DVD review: Death O´Lantern (2011)

Halloween 1986. The kids of Sleepy Hollow High are about to have a very unexpected visitor during their annual Trick Or Treating adventures around town. The evil pumpkin headed killer, "Stingy Jack", is back to steal the souls of the children who happen to be the ancestors of the ones that sent Jack to the pits of hell in the 1800's. Phoebe, along with her best friends, uncover the true story of what happened to Jack and take it upon themselves to destroy the demon once and for all. State of the art special effects by DARK MAGICFX and a now, hip soundtrack featuring Cube Squared and Radikill will have you pulling this classic out year after year during the spooky season. Don't go kicking this pumpkin kids, Because this evil gourd will have you screaming to DEATH! Death O´Lantern is written and directed by Rudy Bellafonte. The acting is all out bad but a most of it is intentionally bad. The camerawork and editing isn´t good. The audio isn´t the greatest, I found it funny that they use a pretty well known 1980s hit in the soundtrack and it´s pretty doubtul that they actually have the right to use it but hey this is a small movie with a small release. This is first and foremost a comedy in the slasher genre, it´s homage to the shot on video flicks era of the 1980s and it sure has the vibe showcasing, hairstyles, clothes, music and so on. There are lots of references to other movies. The back story of "Stingy Jack" is actually really cool and could easily serve as a basis for a more serious horror entry (perhaps it already has). The pacing is good and the running time just under 44 minutes, additional running time on the DVD is made up of behind the scenss footage. There´s some really cheap gore fx. There no T and A in this.
This review is based upon the region all (region 0) DVD release from Warlock Home Video.
Rating: 2½ out of 7. Honestly it´s hard to rate Death O´Lantern, as a horror movie it a catastrophe but in my mind this is a loving spoof of 1980s shot on video and is VERY much tongue in cheek!! It´s bad but it´s bad in a good way, LoL, so if you think you´ll enjoy it check it out.

/JL