Could not get past that girls scream! It's awful! Not funny, not scary just NOPE!

Real-life husband and wife Richard Benjamin (Catch-22 and the original Westworld) and Paula Prentiss (The Stepford Wives) play John and Mary, who have inherited his uncle's house in Eerie, PA. If that line made you laugh, then Saturday the 14th is for you.Along with their kids Debbie and Billie, they try and fix the house up. But they're opposed by Waldemar (Jeffrey Tambor, Arrested Development) and Yolanda, two vampires who want the book of evil within the house. Billy finds the book and with each turn of the page, he unleashes monster after monster into the house.Soon, the TV can only get The Twilight Zone, sandwiches, dishes and nosy neighbors all disappear and eyeballs show up in John's coffee cup. It's nothing out of the ordinary to our heroes, who seem blind to the supernatural going on all around them.Waldemar gets into the house as a bat, so they hire an exterminator (Severn Darden, Kolp from Conquest of the Planet of the Apes) who turns out to be Van Helsing.After a housewarming party where the monsters kill every guest, we learn that the vampires are the good guys and Van Helsing just wants the book so he can rule the world. The good guys - now who include the vamps - win and Jon and Mary get an upscale home while Waldemar and Yolanda settle into the cursed home.Director Howard R. Cohen also wrote The Unholy Rollers, Deathstalker and Barbarian Queen before choosing this as his first film. He also directed Space Raiders, Time Trackers and Saturday the 14th Strikes Back.Some trivia - every time you see Prentiss, look closely. She's hiding the cast on her arm, as she broke it before filming began.Also, this is Benjamin's last feature film as an actor, as he started directing with 1982's My Favorite Year.While sold as a parody of slasher films, this movie more accurately makes light of monster movies as a whole. If you're looking for other funnier horror films of a similar bent, I'd recommend Wacko, Pandemonium, Student Bodies or Class Reunion.I remember this movie running on HBO quite often in my youth. It's a pleasant enough diversion, almost an Airplane! version of horror or a Mad Magazine come to life. The monsters are way better than you'd think they'd be, too!

A family moves into a rundown old house in Eerie, Pennsylvania that contains an ancient book of evil. The house becomes overrun with various monsters after said book is accidentally opened.Writer/director Howard R. Cohen relates the enjoyably inane story at a zippy pace, maintains a good-natured goofball tone throughout, displays a genuine affection for the horror genre, and comes up with several witty gags (a television that only plays reruns of "The Twilight Zone," an inspired bathtub parody of "Jaws"). The natural and engaging chemistry between Richard Benjamin as happily oblivious dad John and Paula Prentiss as chipper mom Mary keeps this picture humming. Moreover, it's acted with zest by the rest of the enthusiastic cast: Jeffrey Tambor as sinister vampire Waldemar, Severn Darden as flaky occult expert Van Helsing, Kari Michaelson as perky (and super cute) daughter Debbie, Kevin Brando as smart and resourceful son Billy, Rosemary DeCamp as the snippy Aunt Lucille, Carol Androsky as perky real estate agent Marge, and Roberta Collins as annoying klepto Cousin Rhonda. Parmer Fuller's appropriately cornball score adds to the campy mood. The tacky (not so) special effects possess a certain lovably chintzy charm. A real dippy hoot.

Oh god, another horror spoof?! Yes, but you gotta love this one. I get the feeling that they made "Saturday the 14th" for fun, and cast Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss to give the flick a less than totally silly feel. Benjamin and Prentiss play the parents of a typical all-American family who inherit a deceased uncle's house. Right after they move in, the son comes across a Book of Evil. He opens it, and sure enough, the house is soon swarming with monsters that the dad for some reason never notices (why don't parents pay more attention to what their kids say?). Meanwhile, husband-and-wife vampires are looking to gain control of the house.This film definitely constitutes nice, silly fun. I wish that they'd shown just a little more of the daughter in that one scene, but the censors probably wouldn't have allowed that. But overall, the movie shows that my generation should acknowledge the careers of Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss as my parents' generation did. Also starring Jeffrey Tambor.If I may add one thing, the last few months of 1981 saw some varied but fine cinema: aside from this movie, there was "Das Boot", "Gallipoli", "Mommie Dearest", "Mephisto", "The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie", "Ragtime", "My Dinner with Andre" and "Reds". Impressive.