Savage Weekend

Savage Weekend movie poster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

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. 

Tough fag.

Masked monster.

Opening titles.

Hillbilly.

Style.

The bad guy?

Horny lady in danger.

  

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.

By the way this movie review was written by Steve Nyland on IMDB and pretty much sums up everything I thought about this interesting film.

Here's the full movie on youtube (censored edition no sex)

And the movie trailer: