Saturday the 14th — a strange little film — released in 1981. Even though the original Friday the 13th came out in 1980, Saturday the 14th was not necessarily trying to cash in on the success or even ride on the coattails of the flagship film of the slasher franchise. It’s a standalone venture, later followed by a sequel – Saturday the 14th Strikes Back.
Critics were quite hostile to the comedy horror and its lack of laughs, with Gene Siskel calling it “a feeble comedy with a husband-and-wife star acting team mugging in front of the camera. Comedies don’t need stars,” presumably referring to the use of Jeffrey Tambor and Stacy Keach Sr. – the former of which had already had appearances on such hit TV shows as Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, and Taxi, and would later earn critical acclaim and two Primetime Emmy Awards for The Larry Sanders Show, Arrested Development, and Transparent, while the latter boasted a resume of classic TV and film noir spanning over five decades.
Also starring Richard Benjamin — a staple of ’80s cinema — Saturday the 14th is unapologetically stupid, but worth a watch with its guileless characters and nods to classic horror.
But why not judge for yourself? Saturday the 14th had promise, being produced by none other than Julie Corman, wife of director Roger Corman, and Variety praised it for its special effects and monster designs. If you’d like to give the film a shot, you can do so with your Prime Video subscription for free with ads courtesy of Freevee.