Audience Member
While it wasn't released until 1979, the movie that became Savage Weekend — also The Killer Behind the Mask — started as The Upstate Murders. That means that it predates most of the commonly accepted "first" slashers like Halloween and Friday the 13th.
It was acquired by the Cannon Group — one of the few slashers they put out along with Silent Night, Bloody Night*, X-Ray, New Year's Evil and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, although I can make an argument for Cobra, Hero and the Terror and 10 to Midnight being slashers and I consider Schizoid Americanized giallo — and had a budget of $58,000.
This is a slasher with the most ridiculous of conceits — everyone comes to upstate New York to see a new schooner — but it also has a heroic gay character (Nicky, played by Christopher Allport, who was in both Jack Frost movies and ironically killed in real life by an avalanche) and a woman escaping a bad marriage which seemingly has followed her. Also, since the aspect ratio got screwed up, the boom mic is a frequent co-star.
That said, it has a sewing needle through the head, someone accidentally killed by a bandsaw when the wrong light switch gets turned on, a hanging and an Upstate New York Chainsaw Massacre. It's not perfect — it's barely even worthwhile — but at least director/writer got to go on and make the much more interesting Schizoid, which has hot tub therapy sessions, scissor murders, Donna Wilkes being in love with her father Klaus Kinski and a love scene where Kinski has sex with a stripper against a hot water heater.
*I realize that this film is a Dewey-Friedland Cannon release and not Golan-Globus. That said, Golan-Globus distributed Graduation Day, Don't Go Near the Park and The Hills Have Eyes Part 2, but did not make them.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
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Audience Member
I found it a little too cheap and a bore. It was kind of a chore to get through... The gay guy kicking ass in the bar brawl was kind of cool though.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
07/28/18
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Audience Member
At one point in this film I thought "Wow, this prototype Slasher flick has a UFO in it;" then I realized that a boom mike had dipped into the corner of the shot. The film actually gets better as it progresses and serves as a prototype of the Slasher boom that followed in the wake of Halloween and Friday The Thirteenth. Savage Weekend actually predates Hallowed; it was filmed in 1976 and released in 1978 and then was re-released on home video in the 1980s. The film has plenty of red herrings, past indiscretions, sex scenes, gory violence, and a masked killer whose identity is kept a secret until close to the end. There is a fun scene in which Christopher Allport's character Nicky, a very gay man (in a very over-the-top and cliched performance) beats the crap out of two rednecks in a bar. Caitlin O'Heaney (billed as Kathleen Heaney) went on to play the lead in He Knows You're Alone and was also the female lead in the TV series, Tales of the Gold Monkey while William Sanderson would soon be playing a regular on the 1980s Newhart TV series.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/24/23
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Audience Member
This is a nice little movie if you're looking to catch up on some sleep. Practically nothing happens for the first hour, and I heard it was supposed to be sleazy, but it's pretty tame. Sure, there's full frontal nudity, but that does not a sleazy movie make. There's some strange dialogue exchanges that can constitute that, but even the dialogue is pretty tame and boring. The last half hour definitely gets sleazier with a strange dancing scene with a woman in stockings and lingerie dancing to a song that just seems to loop over and over and over. It was actually my favorite part, and was the only time I was laughing and enjoying the movie. The kills are not memorable (in fact, I've forgotten most of the deaths) and the movie is so slow that I nodded off for like ten minutes. What I found so surprising is that even when falling asleep and barely being able to pay attention, I was able to predict the ending. It's not a very good surprise ending (and anyone would see it coming), but it's just funny that I could see it coming even when I wasn't looking. I don't get the appeal of this one at all.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
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Audience Member
Surprisingly good exploitation slasher from the 70's. A bunch of rich city folk go to the country for a retreat of pomp and circumstance and there is a killer on the loose.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
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Audience Member
City Folks Get Needled in the Country--Audacious, Erotic And Imaginative Horror!!
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
Full Review
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