Holiday Flix: Wacko (1982)

 A Horror Film Parody that came after Scream.  The 1981 Film Scream, to be clear.  That's what everyone means, right?

1982 brought us Wacko, a Parody of the then-recent trend of Slasher Films in the U.S.  Who else to make fun of other Movies than the Director of Angels Revenge and Black Shampoo.  Yes, it is Greydon Clark, the man who later bring us such Classics as Final Justice, The Uninvited and his magnum opus- StarGames.

The Plot is an intentional mish-mash of Halloween and Prom Night.  Weirdly, there's not a strong Jamie Lee Curtis Parody here.  Was that too obvious?  There is a John Travolta one, since...um, Carrie...I guess.

The Film features many Characters Actors of past and present, such as George Kennedy (also in Uninvited), Charles Napier (famous for battling Ron Jeremy's evil dick) and Joe Don Baker (also in Justice).

Is this a Parody Film for the ages or another Student Bodies?  To find out, read on...

A pumpkin-headed killer- played by Clark in this Scene- kills a girl, but leaves 2 survivors.

One of them is missing, while the other is our Final Girl- Julia Duffy from Newhart.

13 years later, Duffy's Mom (Stella Stevens- who would Guest Star on Newhart) and Dad (Kennedy) are...well, a bit off too.

A running gag involves him peeping on his Daughter...because reasons.
Also the little Brother is Damien...because other reasons.

A crazy man suspected of being the killer escapes this year, which drives a Detective- Joe Don Baker- to suspect that he will kill again.

Of course, he's a non-Walking Tall Joe Don Baker...so he's just a fat, crazy drunk.

The School is celebrating Halloween and Prom Night- see the Intro- on the same night...somehow.  It's a real mystery.

Here's a real topical joke for you- Hitchcock vs DePalma.

Napier- in his one Scene- tells Baker to let it go, but he won't.

He's also named Chief O'Hara.

Are you laughing yet?

The Film is essentially just a bunch of B-Plots and random gags.  They include...

- Andrew 'Dice' Clay as fake John Travolta, who's too horny.

- Duffy's Boyfriend- Norman Bates- getting excited and 'revving like a lawnmower.

- A creepy Principal.

- Kennedy being a terrible Doctor (it turns out his first name is just Doctor- ha).

- A Mad Scientist- who's apparently Joseph Mengele- mutating the Football Team...in a bit with no follow-up.

On the plus side, you can see that they fixed the typo from 2 pictures back.

Throughout the Film, Baker pursues some numerous suspects, including the Janitor (in a Scene where they literally say it is time to question the suspicious Janitor), a bald weido in a trenchcoat and a guy who keeps trying to get his attention.

The end of one chase with the bald guy ends in his car going up a ramp and...flying away.

Huh?!?

The Film FINALLY gets to the point in the last 20 minutes and the killer offs Clay and a few others.

They confront Duffy, who keeps maiming them and they keep getting back up.

It's a joke about how you can't kill Michael Meyers and Jason can't be killed.  Too bad they explain the joke.

Side-note: we were only 2 and 3 Films respectively into those Film Series' when this came out.  Think about that.

The killer turns out to be- dun dun dun- Baker the whole time.

The original killer did escape, but was nice now.
The bald weirdo was the traumatized kid from the beginning.

They all learn...um...I'll get back to you on that one.  The End.

A silly Film that can be fun.  Like Airplane or its ilk, they throw a joke a minute (often less) at you.  Unlike that Film, these jokes...aren't that funny.  Supposedly Clark bought a Parody Script and then got his friends to help him 'liven it up.'

That facts comes to you courtesy of a 2019 Director's Commentary on the Blu-Ray release.  As you can see, I did NOT get Caps from that release.

The Film is all over the place story and reference-wise.  While it directly parodies 2 Films (kind of), it also parodies Psycho, The Omen and others.  Why though?  On top of that, it is full of random stuff that is either creepy- like Kennedy's pervy dad- or just random- like Dr. Mengele.

I can see those guys hanging around for like 5-6 hours and getting drunk while pitching bits and lines.  It just feels like nobody sober then went behind them to polish this thing.  As such, it is less Airplane and more National Lampoon's Movie Madness.  Or, if you want a more modern comparison, it is less Scary Movie and more Scary Movie 5.

All of the best Comedies literally explain the joke to you, right?

Happy Halloween!  Just watch out for Lawnmowers.