9. House On The Edge Of The Park (1980)
Starring the ultimate silver screen psychopath portrayer David Hess, House on the Edge of the Park is a brutal and perverted tale of home invasion. It is a nasty and sadistic film. For me, the only thing really good about it (apart from Hess's performance) was the fabulous disco soundtrack). It has had a very contentious history with the BBFC - starting its life as a banned Video Nasty in the early 1980s. It was probably one of the most sought after banned movies until it was put before the BBFC again in 2002 by Vipco. Cuts were required to several scenes of sexualised violence, gross violence and humiliating scenes of female nudity. Most of the rape and assault sequences were removed and the scene where Cindy gets sliced up was heavily cut. The opening sequence was heavily edited and a scene of Tony's head being smashed into a table had the most part of it removed. In total 11 minutes and 43 seconds were cut out of the movie. I own a copy of this version and it is so milquetoast as to be boring and pointless. Intrepid film company Shameless were brave enough to resubmit the film in 2011, and this time the BBFC were considerably more lenient. They did originally want 16 cuts across 1 minute 20 seconds but in the end the cuts went down to 43 seconds and consisted of: - sight of razor being traced between woman's breasts. - sight of razor being traced over woman's breast and nipple. - sight of razor being traced over woman's breasts and nipples. - sight of razor being traced over woman's breast and nipple and over her body. - sight of razor being traced over woman's stomach, with her breast visible. - sight of razor being eased inside woman's jeans. - As man approaches woman with razor blade, remove all sight of breast and arm being slashed with razor. - all sight of razor cutting woman's breast and arm. - all sight of razor cutting woman's breast and arm (again). - all sight of razor cutting woman's breast and arm (again, for a third time). - close sight of razor cutting woman's leg, next to her genitals. - close sight of razor cutting woman's leg, next to her genitals (again). - sight of razor cutting down woman's body, between her breasts. This may sound like a lot, but compared to the mangled 2002 version, the film is mainly restored back to rude health with most of the above cuts pertaining to Cindy's carving up by razor. It is a decent compromise that allows the film to retain its inherent nastiness whilst mitigating the more extreme end of the film's violence.