Berserker (1987)

Simply Perfect

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This late-80s stinker tries to carve out a Nordic-mythology niche in the rapidly-declining slasher genre, but fails to do literally anything else of note.A group of teenagers, personality-free even by '80s horror standards, goes for a weekend camping trip, but unfortunately, there's a "berserker" about -- a cannibalistic Nordic hunter who wears a bear snout on his face. Not to mention a giant brown bear! And a kindly old man with a bad Swedish accent named Pappy! So much to be scared of! Actually, I'm genuinely confused who is actually killing these teenagers. By the title, it's assumed the Berserker is the one at fault, but there's also endless footage of the bear stalking the teenagers and running away after kill scenes. These scenes are all incompetently filmed and lit and give no clue to the mystery, either.Not that it really matters: both killers seem incompetent at their job and the flick has a pitifully low body count. Instead, you're treated to overlong chess scenes, horrid rock songs ("HE'S A COOOOOOOL DUDE!"), and endless shots of people walking through the forest. It's 82 minutes long and feels like it should be half that.For Odin's sake, they even make a fist-fight between a Viking and a brown bear dull to watch! All but the most ardent slasher completists will find BERSERKER damn near unBEARable. Skip it!

A group of teenagers head out for an adventure into the woods,trying to spook each other with stories of fabled Viking warriors who used to wear the skins and snouts of bears and go berserk in order to frighten their enemies.Soon,the teens are disappearing,being dragged away to gory deaths by a hairy,half-seen being."Berserker" by Jefferson Richard is an average slasher flick.It offers some bloody deaths and lots of boring bumbling in the woods.The funniest thing is that whenever there's a kill scene,we see the bear.The pace is slow,the editing is bad and the final fifteen minutes are completely laughable.There is a pretty steamy sex scene in the woods but it is inter-cut with a death scene to make both scenes look tacky.There is very little gore,so I was slightly disappointed.Overall,"Berserker" is one to avoid unless you want to see every 80s slasher film.4 out of 10 and that's being kind.

Some teens head up to cabin for a weekend of fun and hot sex (even out in the middle of an open forest), but come under attack by what appears to a viking berserker. Or is it really a bear? Poorly crafted and made slasher film even by the standards of this genre, features inept acting and direction, despite somewhat intriguing premise. Looks like it was made on a budget of about $100. Disappointing effort from Prism Pictures. Rated R; Sexual Situations, Violence, Nudity, and Profanity.

I rented this movie along with some other b-flicks to watch with my friends. All I can say, is I wasted my $1.99. It was confusing, the film quality was bad, not to mention a total lack of a plot. The cover was kind of cool and that's about it...