fresh using their characters. The plot was basic and I think the “twist” at the end of the film was unneeded and seemed trite. I liked the flow that the film had it seemed be well balanced in the way it sped up and slowed down. It was done in a very gradual way and I was very pleased. The movie was very graphic and definitely not for everyone. If sex crazed maniacs aren’t your thing, then don’t see this film. If you’ve seen The Last House on the Left and like it this film is more of the same and is deserves a look.
The DVD I have is a horror classics disc that is about $5 and gives 4 classic horror films on DVD. That being said the extras are…nonexistent! I’m not too disappointed by this because it gave me many horror films for a small amount of money. The audio of the film is a little uneven and if you live in an area where you need to keep the sound at a certain level, be prepared to keep the remote handy to adjust the volume. If you have free range on the volume I suggest you turn the volume up so you can hear it all. The video for the film is typical of a low budget 1980’s film. It is grainy and washed out, but if you watch a lot of horror films it is nothing out of the ordinary. I would always like a clearer picture, but I am fine with a decent looking copy of an already older low budget film. Like I said before the extras don’t exist, but for $5 the disc is a great deal and I suggest picking up every volume of this great set.
Breakdown
Story: 8 / 10
Audio: 2 / 5
Video: 3 / 5
DVD: 1 / 5
Total: 5.6 / 10