Saturday 14th Strikes Back – review

Director: Howard R Cohen

Release Date: 1988

Contains spoilers


The first Saturday the 14th movie was a bit of a stinker and so it was with trepidation that I sat down to watch the sequel and it was, without a doubt, most ill-conceived.

The basic story goes a little like this, Eddie (Jason Presson) and his family have inherited a house from an Uncle, who had just been executed, a strange gothic looking house – as they are – in suburbia. The family are odd to say the least, subsisting it seems on candy.

In the basement of the house there is a crack, from which steam escapes. The steam is evil and the crack is an opening for all the evils of the world to escape through. Eddie is approached by Charlene (Pamela Stonebrook), a vampire. This first encounter leads to a bizarre musical interlude.

One might wonder why, as the extended family starts acting odd, a vampire might approach Eddie and warn him of the end of the world on Saturday 14th. Well she is one of the bad guys but so, unbeknown to himself, is Eddie. He has been chosen as the new ruler of all evil and is destined to bring around the end of the world. The question is can he overcome his own nature and make everything right? The answer is, could you really care.

The first film, as I say, was rubbish but this really is bad with no amusing moments at all. The highlight is the vampire song routine and that was weird but not particularly funny or something worth watching the film for. Poor story matches the very poor effects that make early Power Rangers programmes look like high budget sfx shows.

The direction is pedestrian and the performances seemed in line with the quality of the movie, as though the actors involved really couldn’t be bothered trying when faced with such a rank script – and who can blame them.

Not a good film at all. 0.5 out of 10 is probably generous.

The imdb page is here.