House on the Edge of the Park (4K UHD Review)
- Review Date: Jul 29, 2025
- Format: 4K Ultra HD
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Director
Ruggero DeodatoRelease Date(s)
1980 (July 29, 2025)Studio(s)
F.D. Cinematografica (Severin Films)- Film/Program Grade: B-
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: B-
- Extras Grade: B+
Review
The late Ruggero Deodato was a filmmaker who openly courted controversy all throughout his career, especially once he rebooted the cannibal genre with Lost Cannibal World aka Ultimo mondo cannibal in 1977. Yet that was just a taste of things to come, and his follow-up Cannibal Holocaust blew up in ways that he may or may not have anticipated in 1980. It still had the same unsimulated animal mutilation as Lost Cannibal World, but between that and the convincing quality of the simulated human gore, he ended up being arrested for obscenity. While the legends that he was tried for making a snuff film are somewhat exaggerated, he was indeed convicted for obscenity due to the animal cruelty. So, while weathering that storm, he followed up quickly with House on the Edge of the Park (aka La casa sperduta nel parco) that same year. While it reduced the level of graphic gore compared to its predecessor, it increased the levels of sexualized violence on display, enough so that it generated plenty of controversy of its own. At least Deodato didn’t face legal issues this time, but House on the Edge of the Park ended up joining Cannibal Holocaust on the list of “video nasties” in Great Britain (although it somehow managed to creep uncut into video stores in the United States without creating much of a fuss).
Producers Franco Di Nunzio and Franco Palaggi were looking to recoup some of their investment on Cannibal Holocaust that was currently tied up in legal entanglements. House on the Edge of the Park needed to be shot quickly and cheaply, so the script by Gianfranco Clerici and Vincenzo Mannino economizes by keeping the bulk of the story confined to a single location. And despite the fact that the story is set in New York City, aside from a few establishing shots, most of the film was shot at an estate in Italy. House on the Edge of the Park opens with an apparent non sequitur, with criminal lowlife Alex (Last House on the Left‘s David Hess) pursuing, raping, and murdering a woman in a New York City park. Later, back at his auto shop, he hooks up with his pal Ricky (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) in order to have a wild night on the town. Their plans change when a Cadillac pulls into the shop with wealthy couple Tom (Christian Borromeo) and Anna (Annie Belle). Despite their obvious social differences, Alex and Ricky manage to get themselves invited back to an upper-class party at a secluded estate. Once there, they toy with the partygoers, but when they get upset at the condescending treatment that they receive in return, their games turn deadly serious. Yet they’re not the only ones who are playing games, and there may more going on with their victims than meets the eye. House on the Edge of the Park also stars Marie Claude Joseph, Gabriele Di Giulio, Lorraine De Selle, and Brigitte Petronio.
House on the Edge of the Park skates an uncomfortable line by exploiting the abundant nudity and brutality on display while also trying to justify why it’s there in the first place (the film wants to have its exploitation cake and eat it, too.) Aside from the vague and ill-defined theme of class conflict, the script adds a twist at the end that shifts the story into a completely different subgenre (one that makes it abundantly clear why Hess was cast in the role of Alex). Whether or not any of that works is a fair question. While the animal killings in Cannibal Holocaust aren’t defensible, the rest of the extreme barbarism does work within the context of the film’s themes in order to demonstrate the ways in which “civilized” man can be every bit as savage as the cannibals. Cannibal Holocaust critiques its own audience in the process, presenting graphic scenes of cruelty while also questioning why anyone would want to watch that kind of thing in the first place. Since House on the Edge of the Park chooses to wait until the last few minutes in order to provide the context for its own unremitting sadism, the explanation for it might be too little, too late for some viewers. (It’s also fair to critique the risible nature of the scheme that’s involved, but that’s an entirely different issue.) Everyone’s mileage may vary here, but be forewarned that House on the Edge of the Park is an uncompromising film from an uncompromising director, regardless of how you choose to read it. Caveat emptor.
