THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK (1980)
Shameless Screen Entertainment October 31st DVD release of Ruggero Deodato's brutal video nasty HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK (1980) starring David Hess and Giovanni Lombardo Radice will be cut though with 37 seconds previously given the axe by the BBFC reinstated.
Shameless submitted the film to the BBFC advisory board and perhaps unrealistically many fans had hoped the film would emerge unscathed and uncut in light of recent classification decisions resulting in Shameless's Blu-ray of Deodato's CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980) surprisingly receiving only minimal cuts and Arrow Video's DVD of the video nasty ISLAND OF DEATH (1977) passed without cuts as did Wes Craven's seminal THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972). It seemed that perhaps the times they were a changing in the UK in regard to film censorship and I thought it would be interesting to see what happened with the classification of HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK and now we know.
Shameless's appeal to the BBFC’s decision to cut HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK by 80 seconds resulted in what some might call a minor victory, the BBFC have agreed to waive 37 seconds of cuts to the sex scene between the characters Alex and Lisa. Sitting here at my computer in the US where violence on TV is expected and encouraged - just don't show us any nudity - it's easy to flinch at the thought that in the UK there's an actual governing body that dictates what is acceptable for an adult to view in this day and age. Praise to be to Shameless for fighting the good fight against censorship.
Not many concrete announcements have been made about the special features on the disc but here's what we've been able to piece together...
- Brand new special introduction to the film by David Hess.
- Brand new (and very lively!) interview with David Hess.
- Unannounced feature dedicated to the film's censorship.
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