Samedi le 14

Oh god, another horror spoof?! Yes, but you gotta love this one. I get the feeling that they made "Saturday the 14th" for fun, and cast Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss to give the flick a less than totally silly feel. Benjamin and Prentiss play the parents of a typical all-American family who inherit a deceased uncle's house. Right after they move in, the son comes across a Book of Evil. He opens it, and sure enough, the house is soon swarming with monsters that the dad for some reason never notices (why don't parents pay more attention to what their kids say?). Meanwhile, husband-and-wife vampires are looking to gain control of the house.

This film definitely constitutes nice, silly fun. I wish that they'd shown just a little more of the daughter in that one scene, but the censors probably wouldn't have allowed that. But overall, the movie shows that my generation should acknowledge the careers of Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss as my parents' generation did. Also starring Jeffrey Tambor.

If I may add one thing, the last few months of 1981 saw some varied but fine cinema: aside from this movie, there was "Das Boot", "Gallipoli", "Mommie Dearest", "Mephisto", "The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie", "Ragtime", "My Dinner with Andre" and "Reds". Impressive.