SHAM034 - House on the Edge of the Park: The Archive Conversation

[Sarah@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by JAMIOUSE

Any news from the BBFC yet?

Not yet. I believe the plan is to send it before an advisory board, as was done with Cannibal Holocaust, before submitting it for formal classification. I think the Deodato edit of CH needs to be formally submitted first so once that's done, more attention should be turned to House on the Edge of the Park.

[Crimson Blade]

Don't think i'll be double dipping on this one as i have the excellent AWE release.
And after the way that the BBFC rejected 'Human Centipede 2' i'm a bit sceptical this will be released completely uncut anyway.

[platostotal]

Originally Posted by Daemonia

They haven't finished their seance yet. They want to get Ferman's opinion from beyond the veil of death.

You know, as bad as censorship was under Ferman, he was like the pantomime villain who we all loved to hate. I still think it sad he died so young. Do you think watching all those uncut horror films expedited his exit from this world?

It would have if the two-faced Git ever ran into me

[Daemonia]

Originally Posted by Crimson Blade

Don't think i'll be double dipping on this one as i have the excellent AWE release.
And after the way that the BBFC rejected 'Human Centipede 2' i'm a bit sceptical this will be released completely uncut anyway.

There's no skin grafting with sexual elements in House on the Edge of the Park, so we might be okay. Unless there's some alternate footage in which Alex sews his victims together that I don't know about...

I think it's going to have to be a case of wait and see. But I think putting it before the advisory board first seems like a wise move, that worked out well for Cannibal Holoacust, so who knows?

[Sarah@Cult Labs]

Just to give everyone here a heads up - the release date for House on the Edge of the Park has been put back to 31 October 2011. There is so much work going into Cannibal Holocaust it was just not feasible to release them both on the same date.

This way you get the best possible release of both films!

[PaulD]

Halloween eh? Seems as good a time as any

[trench]

Originally Posted by Gojirosan

Interesting replies, thank you.

On the one hand I despise the scene and think it is a huge, deeply offensive error of judgment on the part of time of budgetarily constrained film-makers. It's Ortolani's "inappropriate" music that troubles me the most, the images are consistent with the film around it (if a bit too "lush" for such subject matter).

...and yet...it is precisely this jarring juxtaposition of "romance" and "rape" that makes it one of the most horrifying rape scenes in the whole of cinema. It could be that it is an interesting, unique approach to get across the horror of sexual violence - as powerful in it's very different way to the brutal, cold, hard-edged "bad trip" visuals and pounding music of, for example, the rape of the nun in Bad Lieutenant.

Or it could be that the subtleties were an accidental effect. the "rush job" nature of the film is apparent throughout, so did/could they have worked out such subtle meaning to one scene when the rest of the film is just (to my eyes, I am not the biggest fan of the picture) brutish exploitation.

If nothing else, it makes you think, and that is what I think films ought to do.

Again, thanks for the responses.

Ortolani did this a few times though, didn't he? Scoring brutal scenes with beautiful/haunting music, which was completely at odds with the accompanying violent onscreen imagery. Adulteress' Punishment from Cannibal Holocaust and the wonderful music underscoring Florinda Bolkan being beaten to death by four men in Don't Torture A Duckling spring immediately to mind :

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Sarah@Cult Labs

the release date for House on the Edge of the Park has been put back to 31 October 2011.!

The date seems somewhat appropriate for a film like that, doesn't!?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by trench

Ortolani did this a few times though, didn't he? Scoring brutal scenes with beautiful/haunting music, which was completely at odds with the accompanying violent onscreen imagery. Adulteress' Punishment from Cannibal Holocaust and the wonderful music underscoring Florinda Bolkan being beaten to death by four men in Don't Torture A Duckling spring immediately to mind :

I think the juxtaposition of the orchestral music with brutal violence seems to exaggerate the horror and I think it's the silence with the cars driving past at the end which makes that scene even more effective.

[Daemonia]

Originally Posted by trench

Ortolani did this a few times though, didn't he? Scoring brutal scenes with beautiful/haunting music, which was completely at odds with the accompanying violent onscreen imagery. Adulteress' Punishment from Cannibal Holocaust and the wonderful music underscoring Florinda Bolkan being beaten to death by four men in Don't Torture A Duckling spring immediately to mind

I think the power is that instead of exciting music, Ortolani turns the tables on the viewers, and instead of instilling a sense of excitement in the viewer, he chooses, and quite rightly so, to portray man's inhumanity to man as something sad. It works extremely well. This is one of the reasons why Cannibal Holocaust isn't an out-and-out exploitation film. The violence is haunting and sad to watch and, contrary to a Hollywood film, it isn't presented in an exciting MTV style with a pounding soundtrack to pump up the adrenaline. It stays with you, though, far more than the casual violence that peppers Hollywood action/horror films.