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1976 - Canada Directed By: William Fruet Starring: Brenda Vaccaro, Don Stroud, Chuck Shamata, Richard Ayres, Kyle Edwards, Don Granbery, Ed McNamara and Michael Kirby.
Aka
The House By The Lake
Current Availability
At the time of writing this film is yet to be released anywhere on DVD and is not likely to be anytime soon as reports suggest the film is part of the huge MGM film library and is not planned for re-release.
Those seeking the film have little option but to do so via a bootleg DVD-R or seek out the very rare UK pre-cert video release on the Vampix label (pictured left).
Recommended?
For fans of exploitation cinema this film receives the highest possible recommendation.
Review
The progeny of Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs (1971) and Wes Craven’s notorious and highly comparable exploitation classic The Last House On The Left (1972). Director William Fruet’s Canadian shocker Death Weekend enjoys a modest reputation amongst genre buffs as one of the most famous of the many exploitation classics that took their cue’s from the aforementioned Craven and Peckinpah classics. The often interlinked themes of home invasion and violated women turning the tables on their “stronger” male aggressors were already recurring ones by the mid-seventies but Death Weekend proves one of the most noteworthy deliberations upon these themes, making for a taut, worthy exercise in exploitation cinema.
The plot begins with sleazy dental surgeon Harry (Shamata) using the pretence of a fabricated social event to whisk attractive model Diane (Vaccaro) off to his secluded, lakeside country retreat with debauchery clearly on his mind. En route Harry allows Diane to take the wheel of his car and she promptly becomes involved in a high speed road race with another car driven by a violent thug named Lep (Stroud) and his three hoodlum buddies. The race ends with Lep and company being run off the road.
Upon arriving at Harry’s weekend residence Diane soon wises up to her suitors true intentions upon realising she is the only guest. Yet before she can voice her objections a vengeful Lep and his three accomplices invade the house set on a violent revenge in repayment for their earlier humiliation. A systematic campaign of terrorisation and physical abuse ensues, which culminates in Harry being shot dead. With Harry dead the men now turn their brutal intentions towards Diane who is promptly subjected to humiliating and abusive sexual advances. She however, proves to be made of stronger stuff than they had reckoned on and she soon begins to courageously fight back against her male aggressors.
Considering that it enjoys a reputation as one of the most notorious of the female revenge sagas of its era, viewers could be forgiven for approaching Death Weekend expecting a seedy wallow in graphic rape, topped off with a grisly dose of violent retribution. It is quite surprising (and refreshing in many ways) then to find that Death Weekend actually confounds such expectations. While the films portrayal of sexual assault is undeniably unpleasant it is nonetheless comparatively restrained when compared to that of other films of its ilk, certainly never broaching the horrific extremes of Meir Zarchi’s I Spit On Your Grave (1978). It is worth noting that in contrast to The Last House On The Left and I Spit On Your Grave that were both banned outright in the UK and eventually prosecuted as “obscene” during the early eighties Video Nasty farce, Death Weekend has actually fared comparatively well with the censors. The BBFC actually passed Death Weekend for its original UK cinema release with very minor cuts and the uncut pre cert UK video release, despite inclusion on some police lists of impoundable titles, was never an official video nasty.
Indeed, to its makers credit Death Weekend is a tense and well executed exploration of familiar exploitation themes, making time along the way for some smart if hardly profound observations on both social class and gender politics. As with the films that provide its principal inspiration Death Weekend draws upon the notion of wealthy, comfortable folk being capable of the same violent extremes as their loutish underclass antagonists when backed into a corner.
The villains of the peace are so loathsome and their vicious means of revenge for Diane’s indiscretion are so brutally disproportionate that it is nigh on impossible for the viewer to do anything other than route for the quietly determined Diane, played with great assurance by Brenda Vaccaro. An underrated actress, Vacarro never quite built on her appearance in the classic Midnight Cowboy (1969), her only other notable post-Death Weekend appearance coming in the form of a supporting role in the big budget flop Supergirl (1984).
