Berserker (1987)

Director:

Jefferson Richard

Writers:

Jefferson Richard (written by)
Joseph Kaufman (story) ...

Release Date:

July 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

It's too late to run. There's no time to scream... Just close your eyes and pray to die. [video cover]

Plot:

Six young adults in the woods run afoul of a berserker, a viking warrior who dons the fur and snout of a bear, and are slain in turn by him. |

Plot Keywords:

Slasher

Cast

Joseph Alan Johnson	...	Mike
Greg Dawson	...	Josh
Valerie Sheldon	...	Kathy
Shannon Engemann	...	Kristi
Beth Toussaint	...	Shelly
Rodney Montague	...	Larry
Oscar Rowland	...	Homer
Beverly Rowland	...	Edna
Mike Riley	...	Berserker
John F. Goff	...	Officer Hill (as John Goff)
George 'Buck' Flower	...	Pappy Nyquist

Also Known As:

Berserker: The Nordic Curse (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

85 min | UK:79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R | Singapore:R21 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Utah, USA

Company:

American Video Group

Movie Connections:

Spoofs On Golden Pond (1981)

Soundtrack:

Stop/Cool Dude

Expect long scenes of idiots stumbling through the woods...

(* out of *****) Here's a bad idea for a slasher movie: Get the audience all stoked and build their expectations by setting up a terrifying, Viking warrior killer called a `berserker' who tears apart and cannibalizes his victims, but then don't even reveal him until the last fifteen minutes. Instead, have half the cast (and the best-looking half on top of that) get killed off by a stupid, boring bear. Seriously, this frustrating movie doesn't know whether it wants to be "Friday the 13th" or "Grizzly 2," and the bear attacks are drawn out and laughably fake looking. Even though it clocks in well under an hour and a half, much of this turkey is still padded with long, tedious scenes of old men playing chess and making fun of each other's hearing and frightened doofuses walking through the woods or limping and falling through creek beds. When the berserker is killed, his mask disappears off of his face for some reason, as if he's a werewolf. Curiously, of the six main characters, only two of them are killed (and the violence is minimal), so I'm wondering just to whom the heck this supposed `slasher' film is targeted. B-movie veteran George `Buck' Flower is the only actor of note in this mess, but I'm sure even he would like to forget it. The Blockbuster Video Guide gave this movie three stars -- I seriously want to meet the person who sat down, watched this entire movie, and said to him/herself, `Now that's three-star entertainment!'

Lowlight: The `climactic' fight between the berserker and the bear. Most of the time, it looks like they're just hugging each other.