Hack-O-Lantern (1988 Video) User Reviews (24)

Cheesy, fun Halloween slasher, but no holiday classic

[yourmotheratemydog715 · 5/10 · 27 October 2015]

Jag Mundhra's second stab at the slasher film (after 1987's snooze OPEN HOUSE) isn't an '80s Halloween-season classic like TRICK OR TREAT or NIGHT OF THE DEMONS, but schlocky horror fans will probably have a good time with it.

Hy Pyke (what a name!) is delightfully over-the-top as the grandfather (who is described as 'kindly' in the IMDb summary, but you're never given the impression he's anything but a scumbag) hell-bent on getting his eldest grandson to devote himself to his Satanic cult, a lame-o group that flash gang signs to each other and wear flannels under their devil robes. Meanwhile, someone in the cult is randomly killing people, and it's up to the other grandson, a boyishly handsome cop, to figure out what the hell is going on.

It's gorier than a lot of the slashers from this time period (though the body count is low), and just about every female cast member gets naked at some point (except, bafflingly, the most attractive one). Most of the leads have fun with their silly roles. It feels super padded, even at 90 minutes, what with random five-minute glam metal dream sequences and a head-scratching, unfunny stand-up comedy routine that grinds all the Satanic action to a halt.

Watchable for sure, whether or not it's worth watching could go either way. Don't spend too long tracking it down, but you could watch way worse.

AWE-SOME-O

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 1 November 2020]

I've had Hack-O-Lantern on my list for years, always meaning to get to it. The cover spoke to me for some reason, but I never got to it. Luckily, Joe Bob Briggs selected it for his Halloween Hideaway and I realized that this movie is exactly what I love most in films. It's made by foreigh filmmakers chasing a trend that have no idea what they're doing or the new culture they're part of - see The Last American Virgin - while bringing in their native ideas of what does work, which in this case would be Jag Mundhra bringing Bollywood to Hollywood, filling this film with musical numbers and comedy, while learning that to sell it to even more foreign markets, particularly Japan with their fascination with bare pubic regions*, which means hiring adult video stars.

I'm nearly delirious with film geek happiness.

Hy Pyke doesn't just chew the scenery in this as Grandpa Drindle. He practically treats this film like a buffet. Perhaps you remember him as the bus driver in Lemora or from Slithis? Well he was positively restrained in those movies, as here he's the old man leader of a backwoods Satanic cult that has knocked up his daughter Amanda (Katina Garner, who was Mother Speed, the leader of the rollerskating nuns in Roller Blade, a movie that strangely enough is even more bonkers than this one) with one boy named Tommy (Gregory Scott Cummins, who is also in Phantom of the Mall and Click the Calendar Girl Killer, as well as appearing in all kinds of TV to this day, like It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia), a juiced up thirty year old who is supposed to be eighteen. That's who the devil wants to lead the cult, but then there are also two other siblings, a cop named Jeff and nice girl Vera (Carla Baron, Necromancer, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama and a former Joe Bob mail girl).

Grandpa's goal is to do everything he can to ensure that Tommy ends up making the ritual on Halloween night, which is celebrated with music from The Mercenaries and comedy. All Tommy wants to do is dream of metal bands like D.C. La Croix and have rough sex with his pentagram tattooed girlfriend Nora (Angel Rush, who the more astute - and perverted among you - may recognize as adult video legend Jeanna Fine, at this point in-between her transformation from blonde bombshell to short haired brunette butch ballbreaker goddess). Grandpa takes care of that by stabbing her in the head with a pitchform (but not before a lengthy scene of full frontal nudity).

And so it goes - with Tommy in his basement lifting weights, keeping his multicolored and candle festooned Satanic altar lit and hanging posters of Dead-End Drive-In and Killian's Irish Red (a beer that has semeed to disappear). There's also sex on a grave, dead boyfriends, dancing Satanic rituals and bad guys who have confused the symbol for "I love you" (which I learned from Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka) for the devil's horns.

This is exactly the kind of movie that 16-year-olds in the video era were looking for, a film where Jeanna Fine makes a bloody mary at 3 in the afternoon before lounging back nude and telling a killer not to bruise her up like last time, punctuated with never signed hair metal bands, laser beans and a shower scene for every female character.

