The Road Leads To Nowhere...

Earlier this month we lost David Hess. He was 69 years old.

In Wes Craven's Last House On The Left and Ruggero Deodato's The House On The Edge Of The Park, Hess gave us two of horror's most unforgettably unpleasant villains in Krug Stillo and Alex.

The sleazy, deadly charisma with which Hess imbued these two iconic sociopaths made them perfect cinematic reflections of Charles Manson - albeit a more muscular, macho interpretation of the man - complete with devoted followers in tow, ready to do anything to please their murderous leader (most memorably Giovanni Lombardo Radice in Park).

Of course Hess was also a gifted musician, and his oddly inappropriate score for Last House really helps to accentuate the film's nasty vibe of bad acid and the Summer of Love gone very wrong. Sweet, folksy numbers like "Wait For The Rain" and the opening credits track (reprised in "Blow Your Brains Out") are just dripping with a kind of haunting, saccharine melancholy that gives the depravity and carnage on screen an extra dose of hallucinatory menace. Whatever the relative merits of the Last House soundtrack, it certainly still rates a mention just for being one of the strangest horror scores around.

However, removed from the disturbing context of pants-pissing and chest-carving, these sad songs are appropriate for spending a few minutes contemplating the life and achievements of one of horror's most undersung participants.

R.I.P. David Hess. Here.

Holocausto Sperduta Nel Parco!

It's Xmas, so let's take a moment to reflect inwardly and... nah, fuck that, let's talk about Cannibal Holocaust and House On The Edge Of The Park instead.

300-issue-old Fangoria just reported that Ruggero Deodato wants to cast David Hess in Cannibal Holocaust II. Earlier this year I heard that the project had fallen apart (see poster at right) - but assuming that Fango's sources are correct, Holocausto Canibal II would reunite the notorious duo for the first time since the excellent House On The Edge Of The Park and the execrable Body Count.

A comment on the Fango article also mentions some discussion of Federico "Shadow" Zampaglione coming aboard to serve as assistant director on the film. To really fill me with holiday cheer however, I'd like to see Deodato send everyone's favourite whipping boy Giovanni Lombardo Radice into the green inferno. But given Radice's very public regrets about Lenzi's Cannibal Ferox, that ain't gonna happen!

If all goes to plan, Deodato and Hess might be sweating it out on location in the Philippines at some point in the first half of 2011.