In the spirit of
Halloween, let’s take a look at Retromedia Entertainment’s JACK-O AND FRIENDS – The STEVE LATSHAW COLLECTION, which contains JACK-O (1995 – identified as JACKO LANTERN in the opening credits),
a very low-budget if lively production about a resurrected demon sporting a
giant jack-o’-lantern for a head.
Produced by Fred Olen Ray for his American Independent production
company, JACK-O is the main
attraction on this limited, 2-disc triple feature DVD, which also contains
Latshaw’s earlier DARK UNIVERSE
(1993) and BIOHAZARD: THE ALIEN FORCE
(a.k.a. BIOHAZARD 2, 1994), a sequel
of sorts to Ray’s BIOHAZARD (1983). While deceased at the time of filming, both
John Carradine and Cameron Mitchell
appear in JACK-O, thanks to the
resourcefulness of Ray, who had unused footage of both late actors at his
disposal. Utilizing true exploitation
chutzpa, Latshaw and screenwriters Ray, Brad Linaweaver and Patrick Moran
incorporated most of this footage into the main feature.
Unfolding in the
fictional town of Oakmoor, an old warlock (Carradine) was put to death by
Arthur Kelly (Mike Connor) and the local townsfolk, but, before dying, he
unleashed Jack-O, a demonic killer known as “The Pumpkin Man,” to exact revenge
on his killers. Having been destroyed by
Kelly, the pumpkin man lay dormant for decades, until three drunken teens – who
all appear to be well into their twenties, as per the usual norm – desecrate
the grave on Halloween night, thus setting Jack-O free. Not only does Jack-O wreak havoc in the quiet
suburban town of Oakmoor, he also seeks vengeance on Kelly’s ancestors; in
particular Sean Kelly (Ryan Latshaw), an unassuming child who has recently been
plagued by various nightmares involving the pumpkin-headed horror.
In spite of the very low-budget,
JACK-O is one of the better direct-to-video
films produced during the mid-’Nineties.
Obviously not to be taken seriously, JACK-O does – possibly inadvertently – capture the spirit and fun
of the Halloween season and, as silly as the titular scythe-wielding demon is,
his bulbous pumpkin head – with glowing orange eyes and an evil grin – is
eerily effective at times. Populated
with the usual rather stiff actors, it must be said that Latshaw’s son Ryan actually
manages to portray a meek-mannered, bullied kid rather well… but perhaps he
wasn’t just acting! As the obligatory babysitter, veteran scream
queen Linnea Quigley performs her ‘duties’ with solid professionalism,
including doing a lengthy and totally gratuitous shower scene, which was most
likely expected of her. Much like he did
in Robert Worms III’s direct-to-video compilation TERROR ON TAPE (1983), Cameron Mitchell plays Dr. Cadaver, a horror
host showing something called “THE COVEN”, featuring original footage of Brinke
Stevens as a witch, which doesn’t propel the story forward any, but does add to
the Halloween spirit of it all. At times
overly convoluted with a host of peripheral characters, JACK-O is a surprisingly entertaining bit of innocuous silliness
that delivers all the requisite exploitation staples.
Isolated to the first
disc, JACK-O is loaded with special
features, including a solid commentary from both Latshaw and producer Fred Olen
Ray, who offer some great anecdotes about filming low-budget films, and, in a
few instances, things even get a little heated when they seem to be taking
opposing sides regarding the gratuitous nudity and its placement within the
film; it’s a good, lively listen. Other
extras include a fairly in-depth “making-of” featurette, which includes loads
of behind-the-scenes footage. A trailer
for the film finishes things off.
Yet another
direct-to-video release, BIOHAZARD: THE
ALIEN FORCE, opens the second disc and, according to Latshaw, this actually
played theatrically in South Korea, where its “name”-star, Christopher Mitchum,
is (was?) big box-office. Much like Ray’s original BIOHAZARD, this is yet another monster-on-the-loose film, which –
even when compared to Ray’s cheapo 35mm original – was done dirt-cheap. Triton Industries has, through the use of
combined human DNA from a number of donors, developed a slimy humanoid creature
that is viciously offing folks in and around central Florida. An ex-employee at Triton named Mike (Steve
Zurk), along with a feisty reporter (Susan Fronsoe), are trying to get to the
bottom on the rash of killings, but, further complicating matters, a laconic
hitman named Quint (Tom Ferguson) is attempting to destroy any evidence related
to Triton at the behest of Brady (Christopher Mitchum), the company’s ruthless
CEO.