Mundhra would sadly die in 2011, but not before he left behind thirty one movies, including Open House, The Jigsaw Murders , Shades of Gray and Night Eyes, which was the movie that pretty much invented Cinemax After Dark.

This is a movie that's going to obsess me for a while, what with a basement that has a poster for Romero's Season of the Witch with just the word witch on it, a mom who thinks she's in either the 1950's or the 1800's but in no way the late 1980's, a town that allows a Satanic gang to kill people at will, grandpa's truck filled with pumpkins that never fall out despite him driving like an absolute maniac, Satanic garb that combines overall, flannel, capes and Ben Cooper-level masks and friends who put spiders in your bathtub and come on in when you're fully nude like it's no big deal.

Hack-O-Lantern is complete junk. Perfect complete junk, that is.

Really bad but pretty funny

[nick121235 · 5/10 · 28 April 2018]

Really, really bad, but hilarious in that way that only cheesy 80's slashers can be. With the way the mother acts, this could have been taken as a light satire on the whole 'sex drugs and rock n roll' thing but I genuinely doubt there was any such self reflection present in the making of this movie. In fact I don't think there was a single joke the entire running length but I still found myself laughing pretty often. Well, other than when that comedian came out at the party. I wasn't laughing then. Bad acting, bad dialogue, bad sets, bad cinematography. Classic case of 'so bad its good'... but not too good.

charming low-budget 80's horror

[Trooper8-2 · 17 October 1999]

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.

You're the Devil's Son!

[scythertitus · 5/10 · 29 January 2019]

There are a few positives to this film when the budget is taken into account. However budget doesn't have to effect writing and that is generally terrible, both in the dialogue and the twists that make things unnecessarily complicated.

Don't get me wrong, a good twist can make a movie, but these were clearly all done just for the sake of it and make little to no sense. When they come they go against a lot of pre-established character traits and defy human logical actions.

Overall there is more depth to this low budget horror than most, but the twists throw a lot of that good will out the window. On the plus side you could say at a reach that this movie may have inspired Hereditary, although that's pretty unlikely.

Hack-O-Lantern, pretty weak 80s Halloween slasher

[FieCrier · 3/10 · 6 November 2006]

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.

Jag Mundhra's second slasher is a movie bereft of cinematic direction

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 4/10 · 15 February 2008]

Despite boasting the largest film industry in the world in terms of ticket sales, India was one of the last nations to deliver an inclusion to the slasher cycle. When you consider the fact that SSSHHH and KUCCH TO HAI provided such an enjoyable slant on the traditional format, it has to be said that it's something of a disappointment that they didn't start earlier. But whilst the country itself may have been somewhat belated in its offering of an entry to the ever-growing legion of titles, Indian born director Jag Mundhra certainly was not. After relocating to America during the early eighties, Mundhra became the first of his countrymen to grace the genre with not just one, but two consecutive titles. His first, Open House, was a somewhat laboured tale, which pitched a radio talk-show host against a maniacal psychopath that held an unhealthy taste for murdering promiscuous Estate Agents. Its poor reception meant that the film sank without trace, but studios noticed enough credibility in the filmmaker's work to allow him a second shot at slasher recognition.

The copy of Halloween Night that I own was released under the amusing title of Hack-O-Lantern. In the opening, we are introduced to a redneck family in Southern America, whose chirpy exterior conceals some shocking secrets. It seems old grandpa is a part-time Satanist and this Halloween will be a special day for him and his cult, as his nephew Tommy (who is arguably his illegitimate son) will be initiated in to the psychopathic group. Tommy's kindly mother is aware of her father's evil plans and pleads with Tommy to avoid confrontation with the malevolent worshippers. Meanwhile a devil masked maniac is butchering the townsfolk with a trident and leaving corpses scattered around the area. Are the two events related? The family will uncover the truth on this dark Halloween Night.

