Saturday the 14th
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| Saturday the 14th | |
|---|---|
 Australian theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Howard R. Cohen |
| Screenplay by | Howard R. Cohen |
| Story by | Jeff Begun |
| Produced by | Julie Corman |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Daniel Lacambre |
| Edited by | Kent Beyda Joanne D'Antonio |
| Music by | Parmer Fuller |
| Distributed by | New World Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 76 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.2—4 million[2][3] |
Saturday the 14th is a 1981 American comedy horror film starring real-life husband and wife Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin, co-written and directed by Howard R. Cohen and produced by Julie Corman.
Despite the implications of the film's title, it is a spoof of classic horror movies from the 1930s and 1940s, and not a parody of the Friday the 13th series or of slasher films of that type from the 1980s.[4][5] It was followed by Saturday the 14th Strikes Back in 1988.
In the film, the Hyatt family inherits the house of a deceased uncle, and its magical book. The family's son reads the book and unwittingly unleashes monsters from its pages. The family has interactions with the vampire Waldemar and the would-be world-conqueror Van Helsing, who each want to acquire the book.
An all-American family inherits a deceased uncle's house. John and Mary Hyatt, together with daughter Debbie and son Billy move in, but Waldemar, a vampire, and Yolanda, his wife, want desperately to get into the rundown house because it contains a book of evil.
Billy finds the mysterious book. He reads of a curse hanging over the date of Saturday the 14th. As he turns the page, a monster is unleashed and with each turn, another disappears from the page and is materialized within or outside the home. The house is soon swarming with monsters.
Strange things start happening: eyes appear in John's coffee, sandwiches are mysteriously eaten, the television tunes into The Twilight Zone only, dirt is found in Mary's bed, dishes get done by themselves, neighbors disappear. As this is happening, neither John or Mary suspect anything, completely oblivious to the spooky occurrences around them.
Waldemar gets into the house by turning into a bat. Mary keeps hearing noises at night, which she thinks are made by owls, but are actually the sounds of Waldemar in bat form. John hires an exterminator to get rid of the bats. The exterminator turns out to be Van Helsing, who is also after the book of evil.
John and Mary begin planning a housewarming party for Saturday the 14th. Guests arrive, but they cannot leave. When they try, a thunderstorm appears outside the door. As the night unfolds, the monsters begin to kill the guests one by one.
Eventually a duel between Van Helsing and Waldemar and Yolanda erupts, where it is discovered that Van Helsing wants the book in order to rule the world and Waldemar and Yolanda were only trying to stop him from getting his hands on it. Good triumphs over evil, as Van Helsing and the monsters are defeated.
The Hyatts end up in an upscale new home, while Waldemar and Yolanda keep the original house as their own.
Cast
- Richard Benjamin as John Hyatt, the father of the family
- Paula Prentiss as Mary Hyatt, the mother of the family
- Jeffrey Tambor as Waldemar, vampire looking to buy the house
- Severn Darden as Van Helsing, evil genius disguised as an exterminator
- Kari Michaelsen as Debbie Hyatt, daughter of John and Mary
- Rosemary DeCamp as Aunt Lucille
- Kevin Brando as Billy Hyatt, son of John and Mary
- Nancy Lee Andrews as Yolanda, wife of the vampire Waldermar
- Stacy Keach Sr. as Attorney
- Roberta Collins as Cousin Rhonda
- Paul 'Mousie' Garner as The Major
Production
The film was based on an idea of Jeff Bergun who told it to Howard Cohen. Cohen wrote up a synopsis and sent it to Roger Corman. Corman asked Cohen to write it and Cohen agreed if he could direct.[6]
Julie Corman says "I thought, “This is a lot of fun. I’d like to produce it"."[7] It was one of a number of films Prentiss and Benjamin made together.[8]
Filming took three weeks. Julie Corman recalls Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin "had very individual ideas about their characters. I didn’t get the feeling that one dictated to the other. Dick was generally in charge of presenting a message that maybe I wouldn’t like to say to Paula. For example, Paula, who’s supposed to be a vampire in the movie, didn’t want to wear fangs. I thought, “How can I tell Howard that Paula says she’s not wearing these fangs?” Dick assured me, “Trust me, you will believe she’s a vampire.” He was right."[7]
Despite being set in the fictional town of Eerie, Pennsylvania, the Spooky House Exteriors and Interiors, in which the Hyatt Family inherited from their Late Uncle by mistake in the film, is located in the University of Southern California district in Los Angeles at 1190 West Adams Boulevard.
