La casa sperduta nel parco [The House on the Edge of the Park] (1980)

(In French, On TV, May 2020) Ugh, do I have to talk about The House on the Edge of the Park? It’s the kind of grimy low-budget exploitation film that quickly gets on my nerves: a home invasion that turns murderous. It’s clearly an exploitation film, and an ugly one at that. There is no fun to be had here—not in the gory violent torture, not in director Ruggero Deodato’s nihilistic tone, and not even in the nudity given that it’s always followed by something much worse. (See that straight razor on the poster? Yeah.) While it delves more deeply and frequently into eroticism than most other home invasion movies, it’s a misplaced fixation that is really not to the best of effect. There’s a twist at the end, but I don’t really care. Italian horror circa 1980 could be dynamic and inventive, or it could be stomach-churning and depressing. The House on the Edge of the Park clearly belongs to the second category.