Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Death Weekend (1976) review


CULT FILM FAVES NOT ON DVD


This is a section devoted to rare, and as yet to be released on legitimate DVD movies. Some films may have been released in some part of the world, or on some public domain label, or some may have simply never been released at all on the digital format. This section is designed to keep these films alive and to provide remembrance to those who may have seen them in some form or other, whether it be on the silver screen, on videotape, or the small screen at home.




DEATH WEEKEND 1976 aka THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE

Brenda Vaccaro (Diane), Don Stroud (Lep), Chuck Shamata (Harry), Richard Ayres (Runt), Kyle Edwards (Frankie), Don Granberry (Stanley)

Directed by William Fruet

The Short Version: Canadian rape/revenge picture from William Fruet is one of the best of its type. Bolstered by good performances from an incendiary and scary Don Stroud and a resourcefully cunning Brenda Vaccaro, DEATH WEEKEND is a sadly obscure horror thriller that is still unavailable on DVD.


A playboy dentist brings a model named Diane to his lavish country home. On his way there, he incurs the wrath of a group of roughnecks after running them off of the road. The four sadists find his home and force their way inside where they proceed to humiliate their captives. Rape and murder ensues as Diane must fight for her life to escape the clutches of the four cretins.


Exploitation and schlock specialist, William Fruet helms this rape/revenge movie modeled on both STRAW DOGS (1971) and LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972). The movie itself never reaches the sadistic levels of Craven's seminal excercise in tastelessness, but is unsettling in its depiction of two people violently harassed by assholes. The movie also foreshadows I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1979) with its resourceful heroine who must fight dirty to survive the night against her attackers. It's probably the sole original aspect of the whole enterprise. Meir Zarchi must have seen this movie prior to shooting his infamous rape/revenge movie.



In keeping with its source material, Fruet even includes two drunk and bumbling gas station attendants. This mirrors the goofy sheriff and deputy from Craven's movie. The STRAW DOGS connection sits with the notion that a group of savage miscreants have invaded someone's home resulting in them becoming savage to survive. In this case, Harry tries to just let the guys have their way in his home thinking it will get them to go away. Diane, on the other hand, taunts and stands up to them knowing that these guys have no intention of leaving on their own accord.


Don Stroud totally steals the movie as the wholeheartedly nasty Lep. Stroud creates a character that is equally despicable when compared to David Hess's Krug, only far less sadistic. There's no carving initials into people, severing of limbs and the scene where Lep rapes Diane, he stops when he realizes she isn't resisting him. It's no longer a thrill to him upon realizing he isn't exerting domination over this woman ("Nothin' gets me off quicker than a bitch who fights!"). His character is still disturbing and very much a violent and murderous man. Stroud was an ace at playing characters such as this.


He was great at playing hate inducing bad guys. He was a racist deputy in Ralph Nelson's ...TICK...TICK...TICK...(1970) and an incredibly evil antagonist working for Ed McMahon no less in SLAUGHTER'S BIG RIP OFF (1973). He's done his fair share of television roles and even took on good guy roles on occasion such as his turn as a Vietnam vet in William Fruet's SEARCH AND DESTROY (1979).


The gang of four themselves just appear out of nowhere. Once Diane takes over driving and shows Harry how to do it, the bad guys show up and begin harrassing the couple by throwing beer bottles at them and trying to force them off the road. Once the two manage to lose Lep and his goons, they arrive at Harry's house where it's revealed he's a bit of a sleazeball himself. He has a mirror on the other side of the bathroom she is taking a shower in. Harry takes photographs of her naked body while she disrobes and bathes.


William Fruet's career is riddled with exploitation movies that are merely average. Many of them strive for so much more, but for whatever reason, turn out to be disappointingly mediocre. That's not to say his movies aren't enjoyable, just never quite reaching greatness. DEATH WEEKEND is most probably his best, most successful movie in that it doesn't go up and down in terms of quality and cohesion. Not totally a rip off, the film is reportedly partially based on true events.


Not long after his home invasion exploitation classic, Fruet explored similar territory with his 1982 redneck movie, TRAPPED starring Henry Silva in a sleazy role not too far removed from the one Stroud plays. Ivan Reitman, the director of STRIPES (1981) and GHOSTBUSTERS (1984), served as a producer here as well as on another exploitation movie, CANNIBAL GIRLS from 1973. If one scans the credits further, you'll find Jean LaFleur as an editor. LaFleur was the director of the third Ilsa movie, ILSA, THE TIGRESS OF SIBERIA (1977). Also, some of the musical cues (or all of it) are library tracks and can be heard in numerous Shaw Brothers productions.


Brenda Vaccaro is excellent in the role of Diana. A gifted actress, she almost outshines Don Stroud in his scenery chewing villain role. She's a very strong female character. She can handle herself behind the wheel of a fast car as well as hold her own against a motley clutch of thugs. After the second rape and death of Harry, she snaps and switches into survival mode killing her attackers one by one. In addition to numerous television roles, Vaccaro can also be seen in movies like AIRPORT '77 (1977), GUYANA TRAGEDY: THE STORY OF JIM JONES (1980;the one with Powers Boothe), ZORRO, THE GAY BLADE (1981) and SUPERGIRL (1984).


