Main Cast: Brenda Vaccaro, Don Stroud, Chuck Shamata, Richard Ayres, Kyle Edwards
Release Year: 1976
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
William Fruet directed this tense Canadian rape-revenge thriller which attempted to capitalize on the success of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left (1972). The film concerns a vacationing couple, Harry and Diane (Chuck Shamata and Brenda Vaccaro), who are terrorized in a remote house on a picturesque lake. Don Stroud leads the quartet of vicious psychos who break in and attack the pair, and when Harry is revealed to be a bit of a wimp, Diane takes matters of revenge into her own hands. Vaccaro and Stroud give much better performances than the material requires, and although Fruet's film is hardly as excoriating as its predecessor, it is altogether more polished. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Review
Despite its exploitation film premise and lurid title, Death Weekend isn't the shock machine one might expect - in fact, it is a surprisingly intelligent affair. Unfortunately, the film tries to have it both ways by mixing serious drama and gritty thrills and as a result it doesn't satisfy either one of the audiences it is trying to court. Writer/director William Fruet's desire to make this a serious film undermines the very elements that would make it compelling: he overloads the story with self-conscious messages about machismo and class differences that work against the film's plot instead of allowing these messages to work as thematic shadings that support the plot. At the same time, long stretches of screen time are devoted to the tribulations that the villains put the protagonists through and their improvisational quality lacks the tension necessary to make these moments suspenseful. As a result, the pacing lacks the consistency needed to allow the drama to build and the moments that should be gut-wrenching lack any kind of spark. Despite these problems, Death Weekend benefits from skillful cinematography by Robert Saad and earnest performances from its leads: Brenda Vaccaro brings plenty of strength to her role as the resourceful heroine and Don Stroud's believably creepy performance as the frustrated 'angry young man' protagonist gives the role an intelligence that many actors might overlook. However, these well-realized elements can't overcome the film's rather confused nature and Death Weekend can only be termed an interesting misfire. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
Don Granberry - Stanley; Ed McNamara - Spragg; Richard Donat - Policeman; Michael Kirby - Ralph; Denver Mattson - Smokey; Al Bernardo - Mr. Doobie
Credit
Roy Forge Smith - Art Director, Don Carmody - Associate Producer, Erla Gliserman - Costume Designer, Gary Flanagan - First Assistant Director, William Fruet - Director, William Freut - Director, Debra Karen - Editor, Jean Lafleur - Editor, Debbie Karjala - Editor, John Dunning - Executive Producer, Andre Link - Executive Producer, Ivan Reitman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Robert Saad - Cinematographer, Ivan Reitman - Producer, Tony Parmalee - Special Effects, Daniel Goldberg - Sound/Sound Designer, Joe Grimaldi - Sound/Sound Designer, Paul Taylor - Sound/Sound Designer, Dwayne McLean - Stunts, John Stoneham - Stunts, Robert Hannah - Stunts, Jess Wayne - Stunts, Denver Mattson - Stunts Coordinator, William Fruet - Screenwriter, William Freut - Screenwriter
Death Weekend is a 1976 Canadian horror/thriller film. It stars Brenda Vaccaro and Don Stroud and was one of the first films from Canadian director William Fruet. The low-budget production was shot in rural Canada and at a studio in Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada. The film was released in the US under the title House by the Lake. At the time of release there was some controversy over the films intense scenes of violence. Still the film was released with only minor cuts to the original version. Over the years the film has gained some acclaim among horror film buffs and though it was released on VHS at one point, the film has yet to receive a DVD release.
Diane (Vaccaro) and her gentleman friend Harry (Shamata) are on their way to a weekend getaway at Harry's country house when they encounter a car load of drunken thugs, led by Stroud. They get into a fit of road rage where Diane forces the punks off the road wrecking them. Diane and Harry escape to their getaway, but little do they know the angry gang has followed them there and they're looking for some vicious revenge against the unarmed couple.
Despite being described as an "appalling orgy of destruction" by the 1976 August Bulletin the film was passed relatively intact by the BBFC after a personal visit by Brenda Vaccaro to chief censor James Ferman to plead for a certificate. Some of the female examiners on the board described the film's violence as "acceptable, even justifiable" and the only UK cut made to the movie was the removal of the word "cunt".
Writer/director William Fruet actually based the film off of a true story that took place in Canada. The crime that inspired it involved a dentist whose home was invaded by thugs he had angered, just like the plot of the film.
William Fruet said the inspiration for the road-attack opening of the movie was based on an actual event he was involved in. Fruet and a friend were once driving the back roads of Alberta, Canada when they were harassed by a car load of drunken thugs that tried to wreck them. The event inspired Fruet to write Death Weekend.
William Fruet actually wrote the film several years earlier, but didn't pursue shooting it at the time because Straw Dogs (1971) had just came out and he feared Death Weekend would be viewed as an imitator of that film.
Actress Brenda Vaccaro was apprehensive about taking the role of Diane. She had just been offered a role in a TV series before this film and worried that appearing in a violent movie might ruin her image. She went ahead and took the risk.
The film was released by AIP in America under the title 'The House by the Lake'. The distributors felt under that particular title it would be more marketable as Wes Craven's similarly-themed film Last House on the Left (1972) had been such a hit.
Alternate versions
The US and English Canadian VHS releases are cut. Edited from the film was an additional shot of Lep on top of Diane as he attempts to rape her, a more graphic shot of Diane slashing Runt's throat, and a longer shot of Stanley burning to death.
However both the French Canadian and Spanish VHS versions were released uncut.
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