Simply Perfect

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

A group of New Yorkers travel upstate for the weekend where they upset the locals and find themselves stalked by a deranged killer wearing a rubber horror mask.The moment screaming queen Nicky (Christopher Allport) started kicking redneck ass in a bar room brawl, I guessed that Savage Weekend wasn't going to be just another average everyday backwoods slice 'n' dice horror; scenes like that don't happen in 'normal' slashers. Sure enough, although the film delivers several of the expected genre clichés (gratuitous nudity, a masked killer, suspicious hillbillies etc.), there is simply too much off-kilter weirdness and sleaze on display to pigeon-hole this one as a routine slasher flick.Take the movie's collection of characters, for example, whose behaviour is far from predictable...Middle-aged stockbroker Robert Fathwood (Jim Doerr) is dating sexy Marie Sales (Marilyn Hamlin), who is on the rebound having just split with her husband Greg (Jeff Pomerantz), who is having a personal crisis after his boss committed suicide. Marie, however, still fantasises about Greg during sex, and also likes to flirt with local bit of rough Mac Macauley (David Gale) by suggestively stroking his tractor's hydraulics. Macauley eventually succumbs to Marie's advances (after she suggestively fondles one of his cow's udders) but discovers that she is just being a tease. Marie's hot-to-trot sister Shirley (Caitlin O'Heaney), on the other hand, is a genuine goer: she enjoys sunbathing nude and has impromptu outdoor sex with Jay (Devin Goldenberg), one of Robert's employees, under the watchful gaze of the group's only gay member Nicky, who she later tries to seduce by doing a sexy tango for him in her undies. Meanwhile, local weirdo Otis (William Sanderson), who allegedly branded his unfaithful wife with the letter 'H' (for 'whore'), spends his spare time in the graveyard chatting to his dead brother!After an hour of watching these characters interacting (i.e. mostly flirting and having sex)—and dodging the boom mic (which makes regular appearances)—the mysterious killer turns up to off the city folk one by one, via hanging, hat-pin in the ear, table saw activated by light switch (that old chestnut), and defenestration. The identity of the killer is then revealed (I won't say who it is, but it's not too hard to figure out), Marie gets chased a bit, and there's a chainsaw/machete fight.Like I said… not just another average everyday backwoods slice 'n' dice horror.

Though the 1978 "Halloween" is seen by many to be the horror movie that gave birth to the slasher genre, in actual fact the seven or so years leading up to that movie had other filmmakers make stabs (ahem) in horror movies with remarkable similarities to the modern slasher movie. "Savage Weekend" was one of them, filmed before "Halloween" though released after that other movie became a big hit. But despite beating "Halloween" to the punch, it's not very memorable. True, the direction occasionally has some atmosphere, and there are some welcome scenes of nudity and sex. It's also fun to see a pre-fame William Sanderson. But for the most part the movie is a big bore. We are stuck watching forgettable character for the longest time. Over half the movie passes before the first person get killed, and the kills that there are aren't that spectacular - very little blood, for one thing. And it's pretty easy to figure out who the killer is, since the movie doesn't exactly give us a big list of suspects. If you must watch the movie, make a little game by counting how many times the boom mike (or its shadow) makes an appearance.

Not bad....very low production values, obvious cheap budget, but the acting is okay and the plot and pace are okay, too. One of the country bumpkins was of "Larry, Darryl, and Darryl" fame from the Bob Newhart Show; this time playing a much edgier Darryl. The lead actress, Marilyn Hammel, is very hot and a very good actress. Why she had virtually no career aside from this is a mystery. The ending was not predictable,but the light switch was. The violence was understated, but very unnerving. Much better than many of the subsequent slasher flicks. One thing - the fights were very phony. They should have used stunt doubles or hired a fight choreographer and ran a few takes until they got it right.

"Savage Weekend" is the story of some friends who go to upstate New York for the weekend to watch a friend's boat being built. Suddenly, a killer in an odd mask begins murdering the group of friends. Wow, this movie was true seventies awesomeness, I counted about 12 boom mics in the screen and the crew's equipment is even visible in one scene! So why did I give this movie 6 stars? Because it was so bad that it rocks!! Some people aren't able to appreciate the cheesiness of these kind of movies, but in my opinion, it just makes the movie better. Also, the bar scene was HILARIOUS for all the wrong reasons! This has tons of nudity and violence (albeit fake-looking), living up to its reputation as a sleazy drive-in gem. The version that I saw came in Mill Creeks "Horror Classics" 100 Movie Pack. Recommended! Rated: R for Violence, Nudity, and Gratuitous Boom MicGrade: C-