In contrast Don Stroud, as Lep, is surely one of the most hateful male protagonists ever to appear in an exploitation movie. His homicidally, misogynistic tendencies are defined early on when, having been driven off the road by Diane, he launches into a hate fuelled tirade of verbal abuse (including possibly the most alarming use of the word “cunt” in cinematic history) that shocks the viewer to the core. On closer analysis however, it becomes clear that Lep is also a desperately insecure individual, evidently thrown off balance, frightened even by the notion of a woman daring to answer and to strike back. Indeed the only way that Lep, or his buddies for that matter, can deal with Diane is to reduce her, through the act of rape, to a toy for their titillation. When she refuses to submit to this behaviour, responding with counteractive aggression, these goons are at a total loss as to what to do. Saddening then that Stroud, as with Vaccaro, despite his obvious talent would go on to an unremarkable career, his only subsequent credit of note being a supporting role in The Amityville Horror (1979).
Getting back on track it should be noted that the films unflattering depiction of males runs far deeper. In his own way Harry (played with great precision by Chuck Shamata) is every inch as loathsome and as hateful as Lep and company. Luring Diane to his lakeside retreat under false pretences it soon becomes apparent that his intentions are far from honourable as he even stoops as low as to secretly photograph an unwitting Diane whilst she takes a shower. It soon becomes apparent that Harry views women as little more than items for consumption, in actual fact he is almost totally driven by a “love” for expensive but ultimately inconsequential material possessions. Lep actually makes a very astute observation when he points out that Harry cares more for his house and it’s expensive trimmings than he does for the wellbeing of Diane or indeed himself. An impotent and pathetic human being Harry can do nothing in the face of Lep’s violence but whimper and await his fate.
Apologists for the questionable extremities of I Spit On Your Grave have often claimed that it is not inherently misogynistic as it pits a lone woman against brutish males with the viewers sympathy squarely with the former. Whether I Spit On Your Grave bears out such an analysis is a debate that will probably rage on indefinitely, but in my mind Death Weekend actually does indisputably stand up to such an argument, .painting a sympathetic and rousing picture of a lone woman prevailing over the most violent and loathsome examples of “manhood”
To pigeonhole Death Weekend as an agenda film though is to do it almost as much of a disservice as it would if one were to simply dismiss it altogether. This is undeniably an exploitation thriller at heart and director Fruet approaches Death Weekend as such, demonstrating tremendous aptitude for the genre. Eschewing the graphic violence and abuse that characterises many of its ilk, Death Weekend instead opts for a precise, disturbing campaign of escalating menace. Initially the behaviour of Lep and company is petty and even playful as they verbally taunt Harry, smash over expensive trinkets and commandeer his motorboat. It is clear from the outset however, that their intentions run far darker, Lep in particular as his every word burns with an undisguised will to annihilate all the contemptible middle class values which Harry’s house, his car and ultimately Harry himself represent. The anticipation of the violence that is to come lends Death Weekend an almost unbearable sense of tension and when Lep eventually does shoot Harry dead while it is not a surprise, the cold mercilessness of the act chills the blood.
From this point Death Weekend transforms into an unrelentingly tense game of cat and mouse as Diane flees for her life whilst ingeniously turning the tables on her thuggish assailants. Some might say that Death Weekend lacks any discernable style but if this is the case then it more than compensated for by the gritty atmosphere and sense of relentless, knife-edge tension. Given the tremendous aptitude for the genre that William Fruet demonstrates here it is a pity he would go on to an unremarkable career, otherwise best known for pitting a typically pickled Oliver Reed against a giant demonic serpent in 1982’s trashy Spasms (1982). Nonetheless this should in no way detract from the acclaim his efforts here warrant. Benefiting from excellent lead performances Death Weekend stands tall as one of the very best examples of its type – a relentlessly intense little shocker with a clever underlying sense of allegory. Criminally underrated, Death Weekend remains one of the true sleeper classics from exploitation cinema’s golden age.
Also Try... The Last House On The Left / Straw Dogs / I Spit On Your Grave / Demented / Spasms.
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