SAVAGE WEEKEND (1976) - aka The Killer Behind the Mask, aka The Upstate Murders

[The Burgomaster]

This movie is included in the DRIVE-IN MOVIE CLASSICS 50 MOVIE PACK

The rule of thumb is, if a movie has been released under 3 or more different titles, it is probably a major league suck fest.

This one is about a small group of friends who decide to get away from New York City for a relaxing weekend at a secluded lakeside house.  For about the first 45 minutes, I was suspicious that nothing interesting was ever going to happen.  Then the killer showed up (wearing a rubber scare mask) and started slaughtering people.  

Unfortunately, the murders (by hanging, table saw, long needle in the ear, etc.) are pretty dull.  And there is no surprise whatsoever when the killer is unmasked . . . it is exactly who you think it is.

I wish I could drop-kick this movie into a rock quarry or tie rocks to it and sink it to the bottom of a cesspool.  Unfortunately, there are 3 other movies on the disc that might be worth keeping.

Yawn.

[Menard]

I frankly enjoyed parts of Savage Weekend, of course, mostly for the sleazy parts, and the Tango sequence was quite interestingly done. I do agree that the first half of this film takes its sweet time getting there, and, although I don't believe that the identity of the killer was obvious, it was a letdown as they so played the red herring scheme and just copped out to an 'unmask the killer' ending in which any of the guys with which Robert got into a fight with at the bar could have just as easily been the killer; and made as much sense.

The tagline for this film was something along the lines of ' Makes The Texas Chainsaw Massacre look like kid's stuff '. That part must have been missing from my copy.

[Menard]

I frankly enjoyed parts of Savage Weekend, of course, mostly for the sleazy parts, and the Tango sequence was quite interestingly done. I do agree that the first half of this film takes its sweet time getting there, and, although I don't believe that the identity of the killer was obvious, it was a letdown as they so played the red herring scheme and just copped out to an 'unmask the killer' ending in which any of the guys with which Robert got into a fight with at the bar could have just as easily been the killer; and made as much sense.

The tagline for this film was something along the lines of ' Makes The Texas Chainsaw Massacre look like kid's stuff '. That part must have been missing from my copy.

[The Burgomaster]

Menard:

I must bow down to you and hang my head in shame.  If you found any part of this enjoyable in any way, then you are TRULY a hardcore bad movie fan.  I will withdraw my troops from your land and leave my daughter (the fair princess) with you as a token of my eternal loyalty and respect.  I simply cannot compete with someone who could find anything positive to say about this unsuspenseful, unscary, uninteresting snooze fest.  You are the ruler of the land!

And 2 things I forgot to mention about the movie:

* The boom microphone keeps dropping down into plain view (which is probably the only thing that held my attention . . . I kept watching the top edge of my TV screen waiting to see the mike)

* The part where the woman finishes dancing to the tango, sees the killer in the house on the TOP FLOOR, runs downstairs PAST THE GROUND FLOOR DOOR WHERE SHE COULD HAVE RUN OUTSIDE TO FREEDOM, and goes DIRECTLY INTO THE BASEMENT WHERE SHE HAS A 100% CHANCE OF BEING TRAPPED, really annoyed me.  * * Whew * *

[Menard]

You can tell I liked it so much that I posted about it twice....not really, just a mistake.

Has anybody else had problems with the board not loading today?


P.S.  There were some parts I enjoyed about the movie, but certainly not enough to ever watch it again.