International Horror Film: House On The Edge of the Park (dir by Ruggero Deodato)

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Or is it House Of The Park On Edge?

When this Italian thriller was first released in the United States in 1980, the film’s title was mistranslated by whoever put together the film’s American trailer. In Italy, it was known as La casa sperduta nel parco. When it was released in the United States, it was meant to be known as The House On The Edge of the Park but the trailer famously referred to it as being….

That the trailer was sent out with the title incorrectly translated tells you a lot about the American grindhouse film scene. If a similar mistake had been made a with a big studio production, someone would have lost their job and a lot of money would be spent to put together a new trailer. In the world of the grindhouse, it was probably understood that people would come to the film regardless of whether they even knew what the title was. According to the book Sleazoid Express, House on The Edge of the Park was very popular in the grindhouse theaters of New York’s 42nd Street, where audiences loved the violence, the nudity, and the misogynistic dialogue.

Today, House on the Edge of the Park is remembered for being the film that brought together Ruggero Deodato, David Hess, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Christian Borromeo, Annie Belle, and Lorraine De Selle. (The Anchor Bay DVD release featured interviews with Deodato, Hess, and Radice. Radice and Deodato seemed a bit surprised and, at times, horrified that the film still had fans. Hess seemed considerably less shocked.) House on the Edge of the Park was the film that Deodato made after the subversive and satirical Cannibal Holocaust. Though House on the Edge of the Park retains a subversive edge, it’s a much more straight forward movie than Cannibal Holocaust. No one has ever mistaken House on the Edge of the Park for a documentary.

David Hess, who may have written songs for Elvis and Pat Boone but who is destined to always be remembered for his performance as Krug in Last House On The Left, plays Alex. Alex owns a New York City garage. Alex owns a canary yellow suit. Alex likes to dance. Alex is also a serial killer who, when we first see him, is forcing a woman (played by Hess’s wife, who is credited as Karoline Mardek), off the road so that he can assault and murder her. As the film begins, Alex and his sidekick, Ricky (Giovanni Lombardo Radice, appearing in one of his first films and stealing the show with his demented energy) are getting ready to go “boogie.” Two rich kids, Tom (Christian Borromeo, my blonde Italian horror crush) and Lisa (Annie Belle), pull into the garage. Ricky fixes their car. Tom and Lisa, whose white dress is to die for, are insistent that Alex accompany them to a party at a house …. a house on the edge of the park!

Already at the house are Gloria (Lorraine De Selle), whose red dress is to die for, and Howard (Gabriele Di Giulio), who is apparently Gloria’s boyfriend. Also waiting at the house is Glenda (Maria Claude Joseph), who appears to just be hanging out because she has nothing better to do. (There’s a lot of talk about boredom and ennui, amongst the rich young people of House on the Edge of the Park.) When Tom and Lisa show up with Alex and Ricky, a very familiar class dynamic plays out. Alex and Ricky are very blue collar. Alex is earthy and says whatever pops into his head. Ricky is dependent on Alex to tell him what to do and is also too slow to realize that the rich people are talking down to him. Ricky is taunted into dancing and then into playing poker. Ricky loses his money. Alex discovers that the game is fixed. Violence follows, with Alex holding the house hostage with the help of the increasingly conflicted Ricky.

Of course, it turns out that there’s a twist and that it wasn’t just coincidence that led to Tom and Lisa pulling into Alex’s garage. Of course, the twist itself never really makes sense. The entire film centers around Tom finding time to retrieve something from his office. It takes him forever to do it because Alex keeps watching him and beating him up. But there’s actually several moments in the film in which Alex is distracted and he even leaves Tom alone at one point. You have to wonder just what exactly Tom was doing during all that time.

It’s a deeply misogynistic film, one that features an inexcusable scene in which Gloria and Ricky have consensual sex just a few minutes after Ricky tries to rape her. (Even if you can see beyond the idea of the sophisticated Gloria falling for a rapist, who stops to have sex while there’s a madman threatening to murder all of your friends?) Before the party turns violent, Lisa flirts with Alex and, at one point, even showers in front of him. Her actions make even less sense once it is revealed that Tom and Lisa always knew who Alex was and what he was capable of. Indeed, the film is sometimes so offensive that it feels almost like a parody of an offensive film.

