User reviews

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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/

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.

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.

"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!

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.

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 ( 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.

Strange grind-house movie from the end of grind-house '80's.

The acting not so good. The musical score is annoying to end all annoying.

The story-line is filled with so many holes I thought I was watching Swiss cheese unfold.

It actually has the look of the movie Halloween with none of the talent. And looks aren't anything.

The directing is crazy slow. I was nodding out a few times because the action is so slow. This is really less than a "B" movie. It's more like a "D" movie.

To be honest, even though I like grind-house pictures, this one is definitely not worth the watch at all. The nudity was teh only good thing about it.

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!

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.

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?

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.