“To escape … she’ll have to kill!” Sleazy oral surgeon “Harry” (Chuck Shamata) invites beautiful, strong-willed fashion model “Diane” (Brenda Vaccaro) to his isolated country retreat for a “weekend party” with intent to get her alone and seduce her. However, things for Harry totally backfire as Diane rebuffs his advances in a big way. The couple then gets terrorized by a gang of drunken, nihilistic cretins – “Lep” (Don Stroud), “Frankie” (Kyle Edwards), “Stanley” (Don Granberry) and “Runt” (Richard Ayres) – who they had encountered earlier on the way to Harry’s retreat. It’s fascinating how these seriously disturbed imbeciles wreak havoc (Harry’s such a piece of shit that it’s strangely exhilarating to watch them destroy his mansion!). With Harry totally ineffectual against the gang, Diane must take matters in her own hands and fight for survival. An extremely disturbing and violent but absolutely riveting Canadian backwoods brutality flick directed by William Fruet, Death Weekend (AKA The House by the Lake) features outstanding performances from Vaccaro and Stroud. Don’t miss it! A former surfing champ from Hawaii, Stroud portrayed the title character in Murph the Surf (1975).