The House on the Edge of the Park (1980)

   

Directed by:

Written by: Gianfranco Clerici & Vincenzo Mannino

Starring:

David Hess .... Alex
.... Lisa
.... Tom
.... Ricky
.... Gloria
Marie Claude Joseph .... Glenda
.... Howard
.... Cindy

Release Dates: Theatrical: November 6, 1980 (Italy); April 7, 1981 (France); February, 1985 (USA)

 

 

 

Rating:

 

Alex (David Hess) a psychopathic mechanic rapes an innocent woman in her car at a park and then a couple of people named Tom () and Glenda (Marie Claude Joseph) stop by needing repairs for their car and invites him and his mentally challenged buddy Ricky

 

We spot a moment with the lead character Alex driving in his vehicle and then blocking a woman near a park in the roadway known as Susan and getting into her vehicle to rape her as things seem a bit rushed when we spot this incident happening but the moments look slightly intense and disturbing while spotting this moment happening.
Also there's some fun moments and discussions between Alex and his bud Ricky getting ready for a night out as the situations between them had a groovy type of feel to everything as well as the guests coming to pick them up looked smoothly done and in a party type of fun fashion too as this all looked well done.
Nic e camera shots on some people dancing at the place they are hanging out showing a nice groovy feeling to everything which looked flashy.
A good moment with one of the character's named Lisa acting stuck up and playing hard to get towards Alex in a kitchen as well as him doing a near lustful situation towards her as this looked still and well shot too. Plus another good moment when she is taking a shower and he is about to join in and she brushes him off which was another nice attention grabber thinking that this bitch is a total cock teaser big time.
Plus some nicely focused moments with everyone at the poker table which looked good and serious by what they were doing and nice strong discussions like they were doing some serious nitty gritty business too. Nice violent moments with Alex towards some of the people when things go down which adds some nice intense suspense into the story. However the brawls don't look overly powerful as it was intensded to but still pretty wild looking as well as good shots on Alex taking out his blade and forcing some of the women to give in to him as this for sure looked disturbing and the othersd helpless to do anything about it proving that he is dominant towards them all.
A good moment on Alex pushing one of the character's Howard into a swimming pool and him continuing to boot him in the water when he is trying to get out along with a gross out moment what he does to him which was a memorable moment to anyone who saw this flick.
Another perfect itense and disturbing moment is when Alex starts to pound on Tom and bang his head on a table several times as this makes you wonder if he will go to the point in killing him. Meanwhile a perfect moment when Gloria tries to reach for a phone without being caught to try and call the police which keeps you watching and wondering if it's too late while she does so.
Another nice suspenseful moment that keeps you watching is when Glenda turns out the lights and tries to escape while both Alex and Ricky tries to find her as this looked very energised while watching this moment happening.
A perfect moment when one of their guests named Cindy rings their doorbell and Alex forces one of them to let her in as well as him taunting this poor innocent girl and stripping her down with good artsy close up shots on this and him admiring her body while doing this as well as getting smooth with his actions towards her. Plus great itense close up shots on him cutting her with his blade which looked cionvincing that he's torturing her. For sure this was a nice horrifying scene.
A nice moment when Gloria manages to get away and Ricky catches up to her but trying to reason with her as this looked very touching along with them being lustfully romatnic towards one another giving you that feeling he's not really a bad person but just under Alex's manipulation to do evil deeds for him. However the lustful scene is overly long like most of the other one's seen in this story as well as the rape scene's too. Still afterwards you want to keep watching as to what the two of them are going to do afterwards to stop Alex's madness.
A nice near psychotic touching moment when Alex accindelty hurts Ricky as well as him bending near him and crying out crazily with what he tells him which makes you think that this guy is totally cuckoo. Also a great vengeful moment on Tom as to what he does towards Alex with a gun along with great close up shots shooting him especially a perfect painjful situation for what he does to him while his historical moments on raping women which was a perfect moment as well as a great close up shot on his eyes gouging and screaming in a slwo motion sequence with him falling into the pool. Yes this was another great classic moment put into the story and can also be well remembered. Plus a nice deadly secret told by Tom which makes sense on what happened during the beginning of the story.
W also spot a good moment with Howard helping Alex out of the pool as we get the feeling that he's gonna trick him after what this asshole did to him which looked perfectly vengeful indeed.
Bottom line is that I had a hard time seeing this film as a horror film but yet there's different types of them and can seem confusing at times. It's for sure horrifying for a psycho to rape or torture people as when someone takes that to the extreme it's for sure meant to be a horror and similar to Last House on the Left. It's a unique and artsy Italian flick but at the same time it's very slow in alot of spots making it an excuse to fill in the time.

