User reviews

I saw this movie years ago, when it first came out in the theater. My boyfriend at the time thought it would be a sexually charged thriller as the title suggests, a "Basic Instinct" of sorts. Boy was he in for a surprise! This woman has been hit on, molested and generally pushed around be every creepy guy she comes in contact with, including her dentist. Finally, she has enough of all these idiot men she comes in contact with and starts brutally killing them off. I did enjoy watching this, but part of the reason may have been watching my boyfriend squirm throughout the entire film. I think this film will definitely send a message out loud and clear--Guys, behave yourselves, or else!

Controversial? What's the big deal? Sure it comes across as tasteless, perverse and unsavoury, but really the underlining black humour in the smarting script and a revenge fantasy layout does mildly soften the savage intentions. When released; the British (sort-of) feminine vigilante 'Dirty Weekend' caused a real uproar. I seen it labelled as pornographic, but it doesn't really come close. It can get dark, daring and nasty, but never arouses. The raving screenplay by Michael Winner and Helen Zahavi (which it's based upon her novel) is lyrically intrusive, can be offbeat, grotesque (you'll know when) and wears its feminist liberation proudly. Surprisingly I thought it was well thought out even with some patchy inclusions and silly developments. However the absurdity it succumbs to makes for an uneven balance between the humour and serious matter. The waxing between the characters was always amusing, especially when the tables are finally turned. Watching the vulnerable nature of our single female protagonist slowly transform and breathe growing confidence (going from a shivering victim to a sardonic murderer) is done in a wonderfully hardy portrayal by Lia Williams. Some might finde her superficially bland, but I found her suitably incisive. The majority of the men come off as filth, unpleasant and sleazy. David McCallum is substantially good as the fractious dentist and Rufus Sewell is fairly unnerving as the grubby pervert. Sean Pertwee also gets a taste of his own medicine. Director Michael Winner's frank handling is gusty and his sledgehammer approach productively works along side the no-holds barred material. Sometimes the way it was shot it felt like a cheap TV movie. Mainly due to the editing. While the crude violence has a malicious streak, it isn't overly explicit or even convincing, but it can evoke severity. David Fanshawe's eclectically uncanny and soulful music score is an odd one to behold. At times it has a majestic air, but other cues are a complete mess. Interesting low-brow and misogynistic exploitation nonetheless.

A gross and garish movie whose clumsy editing, cheapskate production values and dire lighting are its only memorable features. A lot of acting talent is wasted in this truly execrable work. The director took a powerful, compelling and blackly comic novel and artistically trashed it. Best advice: Forget the film. Read the book.

A reverse gender "Death Wish" has doe-eyed Lia Williams as Bella, who encounters several oversexed, repulsive men, who are all interested in one thing (and it ain't football!). Hard to believe that director Winner actually made a handful of decent films in the early seventies, because this film is offensively stupid and violent with giant lapses in logic and character motivation. Every male character (=caricature) is presented as a horny git, who eventually suffers Bella's revenge, but so what? After the Death Wish sequels, Bullseye, Parting Shots and now this, Winner should definitely NOT quit his day job as a restaurant critic.

0 (of ****)

Despite having a vigilante theme it's very difficult to believe that Michael Winner had anything to do with this movie . All through the running the subtext screams " Men are sexual sadists , you can't trust any of them , kill them all " which is far closer to a deluded feminist world view , and what ever you think of Mr Winner there's no way you can describe him as a feminist . But the penny drops the more the film goes on when you realise it's not meant to be a serious film and couldn't have been made by a serious film maker

The plot revolves around a woman called Bella who moves to Brighton and is the victim of a stalker who phones her when she's alone , though the stalker is both written and played in such an over the top manner that he's somewhat difficult to take seriously . Bella then takes advice from an Iranian clairvoyent ( As I'm sure anyone in her situation would do ) then it's revenge against the penis people all the way

As you can imagine I had this sussed out as a role reversal of DEATH WISH but about two thirds of the way through the entire tone of the movie changes when we're introduced to " The lady in red and spanky fat boy " . I wasn't convinced farcical black comedy was part of the masterplan at development stage , it's like Winner and co have got fed up making a straightforward revenge drama and had decided to lighten things up a little . Unfortunately the production started off bad and this black comedy element makes the film even worse

DIRTY WEEKEND is a bad movie , badly written , badly produced and badly cast ( Lia Williams goes through the movie with one expression ) but what makes it really bad is the offensive portrayal of men . There are a lot of nasty b@stards out there but it's ridiculous the way Bella runs into every creep , pervert and rapist in the country which gives coincidence a bad name . Though perhaps the movie isn't supposed to be taken seriously and I guess some people might see the movie as a guilty pleasure

I perfer watching this Michael Winner's film, one of his very last, made in UK, than the garbage, which he was involved in during the eighties for the infamous Cannon Group company and Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Actually Michael Winner lost his soul by the beginning of the eighties, or late seventies. His highlight was during the seventies, with Charles Bronson, but not only. So, enough talk, let's get to this one; the subject may remind some kind of smooth, cheesy DEATH WISH, but only if you wish to compare. Same basic scheme and this gives something weird, hesitating between gruesome murder scenes and light touch sequences. Directing and acting are purely British. Yes, revenge murder scenes are worth and I would say they alone justify the viewing of this film.

Dirty weekend is a very well made film- as you would expect from Michael Winner. To sum it up, it is basically a feminist version of Death Wish about a woman who gets pushed around, experiences her own powerlessness and one day decides she's had enough. Needless to say that she then spends a weekend with a gun meeting a lot of creeps. Some of ther performances are great. David McCallum as psyohopathic dentist alone is worth watching the film. As always Winner plays effectively with audience by getting us to actually want her to pull the trigger. Of course, it is all black/and white in terms of morals and the likelihood of meeting such an assortment of scumbags in one weekend is not really that big. But all in all the film is well made. What impressed me most was the very effective use of music in the film. I found it remarkable that the French film "Baise Moi" allegedly a feminist masterpiece is a shameless rip off of Dirty Weekend, lifting complete scenbes from Winner's film.

It's difficult to know if Dirty Weekend finds Michael Winner taking the rise out the urine, or if he genuinely feels he had something to say? And what of Helen Zahavi, author of the novel and in charge of the adaptation to screen here? What's her story - motivations et al? It's quite possibly that Helen and Michael at their respective humane cores were a match made in cinematic heaven, but how come Dirty Weekend just feels dirty, lazy dirty at that, a sort of shock for shocks sake as Zahavi gets to curry favour with the feminist movement and Winner gets to be seedy, with murder death kill and the grotesque thrown in for good measure.

Plot, for what it's worth, has dowdy Bella (Lia Williams) suddenly turn into a sexual vamp over night with a blood lust for offing all men who dare to leer and pester. In Brighton, the place of rock, candy floss and degenerate male members of the human race.

It would have been easy to root for Bella had she at the very least had acquaintances or drinks with some normal men, but it's hard to take seriously a film where every single bloke she meets is either troubled mentally, a sexually deviant, has a penchant for serial killing and etc etc. Even her best friend's husband is a milquetoast who probably should have been on Bella's hit list as well!

Winner achieved everything he hoped for with Dirty Weekend, the critics frothed at the mouth, the British censors sharpened their scissors, and crucially the film became a holy grail of uncut home formats for the intrigued and degenerates. It undeniably was shocking back on release, I mean when the broad sheet newspapers of Blighty are dissecting it frame by frame you know it's a fire-cracker piece of cinema.

Rufus Sewell can be forgiven as this is right at the start of his career (he is edgy, nutty and Anthony Perkins like), same for British legend Sean Pertwee, but what is David McCallum's excuse, Ian Richardson also? That Lia Williams is bold and cheeky with her performance saves the film from stinker hell, it's great to note that she carved out a strong career in British TV and still works today.

Hard to recommend and guaranteed to make you angry, but fair play to Winner, boy did he know how to punch buttons! 5/10

This is no Oscar Winner its a Michael Winner.and its one of his worse this is a very phoney movie.It doesnt work as a thriller.it comes across as a womans death wish.Except no Woman would get into such silly adventures.its insultingly bad.Some truly vulgar scenes.Obviously some of the actors needed to pay the rent.1 out of 10

... but then, what else would you expect from Michael Winner?? You'll usually find that regular use of voice-over as a narrative device is the last refuge of a director incapable of being economical; alien to visual or nuanced storytelling. The trend isn't bucked, such is the case here.

The world of he who orchestrates everything is colourless and grimy, with creeps populating every suburb. My word, he must have met some reprobates in his alternate lifestyles to have such a ceaselessly nihilistic outlook! Answers on a postcard gratefully received please, as to why the soundtrack apparently contains a didgeridoo. It's obvious that the person who composed it has no idea why...

A female version of "Death Wish" with even more specious motivations. Just what the '90's needed to teach us how to be civilised, and - this is more important - hopefully make better films for the new millennium!

This is seriously a contender for worse film of the century award! There really isn't much I can say about this film. I saw it ages ago, and it was an awful mess of a film! It's low-budget and it's directed by Michael Winner who also wrote this garbage! It's vulgar, vile and the characters are completely uninteresting, especially the main female character, who finds her purpose and goes around killing male scumbags. It seems every male she encounters is a potential rapist. I have no idea as to what Winner was trying to say in this movie, but it all seemed so unnecessary, and the lead actress was insipid. All I remember is waiting for this garbage to end. Avoid 'Dirty Weekend' like the plague!

No score...0 out *****!