It's plain to see what Mundhra had in mind during the meetings prior to the film's commencement. Halloween Night boasts a plot that mixes the in vogue slasher clichés with the satanic sheen of titles such as Rosemary's Baby, Allison's Birthday and Invitation to Hell. Admittedly on paper this looked to be an intriguing combination, because category crossbreeds are remarkably uncommon. The synopsis is indeed far-fetched, but workable; and Mundhra's previous experience meant that he was already aware of the downfalls that could befall a low budget project. With an experienced actor on board, plus a group of ambitious hopefuls and a big enough budget to invest in some decent effects, surely the ingredients were all in place for a decent slasher hit?

Unfortunately Mundhra's second attempt at slasher recognition proved to be as woefully uninspiring as his first. Not only is his offering poorly conceived, but its lack of professionalism makes for a painfully inept runtime. The main problems lie in the director's inability to define a mood from scene to scene. Halloween Night is a feature that reminds me of one of those lazy Friday afternoons at work. You know the ones: you've already hit your monthly targets and your boss has gone for a meeting in the city, so you and your colleagues converse about weekend plans and relax in the knowledge that the beauty of a morning in bed is nearly in sight. Instead of updating those annoying spreadsheets, you check how many pokes you've had on Facebook and cunningly call your friend who's on holiday in the Bahamas. Mundhra's effort seems content to remain in first gear and in terms of generating enthusiasm, it falls astoundingly short. Not only does this conceal any signs of credibility that could have been evident, but it also leaves a runtime that more often than not slips into snooze-inducing tedium.

Hy Pyke is star-billed as if he were Al Pacino, with his name gloriously placed above the title as if its inclusion would bring audiences flocking from the furthest of fields. His biggest acting achievement prior to Halloween Night had been a brief and unmemorable turn in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. Here he delivers a cringe-worthy portrayal, which lacks even the slightest acknowledgement of dramatic awareness. He is not aided by a supporting group of actors that lack experience, talent, emotional attentiveness and most importantly, plausible agents. It's perhaps unfair to blame only the cast for their lacklustre efforts, as Mundhra is a director bereft of any kind of theatrical delivery management. Scenes that are included to provide pathos or tension are staged so poorly that they give the film an almost comedic edge. Although the plot incorporates enough authenticity to allow for expressive creativity, the whodunit aspect suffers from an illogical conclusion and the possibilities remain hopelessly unexplored. It's true that the masked killer's identity is smartly concealed, but post-theatre reflection leaves unanswered questions as to the psycho's choice of victims.

There is a director hiding somewhere deep inside Jag Mundhra, but throughout Halloween Night, he failed to reveal himself. What started as an engaging synopsis ended as a nonsensical mishap and the lack of any originality or flair for the macabre defined the movie to the ever growing video graveyard. With only one decent gore scene worth mentioning, Halloween Night fails to succeed on any level as a slasher movie and should be avoided.

Dull Yet Amusing

[gwnightscream · 4/10 · 6 November 2020]

This 1988 horror film tells about a family that's sort of dysfunctional and the grandfather leads a satanic cult in which a member starts committing murder on Halloween. This is a dull yet amusing 80's horror/slasher flick with shoddy dialogue and cheesy acting, but I like the score, the bloody effects and the eerie atmosphere. If you like Halloween or horror, give this a try.

Really, Really, Bad. Not to be missed!!!

[dannypoundsounds · 2/10 · 29 October 2021]

A steaming pile of a movie that you won't want to miss! Truly stupid, confused, and painful to watch. Grandpa is a satanist. His grandson, Tommy is the apple of his eye. He trains little Tommy in the Black Arts. They do nasty stuff. There are other characters, and they are also doing things. Oh, and there's a fantastic heavy metal video (Tommy is in a hair metal band) for a song called, "Satan's Son". There is so much I want to tell you but I don't want to ruin the surprise, y'know? Let's just say I laughed, I cried, I furrowed my brow, I stopped paying attention, I tuned back in and there was a sequence with a really bad comedian. It made no sense continuity wise, but so what??? This movie just blows, and that is the highest recommendation I can give it. See it today!!

Better than Hereditary.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 9 November 2018]

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.

\m/ ( - - ) \m/

Great Movie

[queenie_1234 · 10/10 · 9 May 2000]

Halloween Night is one of those movies that can be very confusing. Some parts are understandable, others leave you thinking. I think that is why I like it. I LOVE low budget 80's style horror movies. Even if you don't like horror, rent it just to see Tommy! He is HOT:) He is also a good actor. I recommend this movie to all.

