“Of course. For example SENSITIVIA (aka KYRA, LAST HOUSE NEAR THE LAKE, 1979). We made that one during my holidays in Spain, it was a completely Spanish production, involving some questionable money that had been left from some other, even more strange production. It was some sort of joke for me but then the producer came and said that there is no more money left to complete the film and that he needs my ‘name’ to raise more from other production companies. I was not very happy to see my name on that picture. However he failed to get more money, I returned to Rome and from what I’ve heard, the Spanish producer finished the picture by himself later on. I’ve never seen it but I’m sure it’s completely unwatchable. However, I had a great time with my friends at the Costa Brava (laughs).” (1)
A notation follows this paragraph in the interview where the
interviewers note that, “Castellari has since seen the finished film and was
pleasantly surprised with the outcome.” (2)
Lilian (Leonora Fani) returns to her ancestral and familial
home from Italy to do college research about the local superstitions. Her house sits upon a lake that is avoided by
the villagers as cursed. In the opening
scene of the film, a young mother is rowing upon it with her child
daughter. She lets her daughter go to
shore, and while the young mother paddles to find a navigable path to the main
shoreline, a woman’s hand comes from the lake and pulls the young woman from
the boat. En route to her home, Lilian
encounters several bad omens: she almost
hits a blind young girl with her motorcycle; inside the home, she hallucinates
a hooded figure who attempts to kill her with an axe; and finally, without
Lilian’s notice, a young woman about her age spies on Lilian from a distance
who seems none too happy that Lilian is home.
Lilian hooks up with the young people in the village, and later in the
evening (after drinking), they decide to go to the cemetery. Lilian notices a unique grave with a bust of
a beautiful woman, sitting atop. Her
date for the evening identifies the plot as the resting place for Kyra, a woman
suspected by the village as being a witch.
Her date, whose name is Julien (Alberto Squillante), says the woman was
not a witch, because she was his ancestor.
Lilian becomes excited and the two start fucking. The young woman who was spying on Lilian at
her home, named Lilith (Patricia Adriani), is again watching Lilian. Lilith has a vision of Kyra (Caternia
Boratto), becomes aroused, and starts masturbating. Lilian has an orgasm and faints. Julien loses his shit and flees in his
car. He has an accident when his car
goes over a cliff and he dies.
The simultaneous arousal of Lilian and Lilith happens three
more times; Lilith masturbates three more times; Lilian has sex three more
times; and two of her partners
subsequently kill himself after Lilian faints after orgasm in House.
The lone lover to survive is Lilian’s boyfriend, Edoardo (Wolfango
Soldati), while the other lovers who meet suicidal ends (one of whom is
Michele, played by Antonio Mayans aka Robert Foster) share a strong
connection. Castellari plays the police
inspector who suspects that Lilian has something to do with the murders (but
has no proof), while the superstitious villagers turn on Lilian after the
second death, believing she is a witch.
Wonderful, Italian-American character actor Vincent Gardenia plays an
artist in the village. He doesn’t think
that Lilian is a witch: he knows the real secret behind the killings, as he
houses a dark secret himself. The
dramatic action and plot of House is
quite simple but the odd history driving the action is rather convoluted.
The House by the Edge
of the Lake is obscure and rather
inconsequential. The screenplay isn’t
completely compelling—the inclusion of the overtly sexual elements raise the
eyebrows of the film. Subsequently, really
only the sex scenes receive any creative treatment and are the only memorable
moments of the film. Hence, the overall
Joe D’Amato-esque feeling of the
production. The House by the Edge of the Lake
is a film on the periphery of the syllabus for serious students of European
cult cinema.
1. Blumenstock,
Peter and Christian Kessler. “Enzo G.
Castellari Part. 2 of an Interview.” European
Trash Cinema. Vol.2, No. 10. Ed. Craig Ledbetter. Kingwood, TX. 1994: p. 31.
2. Ibid.
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