The acting is in good shape in which David Hess (Alex) really knew his stuff still as his performance was very much like in Last House on the Left. He showed a perfect slickness to his personality as well as having a wicked charm to his part in all of it. Does well speaking smoothly as well as getting perfectly forceful and showing a perfect obnoxious type of attitude too. Was good with his brawling behavior as well as when he attacks women and tries to rape them in which he brings out a nice intensity. Also does a good job with his taunting behavior and comes across perfectly by preying on the weak. Shows nice blocking when he grabs someone and pushes them around too. Plus showed a good groovy type of attitude in the near beginning of his peformance too. Just drew all of this in terrifically. Shows a perfect freaked out expression on his face after he gets shot in a certain spot screaming out which looked terrific.
(Lisa) was anothe fine example in her performance but yet her voice was overly dubbed by an american actor. However she seemed to do well with her slick cockteasing type of behavior as one of those stuck up types who plays hard to get and yet makes you feel disappointed. Does a nice job with her anxious behavior when she gets attacked and knowing on how to get into a scene too which also worked in well for her favor big time. Also had the nice lustful and shapr looks too which shows off nicely.
(Tom) seemed to do well with his words and having a nice outgoing type of party behavior along with doing good by acting like a wimp and reacts very well to being beaten up which looked intense. Also shows a nice versatality with his hissy type of speaking and a good vengeful attitude later on and showing a good stern expresssion while pointing a gun and firing it.
(Ricky) was another emergetic one in which he has a great hyped up behavior and ready for anything as one of those wild wired up types but yet someone who can easily be manipulated and dominated too. He draws all of this in nicely. Also was great getting into the terror when acting menacing which he really got into. Plus does a good job acting reasonable and choked up too when he shows his nice side. Does a good job reacting in shock and pain in a scene. Yes he studied this role very well and was ready for anything. However he was another actor who had a voice over but still you could tell that he did an amazing job regardless.
(Gloria) seemed to do well although her voice overly dubbed too but yet does a good job with her scared emotions as you can tell by what she dpes here and offers some nice scared type of energy panicking when she gets raped. Also does a nice job when she gets into a romantic and lustful situation and studying this all pretty well too. She was a memorable one in the flick.
Marie Claude Joseph
(Glenda) had the perfect mysterious looks to her role and a perfect motive for all of this too. She shows a good groove whenever she did some dancing too as she looked perfectly hip while doing all of this. Yes added a perfect silent type of personality within everything that she does. She stood out the most compared to all the cast members in this story.
(Howard) seemed to spring into action a great deal by trying to pounce on one fo the actors and to get tough by what he does as well as really acting perfectly forceful with his struggling attitude. Also shows off a perfect aggression too within all of this. Does well with his vengeful attiude too.
(Cindy) was impressive as a timid virgin type whom is good by being soft spoken and innocent like. Also does a great job by crying and freaking out while nearly getting raped as she really got into it all imagining if she was really attacked. Has the nice wholesome and innocent looks too.

A bit part actress played by Karoline Mardeck has her top stripped and her breasts revealed while getting raped in a car.
is fully nide top to bottom while taking a shower as well as in a scene where she gets raped and molested.
Marie Claude Joseph has her top pulled down a few times in different scene's with her breasts exposed while being taunted.
has her clothes stripped off and close up camera shots on her breasts and vagina.
has her top ripped open and breasts revealed as well as her vagina briefly revealed while getting raped. Also she is fully unclothed top to bottom while getting into a romantic and lustful situation.

An innocent girl is being tortured by having cuts on her body from a blade.
A person is being shot with blood being splashed on him.

The music is quite different than in most flicks whichh sounds way more unique having a groovy feel to what is here. Some good electric guitar playing having a good flowing sound as well as some neat keyboard playing during a lustful moment which sounded nicely put in. All of this was put together by Riz Ortolani

A good songtrack from the opening and closing credits by the artist Diana Corsi with the song "Sweetly" as we hear a female singing for the opening of the film which sounded nice, smooth and peaceful. Almost sounds similar to the Amityville Horror.

Alex: Helooooo lady!