The House on the Edge of the Park
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The House on the Edge of the Park (La casa sperduta nel parco) is a 1980 film from the Italian director Ruggero Deodato. It features David Hess from Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left (playing a similar character), and Giovanni Lombardo Radice. Deodato's film has been criticized for depicting rape victims enjoying their ordeal, and its close-ups of the mutilation of a helpless, sobbing young woman by a sneering Hess.
Plot
Hess is driving down a highway in New York, he then rams a girl's car off the road, and rapes and strangles her. Later he arrives at the garage which he owns with Morghen, both of them are heading into town to attend a disco, however they are interrupted by Annie Bell and her boyfriend, who have a broken car, Hess fixes it.
As thanks the young couple invite both men to a party. When they arrive Hess and Morghen act like gentlemen and take part in a poker game. Other guests at the party take advantage of the retarded Morghen and Hess snaps, after beating the male guests and tying them up. He then proceeds to rape and molest the female guests, who are turned on by it. A young girl then arrives, called Cindy and Hess takes his rage out of her, which includes sexual humiliation and a graphic scene of mutilation (the main cause of controversy) soon after the guests take things into their own hands, ending in the death of Hess and the wounding of Morghen. In the end it turns out that the entire party was a set up, as the girl Hess raped at the beginning was the sister of the party host, and it was all a game.
Controversy
Deodato's film has been criticized for depicting rape victims enjoying their ordeal, and its close-ups of the mutilation of a helpless, sobbing young woman by a sneering Hess.
The House on the Edge of the Park was initially rejected for a UK cinema certificate by the BBFC when first submitted in March 1981, and later found itself on the DPP list of "video nasties" when it was revealed that the uncut version was readily available on UK video. When it was eventually passed by the BBFC in July 2002, it was cut by 11 minutes and 43 secs, with almost all of the rape and violence either replaced or removed entirely.
The USA Media Blasters release is completely uncut at 91 minutes.
In 2006, the BBFC commissioned a group of academics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth to conduct research into people's responses to films that include scenes of sexual violence. The House on the Edge of the Park is one of the films included in their remit to examine.