And yet, there are things to appreciate about the film. Deodato plays up the class warfare aspect of the story, with Tom and his friends initially condescending to Alex and Ricky, just to discover how little power they actually had once Alex got the upper hand. Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Lorraine De Selle, Annie Belle, and Christian Borromeo all give good performances, even when their characters are required to do things that don’t make any sense. David Hess is a force of malevolent nature as Alex. The house is lovely and I especially liked the pool, though I would suggest changing out the water before taking a swim. The location shots of late 70s New York are interesting to look at, especially if you’re a history nerd like me. Riz Ortolani’s soundtrack will get stuck in your head. I defy you to watch this film and not end up singing that “Do It To Me Once More” song.

In the end, House on the Edge of the Park is not a film that I can really recommend, unless you’re a fan or a student of Italian horror. In that case, you have to watch the film, if just because of the familiar faces in the cast and the fact that it was directed by Deodato. Still, if anyone ever told me that this was their favorite film, I would probably immediately start eyeing the exit. Towards the end of the movie, Gloria says that there has been enough violence and I agreed with her. That said, violence against Alex is totally acceptable.

The film itself is destined to live forever as an internet meme, as a GIF of David Hess screaming in slow motion has recently become quite popular on Twitter. There’s just no escaping the House of the Park on the Edge!

6 Shots From 6 Horror Films: 2000 — 2001

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

This October, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different with my contribution to 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films. I’m going to be taking a little chronological tour of the history of horror cinema, moving from decade to decade.

Today, we take a look at 2000 and 2001!

6 Shots From 6 Horror Films — 2000 — 2001

Shadow of the Vampire (2000, dir by E. Elias Merhige, DP: Lou Bogue)

Ginger Snaps (2000, dir by John Fawcett, DP: Thom Best)

American Psycho (2000, dir by Mary Harron, DP: Andrzej Sekuła)

The Devil’s Backbone (2001, dir by Guillermo del Toro, DP: Guillermo Navarro)

The Others (2001, directed by Alejandro Amenabar, DP: Javier Aguirresarobe)

Mulholland Drive (2001, dir by David Lynch, DP: Peter Deming)

Horror Film Review: Dashcam (dir by Rob Savage)

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Calm down, people.

Seriously, the amount of online hate that I’ve seen directed at the found footage horror film, Dashcam, is not only insanely over the top but it also proves (as if there was any proof necessary) that there are a lot of people out there who are incapable of understanding social satire.

Annie Hardy stars as Annie Hardy, a musician who hosts Band Car, the internet’s #1 Live Improvised Music Show Broadcast From A Moving Vehicle. Yes, Annie Hardy is playing a fictionalized version of herself, which is something that many of this film’s critics don’t seem to understand. (Or, more likely, they do understand that but they’re pretending to be obtuse for the clicks.) In the film, which was shot at the height of COVID lockdowns, Annie grows tired of Los Angeles and hops a plane for London. In London, she reunites with her former bandmate, Stretch (Amer Chadha-Patel) and proceeds to clash with just everyone that she meets.

The film’s version of Annie is outspoken about her politics, which is one reason why so many critics have gone after this film. Annie is anti-lockdown. She’s anti-government. She has little use for virtue signaling activists. She spends a lot of time going out of her way to annoy people who wear masks. These are all things most of today’s movie heroes are not allowed to do but Annie’s attitude is, for better or worse, a fair reflection of how a lot of people were feeling at the height of the COVID era. Despite what was often presented in the movies and on television, most people were not lighting their Fauci prayer candles and dutifully waiting for word from the CDC. Most people were not the girl from that Walgreen’s commercial, smiling behind their mask as they rode their kick scooter to the neighborhood market so that they could pick up the latest organic fruit. Most people were frustrated and pissed off and sick of having to pretend otherwise.