Long overdue for a legit DVD release (with extras), William Fruet's tale of violence and revenge is an unjustly obscure exploitation classic. Rife with great performances and tense scenes of aggression, DEATH WEEKEND is a getaway worth taking.

Cool Ass Comics: EC Favorites & The Amazing Spiderman

This edition of cool ass comics has some more horror comics including three covers from the Gladstone reprints of classic EC titles. The Gladstone reprints were in color and contained two books in one. I also threw in some very old Amazing Spiderman covers from the mid 1960's.


First up is TALES FROM THE CRYPT #1. This issue reprints one issue of TALES and also an issue of CRIME SUSPENSE STORIES. You may recognize some of these from the famed cable television program. The illustrated stories are as follows--

TALES FROM THE CRYPT #33 (1952)

'Lower Berth': Origin tale of the Cryptkeeper set in a creepy carnival.

'This Trick'll Kill You': A husband and wife magician act murder for a mystical trick. Realized for the screen in the 1973 Amicus film, THE VAULT OF HORROR. The comic version is more violent.

'Grim Fairy Tale': A spoiled brat thinks his nanny has passed away only to realize she is still alive.

'None But the Lonely Heart': A money grubbing man murders old women for their fortunes and gets more than he bargained for.

CRIME SUSPENSE STORIES #17 (1953)

'Touch and Go': A man kills another in his home and goes insane cleaning every inch of the house in an attempt to erase any trace of fingerprints. From a story by Ray Bradbury.

'One For the Money...': A goldigger causes her husband to have a heart attack. She then meets a kindly old woman who harbors a deadly secret of her own.

'Fired!': A ranch hand takes advantage of his lover and pays for it in the end.

'...Two For the Show': A man murders his wife with an axe and buries her body in the cellar. The police on to him, he chops her up and puts her remains in a trunk. Later, his trunk gets mixed up with another from a kindly old woman....



Next, it's VAULT OF HORROR #1. This Gladstone reprint contains two comics; VAULT OF HORROR and THE HAUNT OF FEAR. The stories are as follows--

THE VAULT OF HORROR #34

'Star Light, Star Bright': The new master of an insane asylum learns the inmates hate him.

'While the Cat's Away': Two travel agent con men rob their clients while they're away on vacation. They get more than they bargained for when they try to rob a sinister estate.

'Smoke Wrings': A timid, bespectacled older gentleman sells an idea to an advertising agency only the agent tries to steal the idea for herself with disastrous consequences.

'Where There's a Will': An old man fakes his funeral to hear just what his friends and family really think of him.

THE HAUNT OF FEAR #1

'The Wall': A man kills his wife in a rage after her pet cat was getting more attention. He buries her behind a brick wall, but it seems the cat has been holed up with her.

'House of Horror': A fraternity initiation goes horribly wrong when a pledge enters a haunted house.

'The Mad Magician': This story about a maniacal magician may have been the inspiration for H.G. Lewis's THE WIZARD OF GORE (1970)

'The Thing in the Swamp': A scientific experiment gone wrong creates a flesh eating, blob creature out in the Georgia swamplands.


Now it's Gladstone's HAUNT OF FEAR #1 which contains an issue of HAUNT and also WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY. The stories are as follows--

HAUNT OF FEAR #17 (1952)

'Horror We? How's Bayou?': A homicidal duo living deep in the bayou get their comeuppance from victims returned from the dead for revenge.

'Gorilla My Dreams!': A mad doctor transplants an unwilling patients brain into the body of a gorilla. An ironic twist ends this grim tale.

'A Likely Story!': A royal artist puts up with a cranky old Queen wishing for a beautiful portrait.

'Garden Party!': A woman obsessed with her garden goes off the deep end when her husband invites a dozen couples over for a barbecue.

WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY #28 (1955)

'The Inferiors': A group of bickering space scientists traveling the galaxy for intelligent life find an abandoned civilization on an unknown planet. They find a disc that details what became of a race of humanoid lizard people who once resided there.

'Lost in Space': A young woman wishes to return to Earth to see her lover against her fathers wishes. She sneaks aboard a cruiser to make her way back to the third planet to be with her man only to make a shocking discovery.

'Round Trip': A man in his sixties dreams of his childhood and having missed out on his dreams of being a space traveler. Relegated to being a dishwasher and a henpecked husband, he thinks of what could have been.

'The Trial of Adam Link': The threat of a human like robot is brought to bear during a trial that would see this man-robot put to death. A sequel to the story, I, ROBOT.


Above, it's issue #2 of Marvel's THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN from March, 1973. I could swear I had issue #1 as well, but can't seem to find it at this time.

From here on down, it's a collage of seven covers from Amazing Spiderman starting with issue #27 (August, 1965) through #39. As you can tell by the scans, some of these are in better condition than others. Issue number 39 is special in that it reveals the identity of the Green Goblin. It's one of the most sought after issues from AMAZING SPIDERMAN.








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