Woodyanders
When one ponders how truly terrible a handful of 80's "wackos-in-the-woods" fright features tend to be (e.g., "The Forest," "The Prey," and "Don't Go in the Woods"), claiming that "Berserker" qualifies as an especially abysmal example of this horror sub-genre speaks volumes about its exceptionally abominable lack of quality. The plot's strictly by-the-numbers -- and from hunger to boot: Six bland, witless jerky teens (three guys and three gals) go camping in the Wisconsin wilderness, only to wind up getting bagged by a claw-and-bear snout wearing modern-day descendant of an ancient fabled Norwegian warrior known as a -- big, portentous drum roll please -- BERSERKER! This flat, flaccid stinker misses the boat in practically every respect; it's a cheap, overly familiar and grindingly predictable time-waster brought down by horrid acting from the talentless, irritating teens (only the lovely Beth Toussaint, who bears a passing resemblance to Linda Hamilton, manages to make a favorable impression because she not surprisingly bares all in a thoroughly gratuitous, yet still much-appreciated sex scene), insipid cardboard characters, an unbearably poky pace, extremely bogus gore (the Norwegian nutcase rubs what looks like sodden raspberry jelly all over its victims' faces), a trite, meandering narrative, a blatantly telegraphed "surprise" ending, and dire, uninspired direction. The sole source of faint entertainment is the always refreshing and uplifting presence of late, great, sorely missed fat guy character actor favorite George "Buck" Flower, who delivers a funny, spirited performance as Pappy Nyquist, the choleric, doddering, eccentric camp caretaker whose land the kids trespass on. Flower's frequent co-star John Goff appears as an ineffective sheriff. Goff and Flower collaborated on the scripts for such choice 70's drive-in cheese as "Joyride to Nowhere," "C.B. Hustlers," and the immortal "Drive-In Massacre." Among the many movies Goff and Flower appear in together are "The Witch Who Came from the Sea," "The Alpha Incident," "The Fog," the indispensable Pia Zadora classic "Butterfly," "The Night Stalker," "Maniac Cop," "They Live," "Relentless," "Skeeter," both "Ilsa" flicks, and "Tammy and the T-Rex." And I believe I'm going off on a little extraneous tangent here. But hey, when you're reviewing a flick as lame and unremarkable as "Berserker" the urge to embark on an utterly incongruous tangent is downright impossible to resist. I think that says plenty about this baby's lowly status as an undeniably dismal dud.
HumanoidOfFlesh
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.
Coventry
The ancient Northern mythology COULD be the most marvelous source for fascinating epics, adventures or breath-taking horror.but instead of this, some idiots decided to turn it into a slasher. I'm not even sure it's worth to be called a 'film' because it's a completely uninspired, lame and annoying mess. The legend of the Berserkers - a tribe of aggressive Viking Warriors during the 10th century - forms a weak base to show one of the crappiest 80's horror films I've ever seen..And I've seen a lot of junk in my days. Except for the slightly different plot-point, all other routine slasher elements are present. Meaning: horny boys, sexy girls, loud and inappropriate rock music, stupidity and a lot of bad acting. I'm convinced that this film will disappoint even diehard slasher-fans because there are too many survivors at the end! What the hell is that about? The body-count in this pile of garbage lies far below the normal standards. Add to this a bit of cheesy make-up effects and an incredibly stupid end-twist, then you've got one of the silliest and unnecessary movies ever made. Skip this one and keep your eyes open for REAL Viking fables.
andre breton
I have wasted 1,5 hours from my life and 2$ from my wallet. Completely disgusting movie! This is a bad and funny movie because the director tried to make a serious one. In the first 50 minutes, i thought the killer was a bear but at the end of the film, i shocked. Not because of the real killer but the silly of the final.
