By JOHN BILLINGER
Tiger Media Network
Ah, Friday the 13th. A day of cancellations, superstitions, and for some, a day to marathon the “Friday The 13th” series. This film series has thus far earned 12 installments (so close), and has a strong cult following, despite negative critical reception from those high-brow critics. What can I say? People love a good gore fest now and then, but what about the day after Friday the 13th? What about Saturday the 14th? Who cares? Well, someone did, because they made a movie about it as well.
From the title, one might suspect that 1981’s “Saturday the 14th” is a parody of the 1980 hit “Friday the 13th”, but you’d be wrong. It has nothing to do with the former film other than a similar title. Instead, it spoofs 1930s and 40s horror films. Not very well, might I add. “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” this is not. Since the movie hardly bothered to be about anything, I won’t be bothered to write up a synopsis, instead I’ll just copy and paste the IMDB plot summary.
“A family inherits an old mansion which houses the dangerous ‘Book of Evil’ that has all the monsters of the world trapped inside it.”
Thank you, IMDB for that summary because, by god, the film is so boring to watch, that it would’ve been impossible for me to write up a half-decent synopsis. Believe me, despite being only one hour and fifteen minutes long, I was so bored I could’ve sworn I was in some type of coma. I’m even struggling to write this review. That’s how boring this thing was. As a plot for a standard b-movie from the era that it’s supposedly parodying, it’s fairly stock, but when it’s used for a god-awful comedy, it is bad.
And for parodying the 1930s/40s horror films, it does a pretty poor job. If they wanted to make it a proper parody, why is it set in the contemporary 1980s? Shouldn’t this have been a period piece much like Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein”? Well, probably the budget didn’t have what it takes to make it so, but surely they could’ve gotten some old clothes and an old car? Afterall, the haunted house set looks like a traditional haunted house. It could’ve worked.
But you know what doesn’t work? The jokes. It’s one thing to watch a bad comedy where every once in a while, there’s a semi-half-decent joke that gives you a slight smile. It’s another thing entirely to just sit there and watch bad joke after bad joke. Every. Single. Joke. Falls flat on its face. It’s hard to watch, especially when the actors try to make it funny, but they’re not given the proper direction to make it funny. A good actor with the right direction can make a bad joke funny, but that wasn’t the case here. It’s pretty much a waste of talent the whole way through.
My 7th grade social studies teacher once told me, “John, you find the negative in everything. Say something positive.” So, I’ll give this film one compliment, the opening credits are fun. Probably the only good thing about the whole movie. Sure, the animation is cheap, but it gives it that classic tacky Halloween feel that I love. So, if you ever find this movie, watch only the credits, and then turn it off.
Overall, this movie is awful. If you want to watch “Saturday the 14th”, do yourself a favor and watch “Friday the 13th Part 3” instead. Why not? It’s actually set on Saturday the 14th. Really, it’s set the day after Part 2. It’s far more deserving of the title of Saturday the 14th than this film.