was often impeded by clouds, which affected the outdoor lighting. Actress Caitlin O'Heaney, then a recent graduate of Juilliard, had been a stage actress in New York, and had recently performed on Broadway with Katharine Hepburn at the time of being cast. O'Heaney auditioned for the part at the suggestion of her agent, and claimed she took the role in order to establish herself within the Screen Actors Guild. She described the shoot as "low budget, but very professional," and cited the experience as essential at informing her film acting. Release Savage Weekend was screened out of competition at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Marché du Film. According to Paulsen, the photo laboratory had failed to reframe the aspect ratio, and he was "horrified" to see that boom mics were visible in the cut. During the Cannes screening, Paulsen and his wife manually covered the top and bottom edges of the frame with tape to achieve the intended aspect ratio for the screening. The film was picked up for release by The Cannon Group, who released it regionally beginning in New York in August 1979, as The Killer Behind The Mask. By November 14, 1980, the title had changed to Savage Weekend in several North American cities, such as Detroit and Windsor. The film expanded to Philadelphia on November 28. Though Paulsen stated that the studio had assured him the aspect ratio would be fixed for their theatrical distribution, the studio failed to correct it, resulting in boom mics remaining visible in the frame. Critical response TV Guide called it "A truly reprehensible exploitation film... Ultra-low-budget and shot on grainy color stock, the film is borderline pornography, and the gore effects are extremely gruesome." Candice Russell, film and theatre writer for the Fort Lauderdale News described the film as "strictly for wackos" and that "sickness bags should be given with the price of admission". Ed Blank, writing for The Pittsburgh Press, lambasted the film as "incoherent, illiterate and inept," also criticizing it for being "sexist in the extreme," featuring female characters who "serve no other purpose other than to appear in various stages of undress and back up against walls and trees so they can be slain or tied up." Philadelphia Daily News critic Joe Baltake criticized the film's portrayal of Nicky, the gay character, writing: "He's the foulest movie character of recent memory, enough to