WACKO

US, 1983, 84 minutes, Colour.
Joe Don Baker, Stella Stevens, George Kennedy, Andrew Dice Clay.
Directed by Greydon Clark.

Wacko is, as it name suggests, a parody of the multiple-murder genre of the late '70s and early 180s. It is very broad parody - generally of the scratch concert or high school revue level. It certainly indicates the conventions of the horror genre and satirises them. However, it too readily relies on over-raucous and crude humour.

The plot outline is very reminiscent of Halloween and its many imitations. Joe Don Baker, grown very fat, is the rather gross policeman investigating the murders. George Kennedy is quite good as the bewildered father with more than an eye on his daughter. Stella Stevens enters very much into the spirit of the film with a very strongly caricatured performance which is very good in itself and in the spirit of the film but rather out of place with the rest of the performances. There is humorous satire on the American domestic scenes - especially the cliches of family relationships and mother-and-daughter heart to heart talks.

There is some crude humour on the mass murders and the macabre interest in them. There is a humorous sequence of a coach injecting his team with a serum and turning them into all kinds of familiar characters from monster and horror films - even including the Elephant Man.

Flying High, with its satire on the disaster movie, and Young Doctors In Love with its satire on the TV serials, were far more subtle and successful in their humour. Wacko is a rather hit-and-miss production although it has a good target in the popularity of the macabre horror film.