This is a nasty and crude little offering from Mr Winner, which has quite a lot of heinous and cruel male characters in it. All set amongst the splendid flowers and apparent tranquility that is Southern England. But no, we are treated to some despicable men, such as a two-timing rotter; a psychopathic threatening phone-caller; a lecherous copper; a randy, grotesquely obese chap; a dentist who forces a woman to give him fellatio; and three nefarious blokes who savour in trying to set fire to an old vagrant woman. The picture has a definite menacing air to it throughout, has the lead lady Bella is repeatedly threatened by the said men and takes revenge and eventually gets her justice. I'm not going to entirely condemn the film, it has some moments, but it is difficult to watch. Only really for vigilante and Michael Winner film fans.

I first saw this film at the cinema and found it quite funny in a sick sort of way. What I liked about it was the British feel to it. The story is a Death Wish type clone (Death Wish also directed by Mr Winner)it has some memorable characters in and also some memorable places from Brighton. If your after a bit of fun and don't mind some sick scenes you may like this. Also this film was banned from video release for a few years back in the mid 90's. There are some scenes cut out from the cinema release, but that does not affect the film in any way. Oh I also liked the soundtrack which suited the film very well. Even by today's standard this film has a dark and moody feel to it and may even find it's very own cult status one day.

There is a bad and good side to this film. Bad because of the detail i.e the lingering expressionless looks of Bella gets a bit over done and you're not sure what these mean in relation to the film sometimes. All the 'nasty' male characters she encounters are too obviously the entire(minority) arseholes of the male population...which in turn makes what happens the good side of the film.

Good because of the age old formula of the victim getting revenge on the bad guys is female . Even though it's all a little bit silly & OTT it's worth a watch if even just for the nasty bits. Is Bella tipped over the edge or just coolly enjoying her sadistic pursuits now? You decide...

This movie concentrates on one character (Bella) who decides to stop being a victim and go on the offensive. She takes out all the right people and all in a surreal fashion. I thought this was going to be a low-budget cheap-shot movie but was pleasantly surprised.

Director Michael Winner who also created other classic flicks, Death Wish II 1982, Death Wish 1974, Death Wish 3 1985 and Lawman 1971 has created another gem in Dirty Weekend.

Starring Lia Williams.

Also starring Rufus Sewell who was also in other classic flicks, Tristan + Isolde 2006 and Dark City 1998.

Also starring Sean Pertwee who was also in other classic flicks, Wilderness 2006, Equilibrium 2002, Dog Soldiers 2002 and Blue Juice 1995.

I enjoyed the sex and violence.

If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic sex themed flicks, Assault! Jack the Ripper 1976, Basic Instinct 1992, Star of David: Beauty Hunting 1979, Boogie Nights 1997, Caligula 1979, Captured for Sex 2 1986, Chinese Torture Chamber 1994, Crash 1996, Damage 1992, Deadgirl 2008, Fatal Attraction 1987, Flower and Snake 4: Rope Magic 1987, Hanzo the Razor: The Snare 1973, In the Realm of the Senses 1976, The Japanese Wife Next Door 2004, Naked Obsession 1990, Night Rhythms 1992, Poison Ivy III: The New Seduction 1997, Preaching to the Perverted 1997, Red to Kill 1994, Sex and Zen 1991, Sex is a Four Letter Word 1995, Teeth 2007, Wild Cactus 1993, Better Than Sex 2000, Vice Squad 1982, X 2011, Don Jon 2013, London to Brighton 2006, Unfaithful 2002, Zipper 2015, Naked 1993, Last Exit to Brooklyn 1989, Chloe 2009, The Last Seduction 1994, Knock Knock 2015, Wild Things 1998, X 2022 and Wonderland 2003.

I only saw this as I was writing a review for a college magazine at the time and thought it would be easier to write about a bad movie than a good one. I didn't realise just how easy it wou ld be. I saw it on a wet afternoon in a mutliplex, and 4 of the 6 people in the cinema walked out. I wish I was one. Awful in every possible respect, if Edison had known that this would happen to his great invention he would have hid the patent. Not out of curiosity, masochism or desperation should you give this a look.

Shortly after Bella moves into her own flat in Brighton, she finds out that she is being spied on and generally harassed by a man living across from her. Finally driven to solving the problem with a hammer, she realises she is then ready for a crusade against other such problem males. Dirty weekend is a very well made film as you would expect from Michael Winner. To sum it up, it is basically a feminist version of Death Wish about a woman who gets pushed around, experiences her own powerlessness and one day decides she's had enough. Needless to say that she then spends a weekend with a gun meeting a lot of creeps. Some of ther performances are great. David McCallum as psyohopathic dentist alone is worth watching the film. As always Winner plays effectively with audience by getting us to actually want her to pull the trigger. Of course, it is all black and white in terms of morals and the likelihood of meeting such an assortment of scumbags in one weekend is not really that big. But all in all the film is extremely well made. What impressed me most was the very effective use of music in the film. I found it remarkable that the French film "Baise Moi" allegedly a feminist masterpiece is a shameless rip off of Dirty Weekend, lifting complete scenes from Winner's film.

Review Courtesy of Neville Cawas Bardoliwalla OBE