Cinematographer Sergio D’Offizi shot House on the Edge of the Park on 35mm film using spherical lenses, framed at 1.85:1 for its theatrical release. This version is based on the same 4K scan of the original camera negative that Severin used in their previous Blu-ray version, now in native 4K and graded for High Dynamic Range in HDR10 only. (It still has the same light speckling, debris, and stains, all of which are of the single-frame variety and aren’t too distracting unless you go looking for them.) The first pressing of that Blu-ray was in the wrong color space, which resulted in elevated black levels and washed-out detail. Fortunately, Severin issued replacement discs that corrected the issue, restoring proper black levels. Yet there was still more room for improvement, as this 4K HDR version demonstrates. There’s a lot of challenging material to reproduce in House on the Edge of the Park: the whole film is set at night, and there’s a lot of black-on-black-on black moments, like when Hess is beating up one of the guests at the pool. His black hair and black outfit are framed against a stark black background, and it’s easy for the subtle details in those blacks to be crushed on home video. The Version 2 Blu-ray did a credible job of resolving them, but this 4K version does even better. There’s now the maximum level of differentiation between all those various blacks, with Hess’ costume in particular gaining the most (they’re still a little murky in the interior of his shop at the beginning of the film, but that just seems to be how the scene was shot). The blacks are still deep and true; it’s just that they have more subtle gradations within them. The colors look natural, with accurate flesh tones, and the fine layer of grain is managed well by the encoding. It’s the most beautiful version of this inherently ugly film to date.
Audio is offered in English and Italian 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio, with optional English SDH subtitles for the English version and standard English subtitles for the Italian. While most of the actors in the film spoke Italian, the English language version is still preferable since Hess supplied his own voice for it. Either way, it’s still relatively undistinguished mono. The post-synced dialogue is clear, even if it doesn’t always integrate smoothly into the soundstage. The minimalist score (and maximally saccharin songs) by Riz Ortolani may lack stereo spread, but they still sound fine even in mono.
Severin’s Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD release of House on the Edge of the Park is a two-disc set that includes a Blu-ray with a 1080p copy of the film, a reversible insert, and a slipcover that was designed by Eric Lee. The Blu-ray appears to be nearly identical to the one that was included with their 3-disc Limited Edition Blu-ray set, with the addition of the film’s trailer (which is presumably why it’s designated as V3 on the label). The following extras are included:
DISC ONE: UHD
- Audio Commentary by Bruce Holecheck and Art Ettinger
- Trailer (Upscaled SD – 2:41)
DISC TWO: BD
- Audio Commentary by Bruce Holecheck and Art Ettinger
- The Man Who Loved Women (HD – 31:50)
- Lights On (HD – 12:03)
- Like a Prairie Dog (HD – 37:08)
- External Beauty & Internal Ugliness (Upscaled SD – 22:53)
- House Sweet House (HD – 26:13)
- Gallery (HD – 6:34)
- Trailer (Upscaled SD – 2:41)
The commentary track was originally recorded for Severin’s Blu-ray release of House on the Edge of the Park, and it features Bruce Holecheck from the Cinema Arcana website along with Art Ettinger from Ultra Violent magazine. The pair are clearly big fans of the film, even though they do admit that it’s pretty sick. They prepared well and read a lot of material that they wrote out in advance, so there’s a lot of good quality information here, not just two people making it up as they go along. They give the background of how the legal issues with Cannibal Holocaust caused the producers to want to make another film quickly and cheaply, with limited cast and locations, in order to recoup some money. Despite the establishing shots at the beginning, the film wasn’t shot in America, so Holecheck and Ettinger note a few errors that resulted (like the presence of a bidet in the bathroom). They provide biographies for Deodato, Ortolani, and all of the actors in the film, with a natural emphasis on David Hess. They also examine the themes of the film, including the muddled nature of the class conflict on display; the seemingly consensual sex scene late in the film; and the ambiguous sexuality between Ricky and Alex. (They do both feel that the ending is justified, so there you go.) They close by covering the theatrical and home video releases of the film, including the famous source of the theatrical print currently in circulation. It’s always interesting to hear a spirited defense of a film like House on the Edge of the Park, even if they won’t necessarily change many minds about it.