Annie’s trip to the UK is predictably a disaster and, because she live streams the entire experience, Stetch’s always-masked wife discovers just how much she and Annie disagree on politics. This leads to a physical confrontation which leads to Annie stealing Stretch’s car. You do have to feel a little bit bad for Stretch at this point. Stretch works as a food delivery driver so, as annoying as Stetch can be, he does kind of need his car. Annie decides to take on one of his deliveries herself, just to discover that the owner of a restaurant wants Annie to drive a sick and incontinent old woman named Angela to another location. Despite her initial misgivings, Annie agrees. Because Annie has been live streaming the entire time, Stretch is able to track them down.

Of course, it turns out that Angela is not quite what she seems and soon, Annie and Stretch find themselves having to deal with cults, demons, and a lot other things. Quite a few people die along the way. Except for a few times when the signal is lost, the entire event is live streamed and the film is worth watching twice just so you can read all of the comments from the people watching Annie and Stretch try to survive a night. They provide a commentary not only on what’s happening to Annie and Stretch but also on the horror genre in general and the whole found footage idea in specific. At the same time that I was getting annoyed with Stretch for being whiny, so were Annie’s fans. While Annie and Stretch were running from Angela, a fight was breaking out in the comments over Annie’s politics. A few people were concerned that Annie was going to get killed. A few were claiming that it was all fake. The majority were eager to see more blood. Quite a few complained that any moment that Annie spent hiding from Angela was “BORING.” One thing they all had in common was a need to try to turn everything that they were watching into either a commentary on politics or an ironic joke. It was a perfect portrayal of online culture.

Both Annie and Angela are forces of chaos in Dashcam, perfect representations of how many people were feeling at the height of the COVID era. (Angela wears a mask throughout the film. At one point, the mask fills up with blood, which is perhaps as powerful a symbol of COVID horror as I’ve seen thus far.) Annie’s a survivor because she refuses to rationalize everything that’s happening around her. She embraces her anger and her annoyance with the world. As a result, Dashcam is not just an effective found footage horror film. It’s also a document of how many people viewed the world in 2021. With so many now trying to rewrite the history of what actually happened during the COVID era, it’s important to have a film, like Dashcam, that reveals just how angry and paranoid people really were. In its way, Dashcam is a valuable time capsule.

Annie Hardy is currently taking a lot of online abuse from trolls who can’t tell the difference between the film’s Annie Hardy and the real-life Annie Hardy. That’s a shame because Annie Hardy is a natural when she’s onscreen and she gives a good performance. Dashcam is currently on Hulu and it’s tempting to compare this film sharp combination of horror and commentary to the rather bland and painfully inoffensive Hellraiser reboot. Hellraiser could have used Annie Hardy.

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for Six-Headed Shark Attack!

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, at 10 pm et, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix! The movie? 2018’s Six-Headed Shark Attack!

If you thought a shark with five heads was dangerous, just you wait until you a shark with six!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag! I’ll be there tweeting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

Six-Headed Shark Attack is available on Prime!

See you there!

Horror on the Lens: The Lodger (dir by Alfred Hitchcock)

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

A serial killer known as “The Avenger” is murdering blonde women in London (which, once again, proves that its better to be a redhead). And while nobody knows the identity of the Avenger, they do know that the enigmatic stranger (Ivor Novello), who has just recently rented a room at boarding house, happens to fit his description. They also know that the lodger’s landlord’s daughter happens to be a blonde…

Released in 1927, the silent The Lodger was Alfred Hitchcock’s third film but, according to the director, this was the first true “Hitchcock film.” Certainly it shows that even at the start of his career, Hitchcock’s famous obsessions were already present — the stranger accused of a crime, the blonde victims, and the link between sex and violence.

Also of note, the credited assistant director — Alma Reville — would become Alma Hitchcock shortly before The Lodger was released.

October Positivity: Buying Time (dir by Michael Cargile)

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2019’s Buying Time opens in the future.