Decent Non-Franchise Slasher on Halloween

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 7/10 · 14 July 2023]

This is a movie that I never heard of until I got into podcasts. I didn't know a lot about this except for it being involved in a court case on The People's Court. I decided to check it out as part of an October movie challenge, where I needed a movie that took place on Halloween, without being part of the Halloween franchise.

Synopsis: a kindly old grandfather is actually the leader of a murderous satanic cult which sacrifices its victims on Halloween.

We start this movie off with Grandpa (Hy Pyke) arriving at his daughter's house. He gives his grandson Tommy (Bryson Gerard) a gift and lets him pick out a pumpkin to carve. We get to see that he's a spirited boy and upsets his mother, Amanda (Katina Garner). She breaks his pumpkin when she learns her father gave it to him. We also see that Tommy bullies his sister Vera (Heidi Lepucki). There's also his younger brother Roger (Lance Harvey).

The father, Bill (Michael Potts), shows up and is upset that his father-in-law keeps coming around. They know that he's part of a satanic cult. Bill decides to confront him and tell him to stop coming over. Bill is murdered in the process.

We then jump quite years into the future. Tommy is now portrayed by Gregory Scott Cummins. He has joined the cult with his grandfather and is angry toward his mother. This hurts her as she wants the best for her family. Vera as an adult is Carla B. And Roger is Jeff Brown. They all still live at home, as their mother needs them. Roger is a police officer. Vera's friend Beth (Patricia Christie) comes over to help her get ready. She is also interested in Roger when meeting him.

Tommy goes out with his significant other Nora (Jeanna Fine). This upsets his grandfather; due to the ritual they are set to perform that night. People start to get picked off by someone wearing a devil mask that is used in the ritual. The first target is Nora. Who is the person in the mask? Is it the angry Tommy? Grandpa? Or is it someone else?

That is going to be where I'll leave my recap for this movie. There isn't a lot to this story, but what I will say is that it is shocking this came out in 1988. Around this time there was more comedy interjected in slasher films, but this one is serious. It has things that tick boxes for me. The major part that I loved was this cult. It is a satanic group that has been working for years. I like the look of the killer wearing this devil mask as well, as it makes it a bit different.

To build on this, I thought it was a decent enough slasher. We get a kill early on. There is a bit of a lull to get to know the characters before they start up again. We do get them at a decent enough interval until near the end where they happen much more often. What I like to pride myself on with a slasher is if I can guess the killer for ones where that is up in the air. I picked up something early on and I ended up being right. I like that this is pushing a certain character and if it went that way, I would have been fine. What they did instead worked better for me.

Where I want to shift this then next would be the acting. I think that for the most part it is fine. No one blew me away and I think how things are written probably didn't help. Pyke is solid as this weird grandfather with an odd voice. I like him being part of this cult. There is something wild that helps explains why he is focused on Tommy like he is. Cummins is solid as this angst-ridden guy. He seems too old to be living at home, but I can overlook that. Garner is fine as the mother along with Carla B. As her daughter and Brown as the 'goodie two shoes' brother. I'd say the rest of the cast was fine. There is some filler here with like comedy routines that I could have done without, but it didn't ruin this.

The last things to go into would be filmmaking. The effects looked good. We get interesting deaths, nothing too crazy though. In my slasher films though that is what I needed. I thought the cinematography was fine. We get point of view of the killer which is good. There is a bit of that suspense that comes from stalking. I think how it was shot helped there. Aside from that, the soundtrack was fine. There was a music video montage thing that happens as well as this band playing at a party. It wasn't great and felt like filler, but I can get past that.

In conclusion, this is a solid slasher to me. It isn't an all-time great, but I didn't hate my time here. It doesn't outstay its welcome and was interesting enough. I liked incorporating the satanic cult. We got solid kill scenes. The acting was fine. No one necessarily stands out, but they are distinct enough characters. Aside from that, I think this was a solid movie that looked to have gone straight to video. If you are a fan of slasher films, I think this one is solid for sure.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Too predictable while trying to be surprsing...

