Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988) User Reviews

Unbelievably BAD!

[LebowskiT1000 · 2/10 · 12 September 2002]

It is truly a rare occurrence that I can say there is almost NOTHING in the film worth seeing, but this is one of those few cases! This movie was AWFUL! I couldn't believe how bad it was. This is most definitely the worst sequel I've ever seen to a movie. I didn't think the first "Saturday the 14th" was anything great, but at least it wasn't horrible, this film is just BAD!

The acting is quite bad, the story is stupid, the comedy is nearly non-existent, the directing is less than top-notch, the make-up effects and special effects are really bad. The only good thing I can say about this film is the acting of Ray Walston, I don't know why, but I've always liked his acting (although I can't imagine why he would choose to do this role). Other than Ray, this movie is virtually worthless.

I would definitely recommend spending 74 minutes of your life doing something else or watching a better movie, but if you absolutely must, be my guest. Thanks for reading,

-Chris

Much Worse Than the Original

[ryan-10075 · 2/10 · 10 March 2019]

Howard R. Cohen for some reason was thinking audiences were clamouring to get back to the theatre to watch another SATURDAY THE 14TH movie. So he gave us that. This 1988 sequel has nothing to do with the original. Jason Presson plays Eddie Baxter who's got himself a pretty weird family including Gramps played by Ray Walston. His house is on top of a crack within the earth and we witness some strange happenings going on with the family.

Ridiculously bad and luckily only comes in at 78 minutes. Right from the start of the film you see a beach with scary music playing. Pretty scary huh? Terror and screaming in fright are the last things on my mind when I see a beach. That is how the film is set up. No real laughs and no real scares. in this one.

Terrible

[Stevieboy666 · 2/10 · 14 December 2019]

Teenager Eddie has to save The World from ancient evil forces that are coming from a crack in the family home's basement. On Saturday the 14th. In my opinion the original movie was a reasonably entertaining monster romp. This, the sequel, is just plain awful, a painful 78 minutes. It isn't funny, it's dumb. The only two things that I sort of liked was the Gramps character and horror legend Michael Berryman playing a Mummy, though this is undoubtedly the worst movie that I have seen him in and he looked embarrassed to be in it. Under no circumstances would I recommend this trash.

If you hated the original Saturday the 14th..

[horrorbargainbin · 11 December 2002]

Horror fans, movie fans, and people in general are reluctant to say anything good about the 1981 horror spoof Saturday the 14th. All would have to admit though, that it is far funnier than this film, that is if they were tricked into seeing this one. It's pretty much the same story. The young boy in the family is the only one who notices the monsters wandering about the house. Simple humor can work, but it does not carry a second movie. It was pretty cute how in the first film the kid was trying to hide the monsters in order to protect his parents. This time the less likeable pre-teen is trying to warn his family and of course they don't believe him.

I liked the first movie. I admit at first I was laughing at it, but later with it. I barely cracked a smile watching this video. One almost successful scene involved an English sport of horse shooting on TV, but the joke went on too long with the shooter showing up at their house. Another potentially funny moment spoofed the news sensation of the child falling down the well in the 80's. They used the joke twice because I guess they knew it was one of their better ideas.

Comparing the sister-in-the-bathtub scenes in both movies shows why this one does not work. Having her get sucked through the pipes is just plain stupid while having the Creature from the Black Lagoon rise up next to her is edgy. Michael Berryman is in the medicine cabinet as a mummy, but his role as one of the leading monsters is not reason enough to see the film. I'm a big fan of Berryman and his monster is the best one in the movie, but the movie should probably be avoided.

The worst movie ever!

[tammylcollins-239-545632 · 1/10 · 14 April 2013]

The original Saturday the 14th was not good, but it had some funny moments with Paula Prentiss, Richard Benjamin and Jeffrey Tambor. The horrible "special effects" were comical because you knew it was just a spoof on horror movies. With that being said, the first Saturday the 14th was a lousy movie, but watchable. Jeffrey Tambor made for an interestingly ominous vampire, and the strange behavior of Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss as a couple before things got weird just fit with the crappy B movie theme.

Saturday the 14th Strikes Back has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. There is no story line, the acting is just dreadful, and I just can't figure why it was written and then green-lighted for production. Watching grass grow or paint dry for 74 minutes would be far more entertaining than this movie.

