Savage Weekend (1979) Reviews

• Sex, boats and duct tape

  Chase_Witherspoon2012-03-24

  Five people take a trip to a backwoods community where one of them is restoring a large boat, the ownership of which is a matter of considerable anger on behalf of local yokel Otis (Sanderson) whose father, and the original owner of the boat, has recently died. Otis is "none too pleased" that city folk are taking away his blood, sweat and tears and he plans to get even. Meanwhile, promiscuous Shirley (O'Heaney) sunbathes naked, has random sexual encounters with Jay (Goldenberg) while the new boat owner (Doerr) and his girlfriend Marie (Hamilin, essentially the central character) are also indulging their carnal desires at every given opportunity. Flamboyant queen Chris Allport minces about, making salads and peeping lustfully as the two couples cavort, all the while Otis is plotting his revenge by his late-father's grave-stone. It reminds me of a poor man's "Deliverance" in some respects and while at first glance, the cast may be unfamiliar, many of the faces are recognisable. Sanderson, Allport and Pomerantz have become better known actors, while Gale (pre "Re-Animator") appears in an early role as the sinister-looking Mac, all-purpose local man who could be a hero or a villain. Despite these names, it's Caitlin O'Heaney's presence that really emboldens this low-budget slasher flick. Light years before "Tales of the Gold Monkey", the brassy brunette is like a divine nymph and between Allport's colourful peacock like performance, the two make an odd yet engaging pair. If you can overlook the moments of despair (Hamlin's cow-milking scene or the irritating banjo music spring to mind), there's enough material in this low-budget shocker to make it worthwhile. And while the climax descends into little more than a killing spree, it's energetic, gruesome and the plot twists satisfying. I watched this film many years ago and found it underwhelming, but on second more recent viewing, there's more depth in the cast and sub-text than perhaps initially meets the eye.

• One of the first classic-style American slashers

  Red-Barracuda2015-07-22

  Savage Weekend is quite an interesting movie. It's intriguing because, while it looks like many of the countless slice and dice flicks that made up the slasher cycle, it was in fact made some time before these films became popularised and clichéd. It displays some facets that would go on to constitute the classic style slasher film, yet it was made in 1976 and only released three years later in the wake of the huge success of Halloween (1978). It seems to clearly have been a movie somewhat ahead of its time in this respect. Its story is one that would go on to become fairly standard in this sub-genre. A group of rich urban friends travel to a remote location for from R&R, before long a masked psychopath begins picking them off. Notably, the characters here are adults, in this respect it deviates from the later slasher template which focused almost exclusively on teenagers. One thing these adults do have in common with their teenage descendants, however, is that they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time having sex. In fact Savage Weekend is pretty ram packed with abundant nudity. On the other hand, it also spends an unusually long time on the plot set-up, with a reasonable amount of character development before the killer finally kicks into action. Maybe it spends a little too long on the build-up in fairness, as it does feel at times that the movie could do with a little more thrills and suspense but in the final half hour, the bloody action is certainly ramped up. The cast was also quite notable for featuring a couple of actors who would go on to star in two 80's cult classics - William (Blade Runner) Sanderson and David (Re-Animator) Gale play a couple of the local hicks. The other most prominent presence in the film was unquestionably the boom mic, which popped up so often and in such hilariously prominent ways that I felt that it should really have been given a special mention in the end credits.

