''Jack-O'' a 1995 American horror film directed and co-produced by

Steve Latshaw Steve Latshaw (b 1959) is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He has written a number of films for Jim Wynorski and Fred Olen Ray. He began his career working in television. He started making films with Fred Olen Ray in Florida. He m ...

and executive produced by

Fred Olen Ray Fred Olen Ray (born September 10, 1954) is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter of more than 200 low-to-medium-budget feature films in many genres, including horror, science fiction, action/adventure, erotic thrillers, crime d ...

. It is the third collaboration between Latshaw as director and Ray as executive producer, following 1993's '' Dark Universe'' and 1994's '' Biohazard: The Alien Force''. ''Jack-O'' stars

Linnea Quigley Barbara Linnea Quigley (born May 27, 1958) is an American actress, film producer, model, singer, and author. She is best known as a B-movie actress, and is often referred to as a " scream queen" due to her frequent appearances in low-budget horro ...

, Maddisen K. Krown, Gary Doles, Ryan Latshaw, and Catherine Walsh, with

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

s by

John Carradine John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later ...

, Cameron Mitchell (both posthumous appearances), and

Brinke Stevens Brinke Stevens (born Charlene Elizabeth Brinkman, September 20, 1954) is an American actress, model, and writer. A native of San Diego, Stevens initially pursued a career as a marine biologist prior to becoming an actress, earning an undergrad ...

. The film was released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

Plot

The Kelly family lives in the fictional town of Oakmoor Crossing, just before and during Halloween. 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 supposed

warlock A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives '' warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver" and was given special applicati ...

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.

Cast

* Patrick Moran as Jack-O-Lantern *

as Carolyn Miller * Maddisen K. Krown as Linda Kelly (credited as Rebecca Wicks) * Gary Doles as David Kelly * Ryan Latshaw as Sean/David Kelly * Catherine Walsh as Vivian Machen * Rachel Carter as Julie Miller * Tom Ferda as Jim * Bill Cross as Richard Watson * Helen Keeling as Amanda Watson * Thor Schweigerath as Robbie * Christina Connell as Sarah * Mike Conner as Arthur Kelly * Katy Maznicki as Eunice Kelly *

as Walter Machen * Cameron Mitchell as Dr. Cadaver *

as Witch

Production

''Jack-O'' features several notable low-budget film actors.

plays a prominent role, and both Cameron Mitchell and

make posthumous

s. Director

had several cast and crew members that joined him on three film projects: '' Dark Universe'' (1993), '' Biohazard: The Alien Force'' (1994), and ''Jack-O''.

served as executive producer for all three films, and Patrick Moran, who played Jack-O, had writing credits on all three as well. Additionally, Wicks and Walsh both appeared in ''Jack-O'' and ''Biohazard: The Alien Force''. Latshaw's son, Ryan Latshaw, also appeared in all three films.

Critical response

''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". J.R. Taylor of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' gave it a grade of "B", calling it an "entertaining disaster". The film has been unfavorably compared to the 1989 horror film '' Pumpkinhead'', with Taylor writing that ''Jack-O'' "may be ripped off from the more atmospheric ''Pumpkinhead''", and author

John Kenneth Muir John Kenneth Muir (born December 3, 1969) is an American literary critic. As of 2022, he has written thirty reference books in the fields of film and television, with a particular focus on the horror and science fiction genres. Biography Bo ...

calling ''Jack-O'' "a low-budget variation on the much superior" 1989 film. Muir also wrote that, while ''Jack-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—it contains "virtually no suspense and pretty bad acting too. In execution, the film is pretty indefensible ..neither particularly scary nor particularly well-made."

Home media

''Jack-O'' was released on VHS. In 2005, the film received a "10th Anniversary Edition"

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

release, which includes such additional content as a commentary by Steve Latshaw and Fred Olen Ray, and footage from a failed Latshaw project titled ''Gator Babes''. 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."

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0113449, Jack-O 1995 films 1995 horror films American slasher films Halloween horror films American films about revenge Demons in film Films about witchcraft American ghost films 1990s slasher films American supernatural horror films Supernatural slasher films American exploitation films American splatter films 1990s English-language films Films set in Florida 1990s American films