IMDb RATING
4.5/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
Several couples head upstate to the country to watch a boat being built. Unfortunately they are stalked by a murderer behind a ghoulish mask.Several couples head upstate to the country to watch a boat being built. Unfortunately they are stalked by a murderer behind a ghoulish mask.Several couples head upstate to the country to watch a boat being built. Unfortunately they are stalked by a murderer behind a ghoulish mask.
Jim Doerr
- Robert Fathwood
- (as James Doerr)
Caitlin O'Heaney
- Shirley Sales
- (as Kathleen Heaney)
Jeff Pomerantz
- Greg Pettis
- (as Jeffrey David Pomerantz)
Yancy Butler
- Little Girl
- (as Yancy Victoria Butler)
- Directors
- David Paulsen
- John Mason Kirby(uncredited)
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFilmed in 1976 as "The Killer Behind The Mask" and released as "Savage Weekend" in 1979 by Cannon Films.
- GoofsAlthough the boom mike is visible in some shots, this may not be a mistake by the film makers. The film was shot for widescreen, so the top an bottom of the frame would be cut off and the boom mike would not be in the shot. Some DVDs have been issued which do not properly crop the frame for wide screen, and thus improperly reveal the boom in the top of the full frame presentation.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Secret in the Stone (1999)
Featured review
Lame gore thriller for the lower-half of double bills
My review was written in March 1983 after a Lyric theater screening on Manhattan's 42nd St.
"Savage Weekend" is a poorly-made terror film lensed in 1976 as "The Killer Behind the Mask" and released domestically by Cannon in 1981. Picture is also known under the title "The Upstate Murders", and is reviewed here for the record.
Story has several couples (adults; this film precedes the successful "teens in jeopardy" horror format of late) visiting an upstate N. Y. country house for the weekend. Undeveloped (and oddly distracting) subplot has a vast wooden ship half-built in the barn, with the men discussing its completion schedule.
Apart from nominal story values, "Weekend" is structured as a softcore pornography film, with frequent extraneous sex and/or nude scenes, and even the genre's utilitarian fantasy flashbacks. WIth soft photography by Zoli Vidor, no horror atmosphere is created during this lazy idyll, and the closeup gore shots when a killer-in-a-mask starts picking off the cast seem tacked on.
Lethargic dialog readings and poor scene construction (Director Paulsen emphasizes one-shot closeups that don't cut together well) make for rough going until some minimal suspense in the final reel. Paulsen demonstrated a more professional approach in his subsequent Cannon assignment, the 1980 "Schizoid" (aka "Murder by Mail").
"Savage Weekend" is a poorly-made terror film lensed in 1976 as "The Killer Behind the Mask" and released domestically by Cannon in 1981. Picture is also known under the title "The Upstate Murders", and is reviewed here for the record.
Story has several couples (adults; this film precedes the successful "teens in jeopardy" horror format of late) visiting an upstate N. Y. country house for the weekend. Undeveloped (and oddly distracting) subplot has a vast wooden ship half-built in the barn, with the men discussing its completion schedule.
Apart from nominal story values, "Weekend" is structured as a softcore pornography film, with frequent extraneous sex and/or nude scenes, and even the genre's utilitarian fantasy flashbacks. WIth soft photography by Zoli Vidor, no horror atmosphere is created during this lazy idyll, and the closeup gore shots when a killer-in-a-mask starts picking off the cast seem tacked on.
Lethargic dialog readings and poor scene construction (Director Paulsen emphasizes one-shot closeups that don't cut together well) make for rough going until some minimal suspense in the final reel. Paulsen demonstrated a more professional approach in his subsequent Cannon assignment, the 1980 "Schizoid" (aka "Murder by Mail").
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- lor_
- Jan 24, 2023
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Killer Behind the Mask
- Filming locations
- Hudson Valley, New York, USA(main location)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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