Published on August 6, 2016, by JPRoscoe - Posted in Movies 0, Genre(s):  B-Movie/Horror/Mystery/Suspense. Canoe screw.

Loves all things pop-culture especially if it has a bit of a counter-culture twist. He even visits a couple of bars.

"Savage Weekend" is a weirdly disjointed, almost dreamlike experience. 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.

Several couples head upstate to the country to watch a boat being built. Greg Pettis (Jeff Pomerantz) former spokesman for a governor that committed suicide has his son (Adam Hirsch) for the weekend. Despite the lack of teenagers, there is plenty of sex happening. Director David Paulsen seems to shoot the film with a European sensibility, and it's pretty clear that Bava's classic Bay of Blood had a HUGE influence in this film. 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. SAVAGE WEEKEND (1979) Blu-ray Director: David Paulsen Scorpion Releasing/Kino Lorber "You can't blame upstate folk for getting crazy in the mind" when you book a SAVAGE WEEKEND, the long-neglected Cannon slasher on Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing and Kino Lorber. He also busts some mad jokes about dead bats and I was definitely dying , This banjo driven, mustache infused nightmare is a real time capsule of late 70s horror. Few things. ... released in 1979 as THE UPSTATE MURDERS and renamed in 1981 as SAVAGE WEEKEND.

Proto-slashers are generally considered slasher-esque movie released before the horror subgenre’s defining release of John Carpenter’s Halloween in 1978, though you’ll often see this delineation dropped for the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas, and occasionally even The Town That Dreaded Sundown. The revealing of the killer is not exactly shocking, if you pay attention either. The boom mic appears more than the Killer and characterization is almost bullet points.

A handful of city slickers from New York City decide to go visit upstate New York. They should have used stunt doubles or hired a fight choreographer and ran a few takes until they got it right. He gives his movie a European style, and it only makes the film seem more artistic and potent. Savage Weekend has the distinction of being a slasher film before many were being made and that's neat and all, but it's clear that the formula hadn't been perfected yet. What was that whole scene with the hook about? Sure, there's a killer with a mask, but he only appears in one or two scenes. Several couples head upstate to the country to watch a boat being built. Consider it a slasher with some melodrama. In one of his token weirdo roles, William Sanderson might be way down the list in the credits but along with Christopher Allport(who plays Nicky, a "queen", in a role which might shock those who are accustomed to his "All American dad", tough guy, or straight arrow corporate types as a staple on television), he easily has the more interesting role as Otis, a backwoods loner who was to fix up a giant boat which used to belong to his late brother(for whom he visits at the cemetery regularly). All except one, who is the kind of tough, farm-smart, rugged sexual mastodon that is of course the apple of the confused divorcee’s eye. A bunch of townie head out into the country for the weekend during which they rile up and generally antagonise the locals. A list that is trying to contain every horror film made that is not lost and is found on the…, Sally Jane Black 461 films 666 22 Edit, Rocky LaForge 18,788 films 2,337 59 Edit. When really, it sounds like he was a posessive ass. Filter by Rating Clear. Audience Reviews for Savage Weekend. Yet, despite its inadequacies, Savage Weekend is not your average, run-of-the-mill slasher film. So there is one savage thing about this movie and that's David Gale's handlebar moustache. Why she had virtually no career aside from this is a mystery. For instance, Nicky, the openly gay and flamboyant best friend, has a scene early on where he’s getting harassed in a bar (admittedly after doing his best to antagonize the locals) and then kicks the asses of two dudes who were going to pick a fight. Savage Weekend is a very good film. I just watched the uncut Paragon video of SAVAGE WEEKEND (great title but misleading here) and I have to say that as slasher films go, this is one is slightly different but like so many of them, it's still a near complete failure. His ex-wife is off for the weekend or so with her boyfriend Robert Fathwood (Jim Doerr). 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. Suddenly, a killer in an odd mask begins murdering the group of friends. Savage Weekend. Savage Weekend is quite an interesting movie. There are, as previously mentioned, some very shockingly filmed scenes. As a horror film, it's ridiculously lame and will turn away the most die-hard horror fanatics. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. See, in the 80s, slashers were literal, concrete, tangible.

Love it! Hunter better hang up his powder horn and go fishing. Otis knows spelling. The characters feel like horny teenagers, but they’re all adults (and we still get the quickest sex scene since Judith Myers). Very mad, and quite bad, but very enjoyable.

Within ten minutes we get a gay stereotype beating the hell out of a bar full of rednecks. Very eventually somebody slaps on a monster mask and starts slaughtering them.

Films like this are a great reminder that there's still a bunch of unique slashers out there waiting for belial to make love to...I mean watch normally. ( Log Out /  So there is one savage thing about this movie and that's David Gale's handlebar moustache. While some of the scenes are very tense and horrific, the film also has oodles of gratuitous nudity, a homosexual man flaunting it and sticking sharp objects into himself for no apparent reasons, and some really strange locals that make upstate New York look like Hillbilly land. As a simple little exploitation film, it's just like spending the night at the local drive-in, eating stale popcorn and kissin' the girls until the final curtain. All rights reserved. The mask the killer wears is creepy as a motherfucker.

So this is another proto slasher that predates Halloween.

The rules hadn't been fully established and it feels like anything can happen. Slow and meandering and hypnotic. Some nice kills, though the film's first half is slow. If anyone knows where to find a copy of this film and how we can get it properly listed here at the IMDb please let me know. Savage Weekend is quite an interesting movie. I was on its side when an openly gay character beats up a pair of homophobes in a bar, but it was steeply downhill for both that character and this film from that moment onwards. Branding your kill. Of course it does not have high production value, but as far as content and story-line are concerned it is awesome. 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.