Severin Films, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 4K film restoration (from the original 35mm camera negative) of director Ruggero Deodato’s House on the Edge of the Park lined up as a double-disc Blu-ray (with bonus soundtrack CD) special edition release on Mar. 29.
This is the complete uncut presentation of the film, which was originally released in Italy in 1980, but took until 1985 for domestic theatrical distribution to materialize and that proved to be a bit sketchy. However, once VHS, laserdisc and DVD releases kicked in, Deodato’s House on the Edge of the Park found its intended audience … it didn’t hurt that genre-icon David Hess, who thrilled audiences as Krug in Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left in 1972, stars here as the equally-twisted Alex.
Alex, as we learn in the prologue, is a serial killer. A brutal, rapist, murderer who maintains a low profile by working as a mechanic with his dim-witted buddy Ricky (Giovanni Lombardo Radice, aka: John Morghen — City of the Living Dead, Cannibal Ferox … and as Father Spiletto in the 2006 remake of The Oman). Low-profile, random crimes … the police haven’t got a clue as to who he is.
So, do you invite a serial killer to your swanky party? A mechanic, come on, of course not. But that’s exactly what Ken and Barbie do. Well, they are not really Ken and Barbie, but Tom (Christian Borromeo — as Gianni in Darior Argento’s Tenebrae) and Lisa (Annie Belle — Forever Emmanuelle, Teenage Emanuelle and Black Emmanuelle, White Emmanuelle) might as well be plastic play things as they do exactly that when they have car trouble and Ricky fixes it … “hey guys, thanks for the help … join us for swell party.”
Does the spider turn down an invitation form the fly? Hello.
Once at Gloria’s sweet digs (played by Lorraine De Selle — Cannibal Ferox, Violence in a Women's Prison), Alex takes his time to scope on what is happening. Tom and Lisa and Gloria, along with their rich friends, Glenda (Marie Claude Joseph) and Howard (Gabriele Di Giulio), are thrill-seekers and they have new “play things” to mess with.
Genre fans already know the “twist,” so we won’t reveal that here. Let’s just say that Alex has a field day with his hosts until the “twist” is revealed.
Make no mistake, House on the Edge of the Park is one dark ride. Violent, bloody, sadistic.
Bonus features begin with commentary by Bruce Holecheck and Art Ettinger, documentary filmmaker Felipe M. Guerra’s feature-length film Deodato Holocaust (on the companion disc), deleted scenes and five featurettes — “The Man Who Loved Women,” “Lights On,” “Like a Prairie Dog,” “External Beauty and Internal Ugliness” and “House Sweet House.”
House on the Edge of the Park, which was filmed on sound stages in Italy, with exterior establishing shots filmed in New York City, arrive on Blu-ray with both the original Italian language track (with English subtitles) and the English-dubbed theatrical release language track.
A DVD movie-only edition will also be available on Mar. 29 from Severin Films.
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