• About As Mature Of a Horror Film as They Come

  t14802008-03-10

  I threw this on one night when I still wasn't tired, thinking it would be total schlock and I would just get a quick sense of it before falling asleep. What a surprise, then, when it turned out to be creepy and artistic and deeply disturbing; just the way I like it; and I knew that I would have to devote a second viewing just to examine it in greater detail. Savage Weekend is one of the most innovative horror films ever made as far as I'm concerned. It might come across as a bit uneven to some viewers, but really it's better than average in many ways. Although filmed in America with an American cast and crew, one might assume this was a European film if you watched it without the sound. This was deliberate on the directors part. He gives his movie a European style, and it only makes the film seem more artistic and potent. The story of Savage Weekend is inspired and suspenseful. Rich New York City businessman Robert decides to take his fiancée Marie and three of their friends upstate to his vacation home to relax. Everyone seems to be enjoying their time resting, drinking and enjoying each other's company. This good time is spoiled by the appearance of a masked killer who begins stalking and then bothering the vacationers one by one. First-time writer-director David Paulsen spends nearly a full hour on set-up, a risky proposition that might have grown tedious if it weren't for the unhurried care and mounting intrigue he brings to this elongated opening act. By concentrating on the charms and realism of his characters and their naturalistic, laid-back relationships with each other, the crucial turn toward mortal danger means a great deal more to the viewer. And, when one of them meets an abrupt, premature end, you feel their loss after wards. Once Savage Weekend makes a sudden turn toward sheer panic and terror, director David Paulsen aims squarely for the jugular. As deliberately paced as the first hour is—essential to making the visceral impact Paulsen wants to in the last third—the last thirty minutes are tightly edited, graphically violent in rattlingly unexpected ways, and breathlessly intense. In a change of events for the genre, the four protagonists do the smart thing at all times, their minds always working in logical ways that fit their horrific situation. In turn, their deaths do not arise out of their own stupidity, but because their dire circumstances prove impossible to overcome. The direction in this movie is never anything but innovative and exciting. Take the scenes with the local psycho Otis, played by none other than William Sanderson. I was shocked at how vividly Paulsen captures Otis' insanity in the scenes where he is seen talking to himself. They might seem annoying to some, but those scenes were the most memorable for me, as they actually brought back memories. I spent 3 fun-filled years back in college working in a State Mental Hospital while going to school full-time. A lot of the folks I was dealing with, and I normally dealt with the "cream of the crop", often mumbled - a lot. It was like they were really not having a conversation with anyone that "we" could see, so they did not care if "we" could hear them. Paulsen also shows some amazing skill dispaying sexual tension in the scene in which Marie is sunbathing on a boat with two male companions. The two men are engaging in a coversation when we are suddenly shown a closeup of Marie's inner thighs. The camera then zooms slowly over her body to great effect. I have never read a review of Savage Weekend that didn't mention the film's graphic sexuality. Here we have Marie having sex with Jay twice, Shirley having sex with Robert, Marie having sex with Greg, Shirley sunbathing nude, Marie making out with Mac, Marie rubbing herself in front of Mac and Jay, and Robert tearing Shirley's bikini off. Many reviews have stated that Savage Weekend's frequent sexual distractions were unnecessary and childish. I see it differently. We actually have significant character development taking place during the numerous sex scenes. For example, Marie can't have sex with Jay without fantasizing about being with her estranged husband, Greg. This obsession with Greg causes her to later turn down a sexual encounter with Mac. Shirley is shown to be a particularly reckless woman through her sexual behavior in this film. She thinks nothing of having sex with Robert in the middle of a field during broad daylight. I was completely gripped by this movie while watching it. The combination of total weirdness, striking photography, constant scary tension based around what the killer is going to do next, and the vague off-kilter nature of it due to its subject matter made this one unforgettable film. It's a shame that the director never went on to direct anymore films following this. He spent the rest of his career in television, where his considerable talents were put to somewhat lesser use. Now that it has finally been released on DVD, I see the audience for this film to grow exponentially. See it and be prepared to carry images from this movie around for a long time.

• Compelling, little known Slasher Sleeze

  MADMANMARZ2000-03-15

  There is just something compelling about this little known slasher/mystery, produced in the late 70's. The acting is solid, the characters seem realistic, and even though not much happens in the first 40 or so minutes, the trashy sex scenes and slow character development keep you hooked, until the murders start. The murders are seriously not the most memorable, (except for maybe the needle in the head) but Savage Weekend keeps the viewer watching, with a lurid story filled with sex and climaxing with violent murders. The revealing of the killer is not exactly shocking, if you pay attention either. Consider it a slasher with some melodrama.

