La Nuit d'Halloween

Hack-O-Lantern (1988)

** (out of 4)

Extremely bizarre horror film about a Grandpa (Hy Pyke) who is the leader of a Satanic cult and who wants his oldest grandson Tommy (Gregory Scott Cummins) to take over.

HACK-L-LANTERN has a terrific title but sadly it's not really a holiday classic. It's certainly not in the same league as HALLOWEEN or even TRICK OR TREAT for that matter but the film has enough strange moments to make it worth viewing and especially if you're a fan of the 80's low-budget horrors.

Director Jag Mundhra had made OPEN HOUSE the year before and there's no question that this here is a major step up. The film lacks any real money but I will give the director a lot of credit because the film looks very professional and it certainly looks like a "real" film unlike so many of the low-budget movies from this period. Another major plus is that the death scenes are rather gory. There aren't too many of them but when they happen they are impressive and fun. Finally, the biggest benefit is that just about all of the ladies are willing to get naked so there's a lot of T&A scattered throughout the picture.

As far as the problems go, there's certainly a major issue with the pacing. I'd also argue that the setting just didn't seem right as it really didn't make me feel as if it was really Halloween. With the lack of a good setting it also caused the film to have any sort of atmosphere. Some of the performances were really, really bad and some of the dialogue was even worse. The main sister's boyfriend is especially bad.

With all of that said, if you're a fan of low-budget horror movies then HACK-O-LANTERN is worth watching but it's certainly not a good picture.

Young Tommy is given a pumpkin, a toy skeleton, and a pentagram necklace by his weirdly accented grandfather. When his mother learns where he got the pumpkin from, she smashes it. She complains to her husband about the man, and the way he singles out just their one son among all of them. He goes to complain, and gets killed upon observing a satanic ritual the grandfather presides over.

Years later, the son is a satanist too, and one of his brothers is a cop. The grandfather doesn't want him to waste his energies on girlfriend, so one of the cultists dresses up in a devil mask and cloak, and she thinks it to be Tommy (this scene is stolen from Carpenter's Halloween). The satanists are fairly careless about whether the pentagram is one point up, or two points up

There are a few musical scenes of bands performing. To some extent this is an element of 80's horror movies, but it also serves to pad out a pretty bare movie. One of these scenes, of lead singer in afro and faux-tribal bikini shooting lasers from her eyes at the band members, who disappear, and pitchforking one of them in the neck is a music video in a dream (!). Several of the real deaths involve pitchforks too, though. We even get a swashbuckling swordfight at a Halloween party.

Given the overall cheeziness, viewers might be surprised at the full-frontal nudity scenes that turn up. They will also be unpleasantly surprised at a scene in which the movie comes to a dead halt, while a guy performs his impersonation of a turkey in the wild surrounded by hunters before Thanksgiving. It's not funny in the remotest!

The only other Mundhra movie I believe I've seen is the softcore thriller Tropical Heat. In that, he largely wasted nice places shot on location in India, Maryam D'Abo, and Asha Siewkumar. A shame. He's also did the horror movie Open House (1987), and he did the thriller Night Eyes (1990) which spawned three sequels.

My review was written in October 1989 after watching the film on Legacy Entertainment video cassette.

The direct-to-video horror pic "Hack-O-Lantern" is a nicely done, clearly minor Halloween-themed shock film.

Tale of Satanism figures upon eccentric grandpa (Hy Pyke), a creepy fellow (there is frequent reference to his incestuous urges onward daughter Katina Ganer) who has grandson Tommy (Gregory Scott Cummins) under his control.

In a prolog, Grandpa kills his son-in-law when latter stumbles upon a satanic mass in progress on All Hallows' Eve. Some 13 year later, it's Halloween again and Grandpa is planning to initiate Tommy as a devil worshiper. Plot twist hinges on which offspring eventually will take control over the black sheep roel (it's fairly predictable).

Film respects the tenets of the supernatural genre while providing plenty of sexploitation footage for video fans. Cast is well-chosen, particularly the elder heroine Garner who manages to combine sexiness and plainness in a role that ages gracefully.f.

The particular copy of this movie that I saw was under the moniker "Hack-O-Lantern". In terms of pure gore, the movie didn't exactly live up to the name. It was, however, charming in a typically 80's horror fashion, i.e., just about every chick in the movie gets naked. The plot is nothing new, but it is rendered fairly well. In one particular scene, the movieturns into a music video by the heavy metal band D.C. La Croix. If you like old-school metal like Wasp and Venom you will like the song they have in the movie.

Bottom line, the movie needs more gore and a higher body count.

A grandpa (Hy Pyke) tries to lure his grandson Tommy (Gregory Scott Cummins) into his group of Satanic worshippers.

Forget Hereditary (2018): Hack-o-lantern is a lot more fun.

Instead of confusing slow-burn horror, we get cheesy '80s goodness that moves at a fair lick.

Instead of drab, washed out cinematography, we get a vibrant Halloween setting.

Instead of miserable characters, we get a colourful collection of likeable fashion disasters.

Sure, the acting is less than perfect, and the direction by Jag Mundhra (the man responsible for forgettable slasher Open House) is basic, but the film more than makes up for this with some bloody killings, more than its fair share of gratuitous female nudity (the three Bs... boobs, butts and bush), and several 'WTF?' moments guaranteed to bring on the giggles.

Pick your jaw up off the floor as dirty ol' grandpa fondles his own daughter's tits on her wedding day.

Witness Tommy popping on his headphones to listen to some metal on his weather-proof Walkman. As he closes his eyes, we are privy to his thoughts: an MTV-style music video nightmare in which a band plays heavy rock while a woman fires laser bolts from her eyes and severs Tommy's head. Hilarious.

Wonder what the hell is going on as a woman strips naked at a Halloween party while a man outside breaks into an impromptu stand-up comedy routine.

And don't forget to play my Hack-o-lantern drinking game: a shot for every time someone throws the 'devil horns' hand gesture.

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