Infuriatingly awful

[Coventry · 1/10 · 20 December 2009]

The only thing I remember from having seen the original "Saturday the 14th" a couple of years ago is wanting to forget that I ever watched it and pretend it never happened. I probably also promised myself around the time never to watch the sequel, but what else can you do when you're slowly running out of crap to watch? "Saturday the 14th" was a completely NOT funny horror comedy that never once even came close to making me laugh. The sequel is even worse. The references towards classic horror films are disgraceful and the attempted jokes are pathetic. A frustrated teenager narrates the bone-headed story of his family moving into a sinister and ramshackle house and the strange occurrences that are taking place there. Apparently there's a crack in the floor somewhere in this house, and all evil of the world enters through it. On the next Saturday the 14th, which is only six days away, the evil forces will take over and the world will cease to exist. Well, great plan, I'm all for it! If the world ceases to exist, at least nobody will have to watch this crap ever again. I'm fully aware of the fact that the basic plot description doesn't sound that terrible, but please don't be misled. This is the worst of the worst. A selection of the finest humorist pieces include a pipes construction worker who turns into a chicken after being exposed to gas, a cookie eating monster hiding under the bed, the reconstruction of the Statue of Liberty in chocolate pudding and an agonizingly long musical interlude of the Singing Vampire Sisters. There's a small but nevertheless embarrassing cameo appearance of "The Hills Have Eyes" cult icon Michael Berryman. By the time the film reached its climax, which exists of a wild monster party, I came really close to poking my eyes out with a rusty spoon.

What the hell were they thinking...?

[Vomitron_G · 3/10 · 7 October 2011]

What an idea to produce a sequel to 1981's utterly silly and forgettable horror-comedy "Saturday The 14th". But since in the glorious '80s decade film producers could get away with practically everything and due to the fact the original had been a modest video rental hit - how could it not have been, with its title clearly spoofing the immensely popular "Friday The 13th" movies at the time - it simply had to happen, I guess. So, 7 years later Howard R. Cohen returns to write & direct the lamentable "Saturday The 14th Strikes Back". It's the same concept of a family moving into a haunted house in a quiet neighborhood. In the cellar there's this crack in the floor that's supposed to unleash all the evil in hell on the following Saturday the 14th. It's up to the teenage son of the family to battle the evil and stop the invasion of ghouls & monsters. The film's simply beyond ridiculous and everything about it ranges from bad to worse, including the jokes. Although some moments are actually dumb enough to provide a couple chuckles. And it stars Ray Walston (from cult horror favorites like "Galaxy of Terror" and "Popcorn") as a senile gramps craving for eggs & bacon. But he doesn't save this movie. Far from, actually. All the other sources of laughter, will merely come from gazing at all the levels of ineptness. This bunch of silly nonsense includes: a repairman getting turned into a chicken, a hungry sofa, a cookie-munching critter under the bed, a musical interlude with female vampires singing, Michael Berryman as a mummy, the family's daughter getting sucked down the bathtub drain through the pipes and a lot of stock footage from other films during the climax where evil is supposed to emerge on a global level. It's not really that the movie manages to entertain with all this, it's more likely to keep you watching just because of the 'What the hell were they thinking?' question. Watch the two films back-to-back and you're sure to leave the room cross-eyed in desperate need for some intellectual stimuli. Or a good drink.

A shambling mess

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 14 July 2018]

A sequel in name, if not story, to Saturday the 14th, the Baxter family is the focus here. You have the dad, Frank (Avery Schreiber, who was in a ton of Doritos commercials, but he was also Russian coach Markov in The Concorde...Airport '79, one of my all-time favorite horrible movies), mom Kate (Patty McCormack...do I have to tell you that she was in The Bad Seed?), sister Julie (Julianne McNamara, who before she started acting won the U.S. women's first individual event gold medal in Olympic history for the uneven bars) and the aforementioned Eddie (Jason Presson, The Lady in White). Oh yeah! I forgot that grandpa lives there and he's played by Ray Walston.

The Evil One wants Eddie to embrace his power and introduces him to an entire family of monsters, including Michael Berryman as a mummy! Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Grandpa's pal Leonard is played by Phil Leads, the character actor who played Doctor Shand in Rosemary's Baby.

The end of the movie is a cavalcade of past Corman productions, including the guitar and part of the body of Joey Ramone. This is a mess, a movie that was cobbled together to cash in on the video store success of the original. Yet I find parts of it charming and perhaps I was in the right mood to enjoy it when I did.

Best left for kids

[gridoon2024 · 4/10 · 13 June 2019]

This (unrelated) sequel to "Saturday The 14th" is just as juvenile as the first film, but perhaps slightly more tolerable because it has at least one interesting story element: the protagonist is briefly tempted by "evil". That's not to be mistaken for a recommendation of the movie, though: it's embarrassingly cheap, with discount-store Halloween masks and costumes for the "monsters", and liberal use of stock footage for the "climax". We can only thank Howard R. Cohen for not attempting to create a trilogy! *1/2 out of 4.

