WACKO (1982) Directed by Greydon Clark
Vestron VHS
THE FILM
Finally, I got to this one. I let myself down here. I should have reviewed this one right after Student Bodies and Pandemonium. The final part of the glorious early-80s slasher parody trilogy. One made by the man who co-wrote Take The Money And Run & Bananas. One made by the man who directed Alice Sweet Alice. And, the third directed by Mr. Greydon Clark. I don't think Wacko is the best of the three. But, I believe it stands proud with Pandemonium. For an evening's diversion, you can't do much better than this bit of fun. (Well, you could watch Student Bodies again...)
13 years ago, the Lawnmower Killer murdered several kids in a small town in America. Mary Graves (Julia Duffy) is the now-teenage sister of one of the girls who was killed. The memories of the night she saw that happen will haunt her forever. But, tonight it is time for the Halloween Pumpkin Prom. Mary will go with her horny boyfriend Norman, even though she knows that the Lawnmower Killer is still out there and even though she's kind of scared of sex. George Kennedy plays her lecherous dad and, I can only imagine, he's not helping her cause any.
On the trail of the killer, there is a washed up cop, Harbinger, played by Joe Don Baker. If you don't know Harbinger's back-story, well, just think for a minute (Washed-up cop on an age old vendetta?) and you'll get it.
Everything comes to a goofball head at the Prom; Who will live? Who will die? And, who is that big, balding guy that everyone calls Loony?
Wacko is a comedy. And, I can go on all I want but the only question is: Funny or not? Keeping in mind that a comedy doesn't have to be laugh-out-loud funny to work. I've never laughed at a Shakespeare comedy but that doesn't mean they're not funny. Luckily, Wacko pulls out some genuine laughs. The best of these is the sequence where Joe Don is driving and trying to relate what happened to him 13 years ago. But, there are other stories that keep sidelining him. And, they get funnier as they go.
Uneven, you bet. Laugh out loud funny, only occasionally. A good time? Hell yeah, Roderick. The veteran cast dives right in to it. It turns out that George Kennedy and Joe Don are really good at the deadpan comedy. A few of the actors (Harry Balls and Dr. Moreau -- those are their character's names by the way, not the names their parents gave them) wander into the realms of "shtick". Somehow, I don't quite know why, I feel like Greydon Clark may have felt better with the "shtick". Letting folks let loose and hoping all the loud and the noise would equate to funny. But, he keeps it cool here and only lets that slide out every once in a while. The younger cast does a fine job, too. Julia Duffy is great, especially in those moments when her voice goes very low. Andrew Dice Clay is killer as Mr. Tony Schlongini. Norman may go a little over here and there, but he is the one given quite a bit of "shtick" and he acquits himself well.
In the end, though, it's Joe Don Baker who seals the deal. He's parodying the sort of character he played in Mitchell or Eischeid. And, damn, he's funny. He looks like he hasn't slept in weeks and he's not in the best shape but he's a powerhouse...rolling along and not allowing anyone to stand in the way of the comedy. Mystery Science Theater turned out to be about 10 years late when they made fun of him in Mitchell. He'd already done it. As with Student Bodies and Pandemonium, there are stretches where unfunny stuff happens, no matter how hard everybody is trying. Maybe the film could have been a few minutes shorter. (Student Bodies still wins for the most interesting ending just at the point when these films tend to wind down.) As with Pandemonium, the well-known cast sort of steal the slasher thunder, as it were. A true slasher parody would (pretty much) have no one you'd ever seen before or since staring in it. Student Bodies wins that one. Wacko isn't quite as Mel Brooks as Pandemonium but it's less like a slasher than Student Bodies. Frankly, watching all three of them in a row is quite fascinating. All three succeed in similar ways (nailing the slasher tropes) and fail in similar ways (running gags, mainly). Student Bodies is better than the others because, frankly, it has funnier lines. But, they all work nicely as a collage of gags about a much-beloved (by me, mainly) subgenre of film.
Boy, slashers were hilariously popular back then, weren't they?
At this point in the review, I'd originally wondered how redundant these parodies were, in the end. Most slashers are an inch away from parody anyway. They have their parodic elements folded into them. So, do you need films that stand up and say "Hey! Look at this thing that happens over and over!" Technically, no you don't. But, God, I'm glad they made them.
Greydon Clark made all kinds of stuff but Wacko is his best, I think, by a long mile. I'd love to hear a commentary with him and Julia Duffy and, maybe, Schlongini?
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Vestron does not let you down. It looks like a low-ish budget early 80's film. Not terrible, not great. Comfortable might be a good word.
EXTRAS
I would love a copy of the movie poster.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Wacko is definitely worth a viewing or two. In fact, take Student Bodies, Pandemonium and this one...watch each one on three consecutive nights. You'll laugh. You'll smile. You'll compare and contrast. You'll have a good time.
— Dan Budnik, 03.01.10 | 
|
