A bad 80’s Halloween flick, but at least it tries to entertain
As Tommy grows up in rural SoCal, he’s negatively influenced by his dubious grandfather (Hy Pyke). When he’s 21, the old man has a ritual scheduled for him on Halloween night. Naturally, his mother (Katina Garner), sister (Carla B.) and cop brother (Jeff Brown) oppose this. Everything culminates at the town’s Halloween party.
Shot in the second half of November, 1986, "Hack-O-Lantern" wasn’t released until late March, 1988, and then only in the UK, although it was eventually released to video. Alternative titles include “Halloween Night,” “Death Mask” and “The Damning.” Despite its low-budget vibe, it actually cost a whopping $5.5 million. I say ‘whopping’ because the hailed “Halloween” was shot just 8.5 years earlier and only cost $325,000.
Yet don’t expect the sense of artistry of that popular film. This is cartoonish and low-rent by comparison, characterized by the hammy acting of Hy Pyke as grandpa. Meanwhile Gregory Scott Cummins is a little too long in the tooth to portray 21 years-old Tommy (he was 30 during shooting), but that’s a minor cavil.
If you can roll with the cheesiness, there are several highlights. For instance, the soundtrack features the catchy song “Devil’s Son” by DC Lacroix from Seattle/Los Angeles, who released two albums in the mid-80s before disappearing. Their style is akin to WASP meets The Runaways, basically catchy hanging chord anthemic hair metal. Meanwhile the cut “Against the Law” is performed by no-name band The Mercenaries at the Halloween party. Both tracks resurface for the closing credits. The other songs and score were done competently enough by Greg Haggard.
Comedian Bill Tucker is thrown in for a surprise routine outside the party, which is amusing (“Gobble, gobble”).
Sharp blonde Carla B., aka Carla Baron, stands out on the feminine front as the protagonist. Jeanna Fine is also alluring as Nora, the one with the short wild hair; she’s unnecessarily shown fully nude, no doubt in an attempt to make up for subpar filmmaking. She unsurprisingly dabbled in porn before marrying a Hebrew and converting to Judaism. The rest of the exploitive nudity could be classified under what Seinfeld called “bad naked.”
It runs 1 hour, 27 minutes, and was shot in the rural outskirts of Los Angeles.
GRADE: C
