Alright fellow tapeheads, let’s rewind to a time when the video store shelves were brimming with possibilities, and sometimes, just sometimes, a title alone could reel you in. Picture this: you’re scanning the horror section, maybe a little bleary-eyed late on a Friday night, and amidst the slashers and gothic chillers, you spot it – Saturday the 14th. Your brain does a double-take. Saturday? Instantly, you know you’re not in for straight-up terror, and grabbing that clamshell case felt like unearthing a quirky little secret.
Released in 1981, this flick arrived hot on the heels of Friday the 13th's shocking success, but writer-director Howard R. Cohen wasn't aiming for screams. Oh no, Saturday the 14th is pure, unadulterated horror-comedy spoof, a kitchen sink approach throwing every classic monster trope into a blender and hitting ‘frappe’. It’s the kind of film that feels perfectly at home viewed on a slightly fuzzy CRT screen, the imperfections almost adding to its charm.
### Inheriting More Than Just Dust Bunnies
The setup is classic haunted house fare, twisted just enough to signal the silliness. John Hays (Richard Benjamin) and his wife Mary (Paula Prentiss) inherit a creepy old house from a deceased uncle. Along with their kids Debbie (Kari Michaelsen, later of Gimme a Break! fame) and Billy (Kevin Brando), they move in, completely oblivious to the fact that the house contains the legendary "Book of Evil". Opening the book, naturally, unleashes a menagerie of monsters just in time for… well, you know the date.
What follows is less a coherent plot and more a series of escalating supernatural gags. Bats swarm the living room (looking suspiciously rubbery, even back then), eyes peer from paintings, a creature lurks in the bathtub, and mysterious fog rolls through the hallways. It's clear Cohen, who cut his teeth writing for low-budget maestro Roger Corman, embraced the absurdity. In fact, the film was produced by Julie Corman, Roger's wife, giving it that distinct Corman-esque flavour of making the absolute most out of limited resources – reportedly filmed quickly for around $2.2 million.
### A Goofy Ghoul Gala
The real joy, or perhaps the acquired taste, of Saturday the 14th lies in its relentless parade of goofy monsters and deliberately cheesy effects. This isn't high-gloss horror; it's proudly B-movie territory. Remember those simple, practical effects that defined so many late-night creature features? They're here in abundance. We get vampires, gill-men, cyclops, mummies – you name it, it probably shuffles or flaps through a scene. One standout is the vampire Waldemar, played with delightful deadpan weirdness by a young Jeffrey Tambor. Seeing the future George Bluth Sr. / Hank Kingsley sporting fangs and a cape is a retro treat in itself.
The central couple anchors the madness. Richard Benjamin (Westworld, Love at First Bite) and Paula Prentiss (The Stepford Wives, Where the Boys Are) are genuinely charming as the bewildered parents trying to make sense of the escalating chaos. Their real-life marriage lends an easy chemistry to their interactions, grounding the film just enough amidst the flying rubber bats and mysterious puddles appearing on the floor. They react not with terror, but with the frazzled exasperation of suburbanites dealing with a really bad plumbing problem, which is half the joke.
### Laughs or Groans? Depends on the Viewer
Let's be honest: the humour in Saturday the 14th is broad. Very broad. It leans heavily on sight gags, puns, and spoofing familiar horror clichés rather than sharp parody like Airplane! or Young Frankenstein. Some jokes land with a chuckle, others with a nostalgic groan. Did critics rave about it back in '81? Not exactly. It was largely dismissed, but like so many genre flicks of the era, it found its true audience on VHS and cable, becoming a minor cult favourite for those who appreciated its specific brand of silliness. It knew exactly what it was: a low-budget lark designed to provide goofy entertainment, not cinematic genius.
Watching it today, it’s a fascinating time capsule. The pacing feels distinctly early 80s, less frantic than modern comedies. The effects, while primitive, have that tangible quality missing from CGI-heavy fare. You see the makeup, the props, the simple illusions, and appreciate the effort, even when it looks endearingly hokey. It’s the kind of film where the slightly worn look of a well-loved VHS tape somehow felt… right. I vividly remember renting this from a local store purely based on the title and goofy cover art, expecting something entirely different, and being strangely delighted by its commitment to absurdity.
### The Verdict
Saturday the 14th isn't trying to reinvent the wheel; it's gleefully letting the air out of its tires. It’s a light, breezy horror spoof packed with familiar monster movie references and anchored by the likeable leads. The humour is hit-or-miss, and the budget constraints are often visible, but viewed through the lens of VHS nostalgia, it’s a fun, goofy trip back to a simpler time in genre filmmaking. It doesn’t aim high, but it mostly hits its modest, silly targets.
Rating: 6/10 - The score reflects its status as a fun, if slight, piece of 80s horror-comedy cheese. It's not a masterpiece of parody, but Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss are great, Jeffrey Tambor is a hoot, and its earnest goofiness earns it affectionate points. The low budget is obvious, and many jokes fall flat, preventing a higher score, but its heart is in the right place for a retro laugh.
Final Thought: Forget the scares, Saturday the 14th was the kind of VHS discovery that delivered pure, unpretentious B-movie silliness – a perfect late-night watch when you just wanted monsters and chuckles, hold the nightmares.