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Wacko is a 1982 American comedy horror film produced and directed by Greydon Clark and starring Joe Don Baker and George Kennedy.[1]

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Wacko
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Greydon Clark
Written by	Jim Kouf Dana Olsen Michael Spound
Produced by	Greydon Clark
Starring	Joe Don Baker Stella Stevens Elizabeth Daily George Kennedy Julia Duffy Andrew Dice Clay
Cinematography	Nicholas Josef von Sternberg
Edited by	Earl Watson Curtis Burch
Music by	Arthur Kempel
Distributed by	Citadel Films (1982) (Canada) Jensen Farley Pictures (1983) (US) (theatrical)
Release date	November 12, 1982
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

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Dick Harbinger (Joe Don Baker) 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 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 (George Kennedy) 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 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 Halloween prom night by a power-mowing maniac. Since then, Mary has experienced horror, sexual frustration, even psychoanalysis, but she still sees little lawnmowers 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

• Joe Don Baker as Dick Harbinger
• Stella Stevens as Mrs. Doctor Graves
• George Kennedy as Mr. Doctor Graves
• Julia Duffy as Mary Graves
• Scott McGinnis as Norman Bates
• Elizabeth Daily as Bambi
• Michele Tobin as Rosie
• Andrew Dice Clay 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 as Harry Palms
• Victor Brandt as Dr. Moreau
• Wil Albert as Dr. Denton
• Charles Napier as Chief O'Hara

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States by Jensen Farley Pictures in January 1983.

Critical reception

Jeremy Wheeler of AllMovie 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."[2] Chris Coffel of Bloody Disgusting 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."[3]

Home media

The film was released on VHS by Vestron Video, and was also released on LaserDisc.

In February 2019, the film was remastered in 4K and released on DVD and Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome.[4]

References

External links

• Wacko at IMDb
• Wacko at Rotten Tomatoes
• Wacko at AllMovie

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