[Aaron1375 · 3/10 · 1 November 2022]

I was not expecting too much from this film, but I was immediately surprised by how gravely and nearly how bad the grandpa. Other than that, it was a pretty predictable ride for a slasher film with a very tacked on supernatural finish that one also could see coming from 5000 miles away. Could have been more entertaining with more supernatural features and taking away the reveal of the killer which was totally telegraphed way too hard to be surprising.

The story, a kindly grandpa delivers his favorite grandson his choice of pumpkin and a secret gift. The mother is infuriated when she finds this out and the dad goes to tell grandpa to lay off! Well, grandpa is a Satanic cult leader who kills off dad and the boy finds out later that grandpa gave him a Satanic trinket. Years later the mother is struggling to keep her family together to the point on not wanting her very grown children to ever live so they can be together and she seems quite obsessed with this idea and yeah, it is not grandpa doing the majority of the killings it is her. Too obvious, especially when you see her dirty in the scene after the guy is killed in a freshly dug grave. Then grandpa touches one of her other sons on the head and he becomes the leader of the cult!

We get very gravely grandpa, we get ever fretting and crazy mommy, a poser Satanist in the son who is grandpa's first choice, a deputy who is having sex on graves so I think he is the better choice at the end, clueless daughter and assorted friends! Fun cast! Not really, but all of these people are better than the random standup act in the middle of the movie...I still haven't figured that one out as people were laughing and what he said was absolutely not funny. I am talking not even funny for that time, not as someone who does not enjoy older comedy and standup acts...

So, the film is entertaining in its way, but clearly not in a way to make it a good horror movie. It is not scary, the mystery is rendered obsolete after the first kill and what comedy there is, is not funny. However, it moves at a fairly quick pace and there are some nice boobs and one heck of a nice swimming pool. A pool whose chlorine level needs in dire need of attention as it is so strong it fades a girl's butt tattoo!

Decent Low-Budget Horror Film

[Michael_Elliott · 15 July 2017]

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.

Joe Bob Failed

[nixflixnpix · 1/10 · 6 October 2021]

More writing & cinematography. So-so acting. 1 song album. But oh my: no ending, and the ending falls apart, and the family members kill each other. And borderline-incestual scenes, that ruin the film.

Cheesy, trashy and somewhat entertaining!

[markovd111 · 5/10 · 4 February 2023]

"Hack-O-Lantern" is unarguably bad movie with atrocious acting that will make you cringe and grab your head with your hands in disbelief at the stuff you will see here. It isn't so bad it doesn't resemble a movie, but it's still bad. There is a scene that looks like a music video or a scene where a guy completely unrelated to the plot does stand up comedy. It's random. Movie also doesn't shy from showing a lot of nudity though it's nothing special. The horror/slasher part of the movie actually has some decent effects for the time and budget, but other than that it's uninteresting and not a least bit scary. Overall, "Hack-O-Lantern" is a movie to watch with a mate while knowing what you are getting into and hoping to laugh at the movie's stupidity. I don't really recommend it to anyone. Maybe horror/trash movie fans looking for a curiosity will find something to enjoy here. 5/10!

This is a below average addition to the genre you need to see once if you're a horror movie fan

[kevin_robbins · 4/10 · 5 October 2021]

Hack-O-Lantern (1988) is a movie I recently watched on Amazon Prime. The storyline follows a creepy grandfather who lives in a town with a cult that sacrifices people around Halloween. The grandson of the creepy grandfather becomes town sheriff and will need to hunt down the person responsible for all the recent murders while trying to get his creepy grandfather to layoff hitting on the towns children. This movie is directed by Jag Mundhra (The Jigsaw Murders) and stars Hy Pyke (Bladerunner), Gregory Scott Cummins (Cliffhanger), Carla B. (Terror Night) and Marya Gant (Cannibal Hookers). The best part of this movie is the creepy grandfather who is random and hard to watch at times. The acting in this is pretty bad and the horror elements are fairly weak. The music is okay and there's some solid 80s nudity splashed in here and there. There are also some good props and a great twist in the final scene. Overall this is a below average addition to the genre you need to see once if you're a horror movie fan. I'd score this a 4/10 and only recommend seeing it with the appropriate expectations.

