Death Weekend
a.k.a. The House by the Lake
1976 · Directed by William Fruet · Canada
Death Weekend (1976) is a Canadian home invasion thriller starring Brenda Vaccaro, Don Stroud and Chuck Shamata. Directed by William Fruet, it is based on real incidents, including an experience of Fruet’s own.
Diane (Vaccaro) is away for a weekend in rural Ontario with her latest boyfriend, the wealthy Doctor Harry (Shamata). They encounter a group of thuggish locals whom they run off the road. Led by Lep (Stroud), the gang seeks revenge on Diane and Harry and invades the mansion belonging to Harry. There is a subplot about Harry being a serial womaniser and voyeur, but this gets lost in the increasing brutality meted out by the gang.
The home invasion builds as the invaders get drunk, and Harry is chased by Lep and murdered. Diane is raped and stabs her attacker in the neck with a shard of glass. She is pursued by the other three across the boggy countryside, a factor that proves fatal to one of them as he closes in on Diane in the night. Diane shows no mercy in her retribution on her attackers. Vaccaro’s performance is particularly worthy, and Stroud’s unhinged malevolence is unsettling as he taunts his captors.
Death Weekend fell foul of the Video Recordings Act during the video nasty outrage in the UK and received an outright ban. Critics described it as “a mindless shocker”, “a frighteningly ugly suspense film” and “obscenity in every sense of the word.” It is also known as The House by the Lake, a title used to capitalise on the notoriety of The Last House on the Left (1972). It is a precursor to I Spit on Your Grave (1978), and like those more famous films, its power to shock has not lessened over time.
