I'm going to be completely honest here: this movie is a spoof of horror movies actually, and as far as I can remember not even a good one at that. This was from the early 1980's, so way before the run of movies in the 90's and 00's that used the premise of one movie to spoof a ton of other movies and pop-culture oddities and references.

The movie itself centers around a family moving into a house that is basically haunted, and are dealing with two vampires who want a book from that house, but the kid finds the book and silly hi-jinks ensue. The parents are kinda hapless and moronic, probably seemingly more so now given that this movie is nearly forty years old.

...college-age kids having a stoner Halloween party but aren't into gory slasher films, probably. I'm hesitant to say it's alright for anyone really young, as it's rated PG, but younger teenagers will probably find the humor hilarious because it's kinda stupid and cheesy. It's an 80's b-movie with less than ideal special effects and low-budget nonsense.

Honestly, here's how I remember this film the most: a scene where there was eyeballs floating in a cup of coffee. That's my biggest take-away from the film, after all these years. I probably saw it maybe within a year or two of it coming out...it was all over the cable movie channels (probably HBO or Showtime), and I remember it being advertised in the little paper guide the cable company would send out every month, telling you what movies were on what networks. And if I'm really being honest, a lot of the story likely went over my head, because I couldn't have been more than 10 years old when I saw it.

Maybe I'm nitpicking, but the title itself is a spoof on the "Friday the 13th" movie franchise, but I don't recall anything related to that film at all in this movie...so if you're watching this based on the title alone, prepare to be a bit disappointed. Also, it's not meant to be outright scary...being that it's topical satirical humor, the jokes and gags may not translate very well to 2017, or, at least not very comically. But then again, are similar movies made within the last ten or twenty years gonna make as much sense down the road as they do now?

...be kind and rewind. Just kidding! It's a dvd, not a vhs tape (though I'm sure this was probably somewhat popular in first-generation video rental stores back in the day). No, probably after watching this I might be inclined to reexamine all of my life choices...dumb humor kinda does that to me sometimes, unfortunately.

OLD!! Like I said, I remember watching this as a kid, and that it originally came out in 1981 (I would've been all of six years old) means it's officially been making people groan for multiple generations. Somewhere, some weird father thinks he's cool by making his kids watch it as they roll their eyes at him. This same kind of dad absolutely drinks unironically out of a "World's Greatest Dad" mug each morning, all year long. I guess what I'm saying is if I made it through another showing of this movie without falling asleep, wishing it was over, or turning it off and walking away, I'd probably feel pretty lame.

I barely recognized any of the names attached to this film. Without flat-out IMDB-ing the movie or the cast, I can tell you I know who Jeffrey Tambor is and have seen him in quite a few tv shows (most notable Arrested Development). Is Richard Benjamin (who I assume is the star, since it's his name first and on the cover) some kind of horror or comedy legend? I don't think I've ever heard of him. Paula Prentiss (also on the cover) sounds really familiar though. Although I'm sure this isn't the type of film that made to be destined to turn everyone into stars and household names.

Ummm, because maybe it's kinda funny? I could recommend it more maybe if it were in a $5 bin at Walmart, because I'm not sure it's worth the $8-and-change Amazon is offering it at. But if goofy, corny humor is right up your alley and you're a horror movie fan, sure, add this to your collection but don't invite me over...I've seen it once, and that was enough for me.

I don't recommend this because seriously, there are probably like twenty better horror movie satires out there...the "Scary Movie" franchise is probably a hundred times better than this and has also aged a little better as well (which probably isn't saying much). But whatever...to each their own, I suppose.

I'm really not trying to slag this movie; I mean come on, people actually paid to see it and got paid to create and act in it, so to some it does have a certain level of importance. In the end it just wasn't my thing. Maybe you'll find it suits you better. That's the real beauty of anything like this.

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Created Jun 19, 2017 at 12:22pm • Submit your own review...