A couple of years before "I Spit in Your Grave" hit the drive-ins, our film today hit them. Also called "Dead Weekend," "The House by the Lake" seemed a better title to draw them in at the drive-in. Unlike the aforementioned rape/revenge nasty, this one had a big name cast of actors we recognized and also Brenda Vaccaro as the beset beauty. The level of violence in this one may surpass the Camille Keaton classic, and poor Ms. Vaccaro...as an actress, a lot was asked of her. Let us look at the sometimes hard to watch rape/revenge film from 1976, and shot in Ontario. Directed by William Fruet, the heavy in this film is masterfully portrayed by Don Stroud.
Diane (Vaccaro), a sultry fashion model/party girl, hooks up with the uber rich Harry (Chuck Shamata). They take his Corvette to his lake house, a massive mansion, away from population. She thinks he's having a party. Harry is a pervert and jerk. No party, but he does have two-way mirrors to photograph Diane naked in the shower, or changing in her room. Then psycho perverts arrive. Led by Lep (Stroud), also in the group is Runt (Richard Ayres), Frankie (Kyle Edwards), and Stanley (Don Granbery). They bust in and work on humiliating Harry and Diane. Sadly, Diane will be viciously raped. Harry, a dentist nerd, is in no position to offer resistance. Diane knows what her fate is and schemes. Harry begs and cries. Lep and his peeps absolutely destroy the house, breaking everything. Already having raped Diane, Lep sends Runt into the bedroom to rape her.
Diane sees opportunity. Runt is drunk, high on something, and ripe for being cut-up by a psycho-babe. It begins. Not intending to get raped anymore, and realizing Harry, if he's still alive, will be of no help, Diane turns homicidal. Poor Runt...his death will not be quick. The others...you may end up feeling sorry for them. Their outcomes will be hard to watch, and pretty but soiled Diane will have no mercy.
Will the brutish and sex-psychopath Lep fall to the pretty fashion model with an attitude? Will Harry shed his pervert loser existence, develop some manhood, and help Diane? Will Diane castrate any of the men in the mansion? Brenda Vaccaro turns in a heartbreaking and frightening portrayal of a woman raped who turns into the aggressor. See "House by the Lake" and see Brenda Vaccaro in a role that will shock you.
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