24 Mar 2012

The House On The Edge Of The Park - Lisa's Review


*** SPOILERS ***

As I start this review, I don't know what I'm going to write so there may be spoilers.

I struggled with how to review this movie without bias, trying not to let the fact i'm female affect my viewpoint, but sadly its not something I was able to do, so.. if it makes me a feminist whinger, then so be it.


I won't go into serious levels of detail with the plot, but the main male lead (Alex) starts the movie by raping a young woman in the back of a car. I knew by this stage I wan't going to like this one. Ok, so how do I explain this... rape happens, it's nasty, so sure it has a place within 'Video Nasties' but what I have a real problem with is the execution of a rape scene being filmed as a 'love' scene for titilation. A womans body being used to get as many shots of her various parts as possible, rather than concentrate on the vile act that rape actually is. As I watched this first rape and we zoomed in for chest and genital close-ups, my stomach turned over. I don't know whether this is because I am female or whether men would feel similarly.

We move on in the movie and Alex and his slow friend Ricky are invited to a party with a bunch of rich individuals. Its made clear early on they've been invited for kicks for the yuppies to laugh at. They cheat at poker with Ricky cleaning him out of all his money, they make him dance, cheering him on, all while laughing at him and encourage him to strip. Our supposed smart switched on guy is even taken for a fool by one of the women who does everything possible to lead him on and then won't have sex with him.

What follows is similar to 'funny games' I suppose. Alex turns nasty and holds the houses occupants hostage. He beats the 2 men and we get to see every woman in the house completely naked (ok so, 1 woman only goes topless, but we have every other female in the movie to make up for that). Ricky is easilly led, but when it comes down to it, he doesn't want to perform in front of the group at Alex's request by forcing himself on one of the women.

So its a typical bad guy holds a group hostage and does bad things movie. What I found different about it however was the sheer amount of uncomfortable forced female nudity. Women being abused, raped, stripped, having razors held to their throats, even a teenage babysitter (a virgin of course) being stripped, humiliated and cut all over with a razor. The scenes made me squirm and not in the way they should have. As I have said before, I don't like scenes of sexual abuse and i dislike them even more when every angle, shot and movement is to cause excitement to the viewer. As the women are being abused, the director is very careful to make sure their leg is at just the right angle for maximum body exposure and to make the most of what they've got. As with the first rape, we are 'treated' to close-ups of all the females breasts and genitals through-out the movie. I just wanted to give the people responsible a big kick in the nuts from all rape victims who might be unlucky enough to come across this piece of drivel!

We have a 'twist' at the end of the movie which might surprise a retard, but I saw it coming from the initial invite of Alex and Ricky to the house. I won't give it away for anyone who feels compelled to watch this movie from my review, I seriously hope however, most people I know would have the intelligence to avoid!

Please use the comments bellow only to comment on this post - to write your own review, please comment on the main post for this movie.

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