House on the Edge of the Park

House on the Edge of the Park (La casa sperduta nel parco, 1980) is Ruggero Deodato's notorious Italian shocker, and you can watch it online on iFILM. A wealthy couple breaks down on the way to a party and pulls into a backstreet garage for help. Bad idea.

The mechanic is played by David Hess, the same actor who terrorized audiences in The Last House on the Left, so menace comes naturally to him. He and his slow-witted sidekick wrangle an invitation to the villa, then turn the evening into a hostage ordeal of humiliation and violence. Annie Belle and Giovanni Lombardo Radice round out a cast that mostly exists to suffer.

The film became a flashpoint of the rape-and-revenge cycle and spent years on Britain's banned "video nasties" list. Deodato, who had already scandalized the world with Cannibal Holocaust, films the cruelty head-on with no safety net. Go in knowing it's mean, grimy and built to provoke. Stream House on the Edge of the Park (1980) online on iFILM.