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HACK-O-LANTERN

GRANDPA HAS SOMETHING SPECIAL PLANNED FOR HALLOWEEN



★★★★★ (A Must-See)

Director: Jag Mundhra

1988


Hack-O-Lantern (also released as Halloween Night) begins with an innocent interaction between a doting grandpa and his young grandson. Gifting a pumpkin from his pumpkin farm, the old man is very clear he considers him a special kid, but Tommy’s mother isn’t having it. She smashes that pumpkin with all of the rage of a woman who was assaulted by Grandpa on her wedding day. Hack-O-Lantern is that kind of movie, one with all the trigger warnings. It’s the kind of film where a woman does a full-frontal striptease at the county Halloween party. It’s the kind of movie where a couple has sex on top of a dead body. And it’s the kind of movie where a little boy licks blood off his fingers and admires the pentagram given to him by Grandpa. Hack-O-Lantern is a ridiculous, fun, horny, booby, rocking journey of a “young” man forced to choose between his family and devil-worshipers. Unintentionally funny performances and editing make this a Halloween treat, and one of my seasonal favorites.


HACK-O-LANTERN IS THAT KIND OF MOVIE, ONE WITH ALL THE TRIGGER WARNINGS.”


Grandpa (Hy Pyke) didn’t just assault his daughter on her wedding day, he also murdered her husband and indoctrinated her oldest son into a cult of Satan worshipers. A time jump to a future Halloween shows us just how deep Grandpa got his talons into Tommy (Gregory Scott). Now a jobless thirty-year-old teenager sleeping on a mattress in his mom’s basement, Tommy knows he’s meant for bigger things. Though most of his time is spent lifting weights and fantasizing about being in a heavy metal band, he’s the son of the devil, a post he’s set to accept that very night. Not that much will change around the house. He ignores his mother, whose hobbies involve working the farm and weeping, and dismisses his younger sister and police officer brother as not being supportive. There’s not a lot of story here beyond holiday events leading up to Tommy’s unholy initiation—his sister plans to lose her virginity, his brother has an unexpected tryst in a graveyard—but the movie is filled with all of the goodies an excellent Halloween movie provides. We even get a serial killer, who decides to dispatch people in Tommy’s life before the evening ritual. Is is Tommy or Grandpa? Is it someone else? I promise you won’t lose time trying to figure it out.


Take that, teachers who said I’d amount to nothing!




If you’re looking for a dim-witted 80s movie that will show you a good time, look no further. Hack-O-Lantern steeps us in the cheesy world of Nagel posters and gravity-defying hairstyles. Director Jag Mundhra moves the action quickly, allowing us to savor terrible acting and organ music that tries to frighten but makes us laugh instead. Speed bumps along the way, like a random guy (obviously a producer’s friend) doing a comedy bit before disappearing from the film and a tattoo/brand that fades off a woman’s butt when she gets out of the pool, do nothing to hinder our enjoyment. As long as you don’t expect too much, you’ll get it.


And two performances elevate the film to its “so bad, it’s good” distinction. Gregory Scott mugs for the camera and gives a performance that is almost too sincere. He snarls as he breaks the fourth wall, and does his best impression of a bull dog to show you he means business. He’s the devil’s son, after all. The greatest performance though belongs to Hy Pyke as Grandpa. The man is a walking Tennessee Williams play, a character actor who holds nothing back, who commands attention from the audience. Anyone in a scene with him is background noise. Pyke turns what could have been a simple villain into a one-man show. Hack-O-Lantern is the perfect storm of the right actors, script, and score. This is a festive movie that will make you come back for more.





GENRES: Serial Killer, Teens in Peril, What the Fuck Was That



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