It’s not a particularly happy future. Many things have been declared illegal and forbidden, all in the name of the public good. Secret police roam the streets. Those who refuse to obey the system are arrested and held in dark cells. It’s all for the benefit of the people, of course. (Not me, us and all that nonsense.)

Adam Demus (Drew Garrett) is arrested for street racing and tossed into a dark cell. Adam is a rebel, though he doesn’t seem to be sure what exactly it is that he’s rebelling against. To Adam’s shock and anger, his father, Nick (Jake Head) is brought into the cell. It is quickly established that Nick used to be an abusive drunk and that he regularly beat both Adam and Adam’s mother. Adam wants nothing to do with Nick but Nick asks him to just listen to his story. Seeing as how the cell is locked, Adam doesn’t really have much choice. While Nick speaks, the government monitors everything that he says. They’re just waiting for him to say one certain thing so that they can make their move.

Nick talks about his youth and how he was once also a street racer. In the years before the new government came to power, Nick would spend every night racing against two brother, Ben and Pete. But then, one night, a terrible accident landed Ben in the hospital. Having nearly died, Ben declared himself to be a Christian and, instead of racing, he now wanted to preach. Pete wasn’t particularly happy about that. In fact, outside of their mother and the local preacher, no one was happy about that. Ben would still go to the street races but now, he would try to preach and he would go on and on about how breaking the law went against God’s will. Finally, Nick called Ben’s bluff and challenged him to a race. If Ben won the race, he would be allowed to preach and everyone would listen to him. If Nick won the race …. well, who knows? I guess Ben would just have to go to some other illegal event and try to preach there. (One can only imagine how his message would have gone down at a cockfight.) Anyway, if you’ve ever seen a faith-based film, you’ll know that this all leads to tragedy, a sudden conversion, and eventually a scene where the government declares that Christianity is now forbidden.

Due to its structure, Buying Time has an odd feel to it. Indeed, it feels like two separate movies and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the interrogation scenes were conceived and added after the scenes involving Ben and Pete. All in all, it’s a pretty heavy-handed film and Ben and Pete are not particularly likable characters. Ben is preachy. Peter is resentful. Even their mom is a bit full-of-herself. That said, I do like fast cars and I don’t care much for the government so I appreciated the film on those two levels. It’s interesting to note that, as a viewer, I never really bought Ben’s sudden conversion to Christianity but I totally believed that the government would have no problem taking away everyone’s rights. I guess that says a lot about the state of the world today.

The TSL’s Horror Grindhouse: Bigfoot (dir by Bruce Davison)

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this 2012 Asylum production, the legendary Bigfoot is revealed to just be a big gorilla who wants to sleep for the winter. In fact, Bigfoot seems to have more in common with King Kong than the hairy, humanoid that people have been reporting seeing for over a hundred years. Unfortunately, all of the hunters and the tourists and the noise from a local music festival keep interrupting Bigfoot’s slumber. It turns out that Bigfoot is not a morning monster and tends to wake up grumpy. When Bigfoot is in a bad mood, he turns over RVs, steps on hunters, and tries to destroy Mt. Rushmore.

Concert promoter Harley Henderson (Donny Bonaduce) wants to kill Bigfoot and turn his body into a tourist attraction. Environmental activist Simon Quinn (Barry Williams) wants to not only protect Bigfoot but to also perform protest-themed folk music. Harley and Simon were once musical partners, until Simon decided that he would rather protect endangered species and Harley decided to become a businessman. Now, they hate each other and are constantly on the verge of coming to blows. Meanwhile, Sheriff Alvarez (Sherilyn Fenn) just wants to keep her town safe from the creature’s rampage. You read that right. This film is The Partridge Family vs. The Brady Bunch with Twin Peaks trying to keep the peace. If you’re wondering how The Asylum convinced Bonaduce, Williams, and Sherilyn Fenn to all appear in a low-budget film about a giant gorilla menacing South Dakota, consider that they also convinced Bruce Davison to appear in it as well. In fact, Bruce not only stars but he directed the film as well! I mean, Bonaduce and Williams were probably just happy that someone was calling them and this film was made before Twin Peak: The Return reignited Fenn’s career. Bruce Davison, however, has an Oscar nomination to his name. Of course, before one gets too snarky, it’s important to remember that actors have bill to pay, just like the rest of us. Sometimes, those bills are played by appearing in Shakespeare. Sometimes, they’re paid by appearing in Bigfoot.

