Wacko

1982's WACKO is another of those silly horror film parodies of its time, ala STUDENT BODIES and PANDEMONIUM.  As I've written in those respective reviews, none of these films are very good.  But maybe that was the point.  When you satirize something, have you truly done your job unless your satire resembles your target? Or would it be better if the creative team took the ivory tower approach, pointing and sneering at how dumb what they are satirizing truly is?  That may well backfire.  WACKO gleefully dives into stupidity, doing anything it can to get laughs out of its audience, which by now may have dwindled significantly, except maybe for film students and scholars of '80s schlock.

Thirteen years ago a teen was murdered by a local psycho called "The Lawnmower Killer".  This assailant's method of dispatch is self explanatory, and because it was Halloween night he wore a pumpkin on his head.  All those years a slovenly cop named Harbinger (Joe Don Baker) - who sleeps in his suit and dispenses coffee from a tap in his satchel - has been haunted by the events and worries history will repeat itself.  Sure enough, teens start dying.  There are numerous suspects.  A guy just released from an asylum.  The school janitor.  Doctor Graves (George Kennedy) who performs operations even though he is not a real doctor (that's merely his first name).  He's also a pervert, repeatedly spying on his psychologically damaged daughter Mary (Julia Duffy, pre-Newhart).  Is Doctor Graves also mentally wrecked, as his other daughter was that teen killed years ago?

You might be able to tell that there are many nods to other horror films.  Some are obvious - check the name of the high school.  Others are nicely subtle.  But subtlety is not WACKO's strength, and the success ratio of the gags is very, very low.  I laughed out loud exactly once, at a line of dialogue randomly blurted by a psychologist.  The scene in which a football player lands on a mannequin in a sex ed class almost made me laugh.  There were a few smiles to be had throughout.  Mostly, I sat in silence.  Director Greydon Clark, responsible for such nonsense as WITHOUT WARNING and JOYSTICKS, tries, but rarely delivers anything but lame gags. So I guess he succeeded? Has he made a film as bad as what he targets?

Joe Don Baker certainly gives his all, and is always worth watching.

There's also Andrew (Dice) Clay in his debut feature.  He plays a greaser punk/hunk named Tony Schlongini, who is first seen climbing down a staircase singing his own theme song (mildly funny).  In WACKO he is trying out his later "Dice" persona, but mostly comes off as an imitation of John Travolta as Vinnie Barbarino.