Hack-O-Lantern (1988)

[jonahstewartvaughan · 7/10 · 30 April 2023]

Eighties Horror Retrospective #23

Hack-O-Lantern (1988)

(7/10): This was another one that I wanted to spotlight as it looked stupid and fun and it had such a ridiculous title.

Hack-O-Lantern is a Satanic Panic Rock n Roll Slasher that has a young boy grow up under the influence of his devil worshipping grandfather and against his mother's wishes, on Halloween Night years later begins his initiation into the cult.

It's low budget, silly and has cheesy rock tunes to boot.

It's not too high on the kills but they're decently bloody albeit not super creative, with the exception of maybe the first as it involves the large three pronged hoe tool.

There's also plenty of nudity to make up for the lack of kills and some interesting costume design.

It's not the greatest slasher of the eighties,probably not even a minor classic in that regard but it's still a fun one nonetheless.

Cheesy 80s Horror Glory

[icocleric · 8/10 · 25 September 2022]

I watched this film under the name Hack-O-Lantern, which not only attracted me to the film, but it set me up with what to expect in terms of cheesiness.

It was a very cheesy 80s horror film, but I was here for it. There's an 80s rock band in there, over acting from some of the actors, especially the satanic grandfather, and most of the women end up nude at some point. Which obviously means there end is near with the typical trope.

Also some situations were so absurd that they made you laugh. It was glorious. I love bad horror films, so this trickled that, and that horror film nostalgia for me.

The twist at the end of the film was pretty good too, and not one I actually saw coming.

Lackluster Halloween slasher film

[abduktionsphanomen471 · 6/10 · 17 October 2021]

Hack O Lantern - 1988 ( This Film Rates a D ) A crazy satanic creepy grandpa grooms his grandson over many years, to follow in his devil worshipping footsteps. The now grown up guy ultimately fails. Its a slow moving slasher that takes place on Halloween. The gore is decent but moves too quickly, plus so many other missed opportunities. There really is some atrocious acting throughout the entire film by just about everyone involved. Poor, unfunny jokes, 80's cheese script and the whole heavy metal music video sequence was very bizarre and unexpected. Some moments are truly awful. From the failed marriage flashback at the 15 minute mark to lines such as: "I'm Lady Godiva, wanna play my horsey", "I cant sit around and jaw with the law, see you in hell" or "ever made it on a grave, no I never considered myself dead meat". The twist ending is overlong and just non sense. There are T&A and full frontal nudity. Its bad in so many ways, but has some artistic quality that keeps this film afloat. Its just not that great.

Ignore the silly satanic sheen...

[RareSlashersReviewed · 9 June 2002]

The print I watched for this write-up was the British version, released on the 'Braveworld' label titled 'THE DAMNING'. Now if you were to see the cover in your local video shop, and read the blurb printed on the back. You could be rightly forgiven for thinking that this owed more to ROSEMARY'S BABY than it does ROSEMARY'S KILLER. But the silly satanic sheen is just a bad attempt to hide a routine plot for a whodunit / slasher. And not an extremely good one at that!

In the beginning, we are introduced to a typical 'house on the prairie' type family who apparently (or so it states on the cover) have a shocking secret lurking beneath their normal exterior. It looks like good old Granpa (Hy Pyke) belongs to a satanic cult and he seems pretty intent on his young Grandson Tommy (Gregory Scott Cummings) becoming a part of it too. The only person who knows of the evil old man's plans is Amanda (Katina Garner) and she confides in her husband Bill (Michael Potts) who bravely (and foolishly) suggests: "I'll go and confront him myself". She begs him not to, warning him that it's Halloween and he "shouldn't go there tonight". Now what good would a horror film be, if the odd hapless and innocent person didn't ignore a dire and harsh warning like that? The answer: not very good at all; so the somewhat confused 'have a go hero' husband sets of into the night to set the record straight. Of course it doesn't go at all how poor old Bill expected it to, and he ends up being brutally cremated in his own car with a claw hammer sticking out of his forehead! Now did you guess that was going to happen! So far so run of the mill. Roll on thirteen years, and young Tommy is, well...no longer so young and surprisingly enough his complexion and hair color have completely changed as well! We soon find out that tonight is 'his night' and he will finally be initiated into the mysterious and murderous cult. It also seems that there are two other major events occurring in that quiet remote town. The first one being a fancy dress party (hows that for cliche). And for the second a psychopathic killer in a cape and devil mask is going round freely executing people with the sharpest point of a trident! Now obviously every character and their Grandma featured in the flick have their own personnel reason(s) for wanting to chop people up. But it's you the lucky viewer's job to see if you can guess who the assassin is...