Actually, no one should be ashamed about appearing in Bigfoot. Like most of the films produced by the Asylum, Bigfoot is actually a lot of fun. It’s not a film that’s meant to be taken seriously. Instead, it’s basically a parody of the big-budget giant monster movies that come out of Hollywood, complete with a tacked-on environmental subplot and an endangered national monument. Bigfoot is in on the joke. The minute that Barry Williams picks up his guitar and starts to sing an insufferable folk song, it’s obvious that this film is laughing along with us. Bigfoot was designed to be a silly film and it succeeds. When taken on its own terms, it’s hard not to enjoy it.

Finally, Alice Cooper appears in this film as himself, performing at Bonaduce’s concert. After Alice complains about the crowd size and bemoans the indignity of going from being one of the world’s biggest stars to performing at a festival in South Dakota, Bigfoot literally kicks him off the stage. Much like the film, Alice deserves some credit for be willing to poke fun at himself.

Horror Scenes That I Love: The Party Scene From The Rage: Carrie 2

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

While it’s certainly not as good as the original, I still think 1998’s The Rage: Carrie 2 is underrated.

In this scene, a bunch of dumbass jocks discover that they’ve bullied the wrong girl. Because I occasionally wear glasses, this scene freaks me out.

International Horror Film Review: Hostile (dir by Mathieu Turi)

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The world is ending and you’re stuck in the desert. The vehicle you were driving has flipped over. You’ve got a severely broken leg and can’t move. The few remaining humans in the city have informed you that a rescue party will not be sent out until the sun rises. And you’ve got a deformed creature circling your crashed van, trying to find a way to enter. You have to figure out how to survive the night while being hunted by some sort of mutant and you also have to mentally work out your relationship issues while doing so.

(It may sound like a nightmare but if you ever break up with someone while on a road trip through South Texas and then you have to ask that person to give you a ride home, it can be a reality. Not that I’m speaking for personal experience, of course….)

That’s the situation in which Juliet (Brittany Ashworth) finds herself in the 2017 French film, Hostile. While Juliet tries to survive the night, she flashes back to the life and the world she used to know. She remembers how she was once a nearly illiterate drug addict who met and fell in love with an art gallery owner named Jack (Grégory Fitoussi). After discussing the paintings of Francis Bacon and the role of fate in everyone’s life, Jack took it on himself to lock Juliet in an apartment until she overcame her addiction. Now, that’s not something that most professionals would necessarily recommend trying, especially when the addict and the apartment owner barely know one another. In fact, I felt it was a bit presumptuous on Jack’s part. Who is Jack to decide that he’s going to be the one to save Juliet’s life? Jack may think that his intentions are good but there’s something a bit too self-righteous and controlling about Jack, even if he is trying to keep someone from self-destructing. He’s every preachy Intervention producer come to life. He’s someone who most viewers will feel a bit of ambiguity about.

The audience might not be totally comfortable with what Jack does but, for Juliet and Jack, it all works out and they fall in love. Juliet remembers the good times with Jack and she also remembers how their relationship eventually fell apart and how the world itself eventually started to end, almost as if their relationship issues were a bit of a metaphor for the fragility of society. Meanwhile, the creature outside the van continues to try to find its way inside.

Hostile is a claustrophobic and atmospheric end-of-the-world thriller from director Mathieu Turi. The inside of that van is a properly ominous location and it’s impossible not to sympathize with Juliet as she struggles to figures out how to survive the night. The film’s deliberate pace takes some getting used to and the final twist requires a certain suspension of disbelief but both Ashworth and Fitoussi are well-cast as Juliet and Jack. In the end, the film is a moody and interesting look at the end of the world, albeit one that is marred by the heavy-handedness of its script.