I disagree. I find Last House on the Left profoundly disturbing in places and so succeeds in unsettling the viewer. House on the Edge of the Park doesn't do that to me at all at any point in the film. The premise is so ludicrous and over-the-top that you just can't take it seriously. Admittedely the razor scene is quite in-your-face, but Hess is never as believable as he was in Last House. The ending kind of throws the whole thing out of whack too, making all that has gone before seem ridiculous.

Personally, I find much of Deodato's film hilarious. Morghen as Ricky is priceless, with choice lines of dialogue like 'Look at me, Alex - I can dance!' whilst wheeling around the floor like an imbecile. Sorry, I just can't take the film seriously and I doubt this film would harm anyone, except for the most seriously deranged, who should probably be in mental institutions anyway.

I rewatched House the other night, I first watched it when I bought the Shriek Show disc years ago. It has some bizarre dialogue and set pieces for sure but like many nasties suffers from periods of complete dullness. All I will say is that they obviously couldn't razors for the actresses woo woos, beavers ahoy!

Hmm... I do see where you're coming from Dae, but my case for Park vs. Left, is that even though Left sets up a more believable premise than Park, Park's almost jovial vibe to the depravity is more visually shocking (and a hell of a lot more sleazy!), in my opinion.

The fact that Hess and Morghen are imbeciles almost doing it for a laugh (not too dis-similar to the motley crew of misfits in Left) makes it all the more sadistic, watching two people flip from odd partying to razor wielding rape. Hess and Morghen make you believe that they're capable of terrible things through the odd unsettling performances, and even though Hess is strong as Krug in Left, the rest of the group seem very two-dimensional, and very unbelievable in their roles.

Plus, if you want to talk silly, then the bumbling cops and sped-up country music in Left completely detracts from the terror and peril you're supposed to feel for these two young girls and just leaves you shaking your head in annoyed bemusement with a sour taste in your mouth.

However, I do agree with you on the ending of Park, and do prefer the more fitting revenge ending of Left (but Night Train Murders easily tops them both).

Well I've got to agree with that statement! :lol:

Overall they are both not without their flaws, I guess I can just overlook the flaws in Park more than I can in Left.

I agree!

Last house's cops just ruin the film for me.
The evilness inside the characters in Edge just top Last House imo.
I do think the actual Rape and humiliation in Last House is worse then Edge but the sexual violence in Edge is a little more explicit in Edge.

The humorous police duo really does not fit into that film - if you'd cut out those scenes, the film would become more believable, I think. Just think of our police - they do stupid things, yeah, they fail doing their job sometimes, yeah; but they never get as silly as those two guys in LHOTL. :coolblue:

As to David Alexander Hess - I'm afraid of him in both movies; I think there are few people that can top him playing crazy and dangerous killers. His performances - laugh at me, if you like - sometimes are very close to winning some actor's award. However, the imbecile partner of Hess in HOTEOTP (Radice) is more realistic than the mixed-up gang in LHOTL - as the partnership in HOTEOTP is clearly one leader and one follower; a thing you can find out on street more than once (which is a sad thing :(). It's closer to reality than the combination "deranged sadistic father", "stupid influenceable son", "lesbian sadistic b*tch" and "knife-loving sadistic madman".

The final twist in HOTEOTP is a less believable than the ending of Last House - but that does not reduce the intensity of the first-mentioned movie. A horror fan has to see them both - but HOTEOTP is tougher in my eyes; a really angry and evil flick.

Greetings!

All good points raised and I agree to some extent. However, my problem is this, the moment we start to take these films too seriously is the day we give the BBFC credibility in cutting these films.

I'll admit that they contain shocking material, but let's also not forget it's not real. I'm not desensitised either, it's simply that I can make a distinction between fact and fiction. I believe that a film can go too far in rare instances - but for the most part films don't upset or offend me, because it's fictional. But they can certainly shock me when they present something so in-your-face that it catches you off-guard.

The reason I say that Last House is better is because of one sequence. The scene in the woods is the most sustained and uncomfortable sequences I've seen in a film from this sub-genre. For that whole period of the film it's almost unbearable and you just want it to stop - it succeeds in that most fragile of film environments, the suspension of disbelief. Granted, the cops are a juvenile touch and some of the acting is dire. But that one sequence is nerve-shredding - and that look of 'What the hell have we done?' on Krug's face when it's over is a genre-defining moment IMO.

I do agree that the rape in the woods scene in Last House is pretty messed up :) but as far as both movies, overall I think Edge has a slight edge on Last House no pun intended :lol:

part 2
 

Nope. I think

Greetings!

Aha! :D

I have to admit that I'm really interested in the BBFC's decision concerning HOTEOTP. Is there any date out there when we will know about any possible cuts?

Greetings!

I found this for £3.85 at Zavvi. I wasn't 100% sure which version they were going to send out but I decided to buy it anyway and return it if it was not the one that description led me to believe it was. Anyway, it was delivered today and is the three disc version, so a great bargain particularly as it is now priced at £12.85.

Get it on and let us know what you think!

As I have never seen this one, this is great news as far as I'm concerned :) . I eagerly await the decision of the BBFC, but I still find some of their decisions to be a bit odd - why is Death Wish 2 still cut when LHOTL is passed uncut? It seems you never know which way they are going to go.

Whooooo Great film!:)

Brilliant deal. Worth it just for the slasher film doc on disc 3.

You have hours of fun to watch.

You have to admit it, with Last House, House .....Park, and Hitchhike (great film) David Hess possibly was in danger of being typecast. :lol:

Any chance of a Blu-ray release? Are the masters not up to it, or is it based on the sales you believe you're likely to have? If it does pass uncut, I'm more than sure there will be a lot of interest in an HD release.