• WOW! Somebody Got It Right!!

  Squonkamatic2005-06-22

  SAVAGE WEEKEND is one of the most unique thrillers I have ever seen, and to find out that it was really made *before* HALLOWEEN makes it even more remarkable. I think the reason for the lukewarm comments is that the film was incorrectly marketed as a Slasher Horror outing rather than a lurid psychological drama that just happens to take a blindsided turn into Freddy Kreuger land for the climax. Very low budgeted and shot on location in what look to me like familiar Upstate NY locations, the film only has one "star" in the cast (BLADE RUNNER's William Sanderson) and he plays a dimwit, so ordinary human beings will likely be confused by the film. People with preceptive minds will find this one of the more satisfying films they've seen, regardless of genre. Think David Lynch crossed with Ma & Pa Kettle, with some insane maniac running around for a half hour killing people. THE PLOT: An arrogantly rich business executive takes a vacation from the rigors of New York City by going "Upstate" to an undisclosed location where he has a summer house on a small lake in a mostly rural community. He has also hired a local n'er do well (Sanderson) to build a 30 foot schooner for him, so yes the movie is essentially about two couples who go Upstate to see a boat being built. In addition to the rich guy's ultra-sultry bought fiancée is the manager from one of his offices & his sex kittenish girlfriend, who enjoys sunbathing in the nude. I enjoyed it too, and the whole movie has a voyeuristic tone to it that will satisfy even the most jaded cult horror freak who requires exploitative nudity in their movies. The film also has a decidedly non-P.C. streak of homophobia running right down the middle, embodied by cult movie personality Adam Hirsch, best known as the gay gunslinger Adam "Poxy" Saxon from THE GRAND DUEL, sashaying & paravanting his way through another gay baiting pseudo comic relief role that is better than the material surrounding him -- Hirsch's few scenes are mostly played for laughs, but he is excellent, and the Queer jokes actually have thematic relevance to the plot. Nobody ever said good art had to be sensitive and correct. So the different characters gather for some relaxation involving drinking, fishing, arguing, having sex, and exploring what it is they really want from each other, the best scenes of which involve the sultry raven haired fiancée played by Marilyn Hamlin who dangerously flirts with the foreman on the farm. Their (R Rated) scene in the milk barn is absolutely riveting: I never knew that women were instinctively drawn to phallic symbols like magnets before, and this woman is like an electron in search of a good nucleus. Holy Smokes!! And as a fellow commenter has observed, at roughly the fifty minute mark sparks start to fly as a masked, psychotic lunatic -- who's identity will be pretty obvious to folks who understand the formula by which Slashers work -- starts to hack and strangle his way through the leads. The killings are not particularly gory but strikingly staged, and the gag involving the dead electrical outlet got a belly laugh out of this "Seen It All" horror junkie. That was great, though it was only funny the first time for me but whatever. The director was bound to hit a foul ball at some point. What they really achieved with this film was building up so much erotic and human tension that when the machete blades start swinging there is a sense of inevitability to the outcome, with a great "unlooked for hero" role or two and a wonderful ending that flatly refused to explain anything -- Just like those summer vacation urban horror legend stories that sort of starts out the film, and which lends itself so well to the locations used. Definitely a cult sleeper waiting to be rediscovered, though sadly the film is only available as prior rental VHS tapes from Paragon Home Entertainment. If you find one snap it up: Some of the action scenes actually combine widescreen takes with full frame detail shots, and the whole thing is riddled with belly laughs, deviant sex antics, "Good Hackage", abundant nudity, an amusing soundtrack, and the most effective use of electrical extension cords in a movie to establish tension that I have ever seen.