''Wacko'' is a 1982 American

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary genre, literary, television genre, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three ty ...

film produced and directed by

Greydon Clark Greydon Clark (born February 7, 1943) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. His career spans several decades and genres, although the majority of his work has been low-budget productions in the action/horror genres. His m ...

and starring

Joe Don Baker Joe Don Baker (born February 12, 1936) is an American character actor and a life member of the Actors Studio. He established himself as an action star with supporting roles as a mysterious cowboy drifter in ''Guns of the Magnificent Seven'' (196 ...

and

George Kennedy George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academ ...

Plot

Dick Harbinger (

) is a police officer obsessed with stopping history repeating itself. Thirteen years ago a man wearing a pumpkinhead and driving a lawnmower murdered several children. The night is

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

and everyone is a suspect. The school janitor, Zeke, is brought in for questioning. Throughout the film, when the word "geek" is used, he reappears and corrects the speaker saying, "it's Zeeeeke". The father of the family (

) is too obvious a suspect and is questioned by police. He is usually caught by his daughter Mary, trying to creep into the bathroom when she is showering, or peering in her window whilst she is sleeping. His daughter catches him and screams and always says the same line, "Damn it Daddy, what are you doing?" Kennedy always replies, "I'm just, erm, mowing the lawn." The daughter replies always the same, "sure Daddy, that's what you always say." Mary's friend Rosie is dating Tony "the Schlong" Schlongini, who is the coolest kid in school. He along with many others get killed by Mr. Pumpkinhead which is played by detective (Baker). In the end the

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

dresses up as the Lawnmower Killer because no one is taking the threat seriously so he decides to teach them all a lesson. It all started exactly 13 years ago, when Mary Graves' older sister was murdered on

prom night by a power-mowing maniac. Since then, Mary has experienced horror, sexual frustration, even psychoanalysis, but she still sees little

lawnmowers A lawn mower (also known as a mower, grass cutter or lawnmower) is a device utilizing one or more revolving blades (or a reel) to cut a grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower, but g ...

everywhere. But tonight will be different. Tonight, at the new Halloween Prom, all the questions of the past 13 years will be answered as the pumpkin headed killer has returned. But hot on their trail is an obsessed cop (Joe Don Baker) who won't allow history to repeat itself. The film borders on the ridiculous at times when Baker's family, all black eat cake at the dinner table and the slices of cake they enjoy are the size of a dinner plate. Baker also fills his suitcase (which has a tap on it) with coffee and later terminates Harry Vice (Vice principal) who is in charge of the vice. Harry Vice likes to "clamp on down," on student slackers but he ends up having his head clamped on down in a vice courtesy of Baker.

Cast

as Dick Harbinger *

Stella Stevens Stella Stevens (born Estelle Eggleston; October 1, 1938) is a American former actress. She began her acting career in 1959 and starred in such popular films as '' Girls! Girls! Girls!'' (1962), '' The Nutty Professor'' (1963), ''The Courtship of ...

as Mrs. Doctor Graves *

as Mr. Doctor Graves *

Julia Duffy Julia Margaret Duffy (née Hinds; June 27, 1951) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She began her career in television, appearing in minor guest roles before being cast in the role of Penny Davis in the series ''The Doctors (1963 ...

as Mary Graves * Scott McGinnis as Norman Bates *

Elizabeth Daily Elizabeth Ann Guttman, (born September 11, 1961) better known as E. G. Daily and Elizabeth Daily, is an American actress and singer. Daily is best known for her animation voice roles as Tommy Pickles on ''Rugrats'' and its spin-off '' All Grown ...

as Bambi * Michele Tobin as Rosie *

Andrew Dice Clay Andrew Dice Clay (born Andrew Clay Silverstein; September 29, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He rose to prominence in the late 1980s with a brash, deliberately offensive persona known as "The Diceman". In 1990, he became the fi ...

as Tony Schlongini (credited as Andrew Clay) * Anthony James as Zeke * Sonny Carl Davis as The Weirdo (credited as Sonny Davis) * David Drucker as The Looney *

Jeff Altman Jeff Altman (born August 13, 1951) is an American stand-up comedian and actor who has appeared as a guest on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' and ''Late Show with David Letterman'' a combined 45 times. Altman mesmerized contemporaries like Davi ...

as Harry Palms *

Victor Brandt Victor Brandt (born September 19, 1942) is an American actor. Brandt was born in Los Angeles, California. He has appeared as an actor in several classic shows such as ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', ''Mission Impossible'' and ''T. J. Hooker'' ...

as Dr. Moreau * Wil Albert as Dr. Denton * Charles Napier as Chief O'Hara

Release

The film was released theatrically in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Jensen Farley Pictures Jensen Farley Pictures was an American independent film distribution company based in Utah that released several films between 1980 and 1983, founded by Raylan Jensen and Clair Farley, former heads of Sunn Classic Pictures. The company filed for C ...

in January 1983.

Critical reception

Jeremy Wheeler of

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

gave the film one out of five stars, and wrote: "''Wacko'' virtually vanished from the face of the earth, which, as it turns out, isn't necessarily a bad thing. For its hundreds of gags and zingers, there are actually very few laughs in a seemingly endless 84-minute running time." Chris Coffel of

Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...

praised the film's "frenetic energy" and "killer ensemble cast", writing: "''Wacko'' is not a movie everyone is going to love or even like. Not all the jokes land, and depending on who you ask none of them do. But I can't help but love this movie."

Home media

The film was released on VHS by

Vestron Video Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut, that was active from 1981 to 1993, and is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market. The name is now used for a collecto ...

, and was also released on

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

. In February 2019, the film was remastered in 4K and released on

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 kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

Vinegar Syndrome Cellulose acetate film, or safety film, is used in photography as a base material for photographic emulsions. It was introduced in the early 20th century by film manufacturers and intended as a safe film base replacement for unstable and highly ...

References

External links

* * * {{Greydon Clark 1982 films American parody films 1980s English-language films Films set in California American comedy horror films Films directed by Greydon Clark 1980s comedy horror films 1982 comedy films 1980s American films