Aside from the Trailer and the Gallery, the rest of the extras consist of interviews, four of which were recorded for Severin’s previous Blu-ray. The Man Who Loved Women is with Deodato, who explains how the production came together and gives his own thoughts about the film. He initially almost hated it, and thought that it was more shocking than Cannibal Holocaust, but he started to love it once he saw all of the fan support. He also discusses the cast, the cinematography, the score, and the editing. Lights On is with Sergio D’Offizi, who talks about the locations, his use of lighting, his crew, and his respect for Deodato. Prairie Dog is an interview with the always voluble Giovanni Lombardo Radice, who relates how he got into acting, how he was hired for the film, and his stories from the shoot. He also discusses the other actors and the sexuality of the two criminals, as well as candidly describing his own experiences with drug use. House Sweet House is with set designer Massimo Antonello Geleng, who gives his thoughts about the film after rewatching it for the first time in 40 years—and he’s still not entirely comfortable with it, either. He also talks about the compromises that he had to make due to budgetary constraints.
External Beauty & Internal Ugliness is an archival interview with David Hess that was originally included on Code Red’s 2018 Blu-ray—although it’s been re-edited here, running 22:53 instead of 35:02. He talks about his relationship with Deodato and his feelings about the other actors in the film. (He still insists here that his sex scene with Annie Belle was unsimulated, even though it clearly wasn’t.) He admits that he doesn’t hold anything back as an actor, and he brings a lot of who he really is into his roles. Take that as you will.
Finally, the Gallery is especially interesting, since in addition to the usual collection of stills and other promotional materials, it also includes many signed items from Art Ettinger’s personal collection. (Like I said, he’s a big fan, and there’s nothing wrong with that!) There’s also an Easter Egg on the Blu-ray that can be accessed by choosing the scene selections, scrolling to chapter 10, and pressing the up arrow. It’s a brief clip of Karoline Mardeck, who played Alex’s rape victim during the opening scene, and who happened to be married to David Hess at the time.
While that’s all of the feature film extras from Severin’s 3-disc Limited Edition Blu-ray of House on the Edge of the Park, that set included a second Blu-ray with Felipe M. Guerra’s 2019 documentary Deodato Holocaust, as well as a collection of deleted scenes from that film. It also included a CD with Riz Ortolani’s score. Unfortunately, neither of them are included here (although the 3-disc set is still available if you’re Ash Ketchum and gotta catch ‘em all). There are still a variety of extras from other releases that aren’t included here. Most recently, the 2023 UHD from 88 Films in the U.K. offers two different commentary tracks: one with David Flint and Adrian Smith, and the other with Zoe Smith and Rebecca McCallum. It also includes interviews with Deodato, D’Offizi, and Geleng that may or may not be identical to the ones that Severin offers (I don’t have that disc for comparison purposes), but it also includes a separate interview with Deodato and Radice that’s definitely not here.
House on the Edge of the Park being a well-known Italian horror film, there have also been a variety of other releases over the years with extras that aren’t included here. Most of them consist of interviews with the cast and crew, but so many of them overlap with each other that it’s hard to keep track of which is which. But there have also been different commentaries over the years: a German-language video commentary with Prof. Dr. Marcus Stiglegger on the Region B Blu-ray from NSM Records, and an Italian-language commentary with Deodato and Gianfranco Clerici on the Region 2 DVD from Alan Young Pictures. You’ll have to check any older versions that you may own before deciding whether or not to get rid of them in favor of what’s included here. Regardless, if you’re a fan of House on the Edge of the Park, you’ll definitely want to upgrade to 4K (even if you already own Severin’s previous Blu-ray). The film itself may not be pretty, but it looks as pretty here as it possibly can.
- Stephen Bjork
(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).