I, Eddie Baxter was going to have to save the world.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 6 September 2022]

Not a sequel to the 1981 horror parody but just another variation of the same story, and just as lame. This one is trying too hard with a plotline spoofing a bunch of cheap science fiction films (basically already unintentional comedies which doesn't require a spoof), and with everyone with the exception of comic legend Ray Walston and young Jason Presson overacting (including unfunny Avery Schreiber and "Bad Seed" veteran Patty McCormick), it's quickly cumbersome.

One moderately amusing moment has vampiress Pamela Stonebrook breaking into a smirk inducing song about her desire to be human again, complete with chorus girls, but as said, it only brings on a half smile, not laughs. Once again, it's a sketch TV show spoof stretched out to 78 minutes, and rather cheaply, obviously rushed out for local theater chains and not the big cities. Perhaps they knew after the minor release of the first one that critics would annihilate it. The first one was bad enough, and I felt like I wasted nearly three hours of my life on these two misfires that an exorcism would never get out of my mind.

What was Jason Presson Smoking??????

[Mochomito · 10/10 · 12 January 2002]

Basically that's an easy way of saying that this movie was not one of his best. But basically the films about this Teenage guy who moves with his family to a new home and it's hunted. He is trying to stop the spirits from coming into the human world. It's Kinda weird and at times boring with low production budget that you can notice. I had a hard time watching it without screaming. Even though I like Jason Presson work, this was definatley not one that I liked as much. I have to say that cuz I did buy the DVD.

so bad its good!!!

[bobbyfar74 · 6/10 · 20 February 2010]

this movie has it all,bad acting,bad directing,bad special effects.THATS probably being generous though,there is no reason to watch this movie.other then if your drinking a few,and you wanna make fun of a awful movie.i on the otherhand,found myself weirdly interested in this movie......im into the whole haunted house theme,so anything that has to do with that genre gets me alittle interested.i like the 1st Saturday the 14th better then this one though,but for some reason im into b-movie cheesefests,this one just made me laugh.it is really terrible,i cant believe im admitting that i like this garbage,but if you wanna watch something putrid,go out and rent this DVD.....but be warned,it stinks.

Good mind control

[cmodzins · 8 July 2004]

Well, the only really redeeming part of the movie for me is that it is one of the few movie with sleep mind control in it. The sister, the mother, the father and the sexy aunt are controlled twice during the movie while they sleep. What they are doing is pretty strange, but the scenes are kinda cool. If only the movie had been rated R, we would have gotten to see some sexier night attire.

I haven't seen the whole thing, but I will one of these days.

Overall, the movie could have been a lot better, but the execution was a little botched.

worth watching, but not as good as the original Saturday the 14th -

[den-86397 · 6/10 · 10 February 2019]

I thought this movie was worth watching, I was expecting low budget special effects, and thats what it delivers - I thought Jason Presson - if I have the name right - did a great job portraying this all too boring American kid - who suddenly had to protect his weird family - and the world - some worthwhile laughs, and some parts that seemed to drag on too long - but not a bad way to kick back and enjoy a movie night - the original is much, much better -

Who asked for this to exist?

[lor_ · 11 April 2023]

My review was written in June 1989 after watching the movie on MGM/UA video cassette.

This unnecessary, unfunny sequel to he 1981 parody received some theatrical play last year ahead of current home video availability.

Filmmaker Howard R. Cohen again maximizes the references to familiar horror icons, but dialog is lame and level of spoofing obvious rather than inspired.

First pic had the team of Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss fronting the action. This time teen Jason Presson is slated by an assortment of baddies -ranging from Michael Berryman's mummy to Leo V. Gordon's Evil One ringleader -to take over the world on his birthday, the title date.

While monsters, including pretty vampire Pamela Stonebrook and werewolf Tommy Hall, come up out of the basement, the dingbats in Presson's family never notice anything wrong. Armed with a bell and amulet presented by his fake grandpa Ray Walston, Presson does battle with evil, culminating in an embarrassing montage of stock footage including shots from number Roger Corman films, even including "Avalanche" and gangster pics.

Poverty budget is apparent in chintzy special effects, as well as stillborn ideas like Stonebrook suddenly belting a song with a 3-girl chorus appearing to dance around the room amateurishly. Thoug "Bad Seed" Patty McCormack is cast as Presson's mom, Cohen fails to make any refernce to her film background.