 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Jack-O" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Jack-O | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Steve Latshaw |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Jeffrey Walton |
| Distributed by |
|
Release date |
|
Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Jack-O a 1995 Americanhorror film directed and co-produced bySteve Latshaw and executive produced byFred Olen Ray. It is the third collaboration between Latshaw as director and Ray as executive producer, following 1993'sDark Universe and 1994'sBiohazard: The Alien Force.
Jack-O starsLinnea Quigley, Maddisen K. Krown, Gary Doles, Ryan Latshaw andCatherine Walsh, withcameo appearances byJohn Carradine,Cameron Mitchell (both posthumous appearances) andBrinke Stevens. The film was releaseddirect-to-video.
The Kelly family lives in the fictional town of Oakmoor Crossing, just before and duringHalloween. The family, consisting of father David, mother Linda, and son Sean, live a normal suburban life, but are eventually visited by a stranger who identifies herself as Vivian Machen. Both the Machens and the Kellys have a long ancestral history in Oakmoor Crossing, and Vivian reveals that one of the Kelly's ancestors hanged a supposedwarlock named Walter Machen, who raised up a pumpkinhead scarecrow, named Jack-O, from hell to take revenge on the Kellys. The Kelly ancestor ended up burying the monster in a shallow grave. But, through the antics of several teenagers, Jack-O is raised again and seeks revenge on the Kellys.
Jack-O features several notable low-budget film actors.Linnea Quigley plays a prominent role, and bothCameron Mitchell andJohn Carradine make posthumouscameo appearances.[1]
DirectorSteve Latshaw had several cast and crew members that joined him on three film projects:Dark Universe (1993),Biohazard: The Alien Force (1994), andJack-O.Fred Olen Ray served as executive producer for all three films, andPatrick Moran, who played Jack-O, had writing credits on all three as well. Additionally, Wicks and Walsh both appeared inJack-O andBiohazard: The Alien Force. Latshaw's son,Ryan Latshaw, also appeared in all three films.
Jack-O received largely negative reviews. According to a commentary track by Latshaw and Ray, one reviewer referred to the film as a "shit pickle".[2]
J.R. Taylor ofEntertainment Weekly gave it a grade of "B", calling it an "entertaining disaster".[3] The film has been unfavorably compared to the 1989 horror filmPumpkinhead, with Taylor writing thatJack-O "may be ripped off from the more atmosphericPumpkinhead",[3] and authorJohn Kenneth Muir callingJack-O "a low-budget variation on the much superior" 1989 film.[4] Muir also wrote that, whileJack-O is "undeniably ambitious"—arguing that the film "labors to make a point about political polarization and the culture war in 1990s America" through its conservative suburbanite characters[5]—it contains "virtually no suspense and pretty bad acting too. In execution, the film is pretty indefensible [...] neither particularly scary nor particularly well-made."[6]
Jack-O was released onVHS. In 2005, the film received a "10th Anniversary Edition"DVD release, which includes such additional content as a commentary by Steve Latshaw and Fred Olen Ray, and footage from a failed Latshaw project titledGator Babes.[7] The commentary by Latshaw and Ray has been noted for the combativeness between the two, up to and including "a heated argument that results in Latshaw storming out."[8]