Somehow I just knew how this film was going to be before I had even watched it. I know a cheap flick when I see one and THE DAMNING is definitely just that! The crew behind the production of this typical late eighties genre addition seem to be incredibly proud of the fact that they've got Hy Pyke (who had a small part in BLADE RUNNER) in their movie, a fact that is emphasized by placing his name above the title. I can't understand why, he's a terrible actor. But then again, I guess that just made him feel more at home with the rest of the cast, in other words none of them got invited to the Oscars that particular year! They unconvincingly chat away their lines as if they've just finished learning them over a cuppa. Over and under dramatising as much as humanly possible. At the same time, a pathetic score - which, sounds like it was knocked up in five minutes on the local church keyboard - accompanies them. Director Mundhra (who also helmed OPEN HOUSE) attempts to make things trendy by sticking a silly hard rock video half way through, that would even make the most avid metal fan reach for his ear plugs. And when that's finally over, it's not long before it's 'plug in' time yet again as another 'never to be heard of after' group of young rockers take centre stage at the fancy dress party. Ah, yes...the fancy dress party, which is also the film's somewhat leisurely paced climax. Now has anyone else noticed who it's become almost customary for a cheesy slasher flick to have one of these friendly gatherings? I mean, think about it: DEAD KIDS, GIRL'S NITE OUT, DON'T OPEN TIL CHRISTMAS and KILLER PARTY. Need I go on. All the usual ingredients are here including loads of silly costumes, even sillier revelers, the rock band I mentioned before, the unfunny practical joker (who miraculously survives it intact!) and of course the psycho who finds his/her own source of entertainment in walking round and dispatching of people in the most gruesome means imagineable. And when you think you've survived the worst of the cheese, the corny ending springs up unannounced and just goes on to add insult to injury.

To be fair HALLOWEEN NIGHT has the odd enjoyable moment in a cheapo kind of way. It manages not to get too tedious and even chucks in some amusement just for good measure. In one scene one unlucky victim who thinks the masked killer's her boyfriend, strips naked, closes her eyes and cheerily asks "are you gonna surprise me?" Lets just say that I bet she was more than surprised at what happened next. There's also a fun bit of gore to brighten up our screens (although ten seconds was edited in the UK print) including one man getting a shovel 'dug deep' into his head. But still, unfortunately HALLOWEEN NIGHT can't help but feel extremely cheap and somewhat rushed. It's worth watching if you can take it with a pinch of salt. But be warned the only similarities between this and HALLOWEEN are those in the title!

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the power is the blood.

[jrock52201 · 5 January 2004]

This is the best cheezy 80's horror film ever made. Jag mundrah is a directing prodigy, HY Pyke is a hollywood A-lister, and gregory scott cummins has a creepy, unusaully thick mid-section. tommy drindle has one line in this movie that is very oscar worthy, when he grabs veras boyfriend, Brian and says "NEXT TIME YOU'RE DEAD!!!" And you cant forget about Roger Drindle and his ridiculous comic relief that is not even funny.My favorite line from Grandpa is "Tommy was never yaws, he belongs to sumthin' greater than you could ever imagine." And what about D.C. lacroix, that stupid cliche' metal band with the hit single "Devil's Son." Also Tommys fat pig disgusting girlfriend, Norah Bennington, I loved it when she got the pitchfork in her fat, new-wave hairdo.Does anyone remember the party comedian that looks just like Howie Mandel, man I bet that scene jump-started his Hollywood career. I have a question for anyone, is there really a pop-punk-new-wave band called the Mercanaries?

Satanic video is worth a peek

[lor_ · 2 May 2023]

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.