Savage Weekend

Plot

Marie Pettis (Marilyn Hamlin) has recently divorced her politician husband named Greg, who had been involved in a scandal in New York City. To decompress, she leaves for a weekend trip in upstate New York with her new stockbroker boyfriend Robert (Jim Doerr), her sister Shirley (Caitlin O'Heaney), and their openly gay friend Nicky (Christopher Allport). They arrive to the country late in the evening, and stop in a small town. Robert, Marie, and Shirley pick up groceries at a market, where Shirley finds a sinister face mask that she decides to buy as a joke. Meanwhile, Nicky goes to the bar across the street for a drink, and is harassed by two homophobic men whom he beats up.

They arrive at the remote farmhouse Robert has recently purchased from Otis (William Sanderson), a local man whose father has died, and whom Robert has hired to build a large schooner, a project which is being housed in a barn on the property. Jay Alsop, an engineer and friend of Robert's, arrives to oversee the boat's progress. A lumberman providing the wood for the boat, Mac Macauley (David Gale), tells Marie of a local rumor involving a young woman who was assaulted by the unhinged Otis, and hints that he may have been responsible for a murder.

Jay develops a sexual interest in Shirley, while meanwhile Marie finds herself attracted to Mac. The following day, Jay goes down to the barn to check on Otis's progress on the boat; there, he is strangled by a killer donning the mask Shirley bought the day before, his body hung from the rafters so as to appear as a suicide. That night, the rest of the group dresses up for a formal dinner at the house. After dinner, Marie and Robert go for a walk on the property. Meanwhile, Shirley puts on a tango record and performs a striptease for Nicky. The two dance together on the house's second floor, and jokingly apply makeup to each other's faces. Marie and Robert discover Jay's body in the barn, and rush back to the house.

The killer attacks Nicky upstairs, stabbing him through the head with a large sewing needle. Shirley is chased into the basement, where the killer ties her to a table saw and attempts to kill her with it, but cannot get power to the tool. When they arrive at the house, Robert and Marie are confronted by the killer. Robert discovers Nicky's body upstairs, and is thrown to his death out of the second story window. The killer then returns to the ground floor, where he reveals himself to be Greg. He tells Marie that he plans on taking her out into the lake and committing a murder-suicide.

The next morning, Mac arrives at the house, and finds it empty. As he goes to investigate the basement, he turns on a light switch which activates the table saw, inadvertently killing Shirley, who has been tied to the table all night. Mac flees the house, where he encounters Greg attempting to bring Marie to the lake to kill her. Greg and Mac begin fighting and tackle one another to the ground. Otis arrives upon the scene, and kills Greg with a chainsaw. The film ends with Otis riding his bicycle to the local graveyard where he visits his father's grave.

Cast

Production

Savage Weekend was shot in the Hudson River Valley on a remote lake location according to star Caitlin O'Heaney. O'Heaney, then a recent graduate of Juilliard, had been a stage actress in New York, and had recently performed on Broadway with Katharine Hepburn. O'Heaney auditioned for the part at the suggestion of her agent, and claimed she took the role in order to establish herself within the Screen Actors Guild. She described the shoot as "low budget, but very professional," and cited the experience as essential at informing her film acting.

Release

Shot in 1976, the film received a minuscule theatrical release as The Killer Behind the Mask before being shelved. The film was picked up for release by The Cannon Group, though are conflicting release dates for the film, with some citing 1979, and others 1978 (from one of the posters) and 1981.

Critical reception

TV Guide called it "A truly reprehensible exploitation film... Ultra-low-budget and shot on grainy color stock, the film is borderline pornography, and the gore effects are extremely gruesome." Ed Blank from the Pittsburgh Press gave the film a negative review, writing, "Savage Weekend is incoherent, illiterate and inept. It's a shoestring show with bad sound, which is ironic, considering the regular appearances played by microphones." Candice Russell, film and theatre writer for the Fort Lauderdale News described the film as "strictly for wackos" and that "sickness bags should be given with the price of admission".

In spite of this, the film has attained a cult following.

Home media

The film was released on VHS in the 1980s by various companies, including Paragon Video Productions. The film is available on DVD through various companies, but the legality of these releases in terms of proper licensing is in question. As of 2009, the film was in public domain.

In July 2015, it was announced that the film was being released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. It was released September 29, 2015, and features a restored print of the film from the original source material.