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| Lionsgate's 2005 DVD release. |
Originally conceived as a
simplistic creature feature along the lines of Stephen Traxler’s SLITHIS (1977), director Latshaw seemed
intent on doing something different with BIOHAZARD:
THE ALIEN FORCE, and the film quickly morphed into an overly ambitious
action film, which does move at an entertaining enough clip, with plenty of
poverty row action scenes, some of which were even spliced-in from F.O. Ray’s The TOMB (1986), but don’t necessarily mesh
well with the other footage. Designed by John Carl Buechler, the titular so-called
“alien force” (a silly retitle, since it’s not extraterrestrial in nature), is
an effective man-in-a-suit monster, which looks like a cross between the
creature in William Malone’s SCARED TO
DEATH (1980) and Don Dohler’s rubbery, inexpressive NIGHTBEAST (1982) baddie; which isn’t a bad thing per se, but it’s
nothing that hasn’t been seen before.
Although BIOHAZARD: THE ALIEN
FORCE does have some inventive touches – for instance, the creature seeking
out its DNA donors – it’s really up to the cast to inject any real
substance. TV character actor Steve Zurk
plays the usual ‘hero’ with the necessary but stereotypically gruff
self-confidence. As the resourceful reporter, Susan Fronsoe interacts well with
Zurk, and, in typical exploitation fashion, she even gets topless during a
rather amusing post-coital bedroom scene.
In another gratuitous scene, the ‘well-proportioned’ Katherine Culliver
– as one of the DNA donors – is interrupted while making love and sculpting (!?),
both at the same time! Pioneering
Florida filmmaker William Grefé also gets a cameo discussing “jellyfish
monsters” and the “death curse of Tartu”, which does register as a little
forced, but it’ll make most “in-the-know” viewers smile just the same.
Featuring yet another relaxed
but enjoyable audio commentary with Latshaw and Ray, they freely admit to
“smokin’, drinkin’ and eatin’ pizza,” and encourage viewers to do likewise
while watching the movie. As usual, both
men have plenty of stories revolving around their economical resourcefulness to
tell – such as how they utilized shots of explosions from Disney’s ‘Miami Vice
Stunt Show’ in their film, thus adding significant production values to it. This commentary makes for another solid and
entertaining listen.
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| Retromedia's 2001 DVD release. |
Taking cues from Val
Guest’s The QUATERMASS XPERIMENT
(1955) and Robert Day’s FIRST MAN INTO
SPACE (1959), the second film on
disc 2 is about an astronaut (Steve Barkett) who returns to Earth as a giant
alien after becoming infected by strange orange spores from outer space. Upon crash-landing out in the Florida everglades,
the alien begins stalking and picking-off a search crew while the extraterrestrial
spores begin taking-over the entire swamp.
The is easily the most threadbare
of Latshaw’s films in this collection, so it’s nice to see the improvements he
made with each successive film.
Featuring endless scenes of talking heads – where no one really says
anything of any importance – and aimless
wandering through the everglades, the film is all exposition, and even the monster
is kinda ineffective and ho-hum; a typically inexpressive and immobile, H.R. Giger-inspired
alien. As is customary, DARK UNIVERSE does provide the usual exploitation staples, including nudity, some
gore, and, in one particularly hilarious (and certainly original) scene, an
infected armadillo attacks an amorous couple right in mid-coitus!
DU
features yet another audio commentary with Latshaw and Ray, which is far more
interesting than the movie itself, with the usual anecdotes and interesting
tidbits of info and trivia, such as how the monster was reused in Ray’s and Jim
Wynorski’s threadbare DINOSAUR ISLAND
(1994). Other extras on disc 2 include
trailers for both BIOHAZARD 2 and DARK UNIVERSE, a blooper reel for BIOHAZARD 2 (7m34s) and footage from GATOR BABES (7m20s [“that jungle is
full of big, mean, pissed-off Amazon women!”]), plus a trailer for said mock movie,
which was used in Ray’s BIKINI DRIVE-IN
(1995).
Totaling a nice,
inexpensive triple feature, Retromedia’s JACK-O
& FRIENDS is an undemanding night’s entertainment, which is well worth
picking up for the commentaries alone, especially for a mere twenty bucks. Currently available on Amazon here, grab this
limited edition DVD before it sells out and starts commanding exorbitant prices
online!