Hopefully New York Ripper sales will be extremely positive, and if there is a possibility of this on Blu, you will re-evaluate it.

I saw the Vipco edition of this and at the time I didn't know anything was cut, but now i've read more into it i will be buying this

I expect cuts to the Shameless edition too.

I can see this too but hopefully it won't be as badly cut as the Vip edition

No, I don't think it'll be as bad as that version but the razor torture of the virgin girl will definitely still be cut.

Whats the AWE edition like

I'm really hoping this'll make it passed the scissors of the BBFC. I haven't seen it yet and an uncut Shameless release woul be ideal. I have my doubts though.

I said it somewhere else, but if by some miracle this got through uncut, I bet if Shameless were to go to the BBFC a mere few months after submitting New York Ripper, and submitted it again, it would sail through! That would just be deflating for all involved though!

I'm not 100% convinced the razor scene will be cut. I actually think the humiliation she goes through before it is more uncomfortable but I'm not sure what grounds they'd have to cut that as it's not particularly violent. I think this has a chance...

I just really can't see them passing it - IMO it's worse than the scene in NYR and they cut that.

No doubt he's a nice guy in real life, tho I find him totally convincing in threatening roles.

Might also be a problem that the actress looks very young indeed, and the fact that Hess has already been shown enjoying a rape/murder at the start of the film. So the old "sexual violence" alarm might ring. Think they'll snip it myself. Got an uncut vhs somewhere, watched it few years ago and think it's still too strong for the bbfc. Hope it gets a pass tho.

I can't speak for Shameless -- I'll leave that for Sarah -- but Arrow will always consider the quality of the source material first (they have to buy it before they can see it) and, if they decide it's good enough for a Blu-ray release, they'll then look at how financially viable such a release would be. I imagine Shameless are exactly the same. Clearly New York Ripper has good source material for a HD release and is a popular enough genre film with a decent fan base to shift units.

I also hope House on the Edge of the Park meets these criteria as it would be a real coup for Shameless to release a BD of it in the UK. However, first stop: Soho Square!

I think I'd prefer it as a text file..

Sorry Nos, I couldn't resist! :)

Damn voice recognition software! That'll teach me for not thoroughly proofreading a post before hitting the 'Submit' button.

No problem at all - if I had to write as many posts and mails as you, mine would look a lot worse than yours. :lol:

I'm really eager to know Soho Square's opinion on this Shameless release - does anybody know when they will classify House on the Edge of the Park?

Greetings!

I hope the BBFC will improve and put back many scenes intact when House on the edge of the park gets re-submitted to them and hopefully there could be a chance for an uncut UK release. I don't know why nearly 12 minutes of the film was cut but I think the only scene that might have a struggle with the censors could be the girl getting mutilated by David Hess? I guess all we can do is wait and see for the BBFC's decisions on the film.

It is indeed exactly that scene which the BBFC didn't like at all. Nearly 5 minutes of all the cuts are from the Cindy scene. They justify all the cuts of House on the Edge of the Park with "sexual violence, humiliating depictions of female nudity and gross violence".

Just a few thoughts:

- "gross violence": One of the scenes the BBFC complain about is the part where Alex beats Tom's head onto the table. Well, I've seen Irreversible and Deep Red: both movies include painful cephalic violence and both were classified 18 and were uncut. Class dismissed.

- "sexual violence": the BBFC's pet category for justifying cuts. :eyebrows: Again, since the uncut release of Irreversible and since all the rape scenes in Cannibal Holocaust were given the censors' blessing, there's no real reason for cutting House on the Edge of the Park. They could come up with strange explanations like Hess' character showing a lot of fun during the killing / torture scenes, though. But I distinctly remember both the cannibals and the anal rapist in the aforementioned flicks looking quite happy while doing their deeds. :rolleyes:

- "humiliating depictions of female nudity": They passed The Last House on the Left uncut, including the infamous humiliation scene ("I said PISS your PANTS!"); I think, HOTEOTP isn't more disturbing when Hess forces the young lady to undress. Period.

That said, I really doubt that any of the BBFC's censors will think so much about that flick, let alone compare it to previous decisions.

Well, hoping for the best and being prepared for the worst seems to be a good strategy when it comes to the BBFC's decisions. :coolblue:

Just my two cents.

Greetings!

Good breakdown of the various points of contention. I'd also throw in A Clockwork Orange for the sexual humiliation part, when Alex 'strips' the bound and gagged Mrs Alexander using scissors whilst dancing around and singing with the other two droogs laughing maniacally.

Yeah, I'm not familiar of the process involved in submitting a film to the BBFC as such but it would be good if you could have a real dialogue with them and attempt to rebuke their decisions based on films and specific scenes they've previously let pass. It would be quite something to be able to show them how inconsistent they can be when it comes to cutting certain films and passing others*. Still, unlikely to happen I suspect - I'm sure it's just a clear case of "The BBFC's decision is final"

*unless it caused them to reevaulate previous decisions and they went around the country seizing copies of Last House on the Left and other passed Video Nasties!

I imagine things like that would only come into play if there were cuts and Shameless were to appeal, citing previous decisions in similar cases.

Sarah, is this going before the advisory committee first?

I believe that is the intention. I think they are waiting to get the Cannibal Holocaust classification all sorted first as they still need to submit Deodato's new edit (I think - there's been a lot going on and it gets confusing at times!) so once that's sorted they'll be switching attention to House on the Edge of the Park.