Jack 'O' Slasher

Director - Jennifer Valdes (Escape from Kings Park)
Starring - Omar J. Cordy, Fallen Fayth (The All New Brain Eaters Show), and Charlie Corpse
Release Date - 2012
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Hell-o-ween Forever"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     Fuck do I love Halloween.  The air is starting to become cool and crisp as the leaves change color and fall.  People are decorating their homes with Fall and Halloween decorations while all the stores are putting all their horror films on sale.  While I do love the horror sales and grabbing films I don't have already for cheap I hate that everyone believes this is the time of year to watch horror movies.  I love horror movies but Halloween is the time of year for us to check out Halloween flicks.  One Halloween oriented flick that I had yet to watch was the 2012 slasher Jack 'O' Slasher directed by Jennifer Valdes.  The film is one I have seen several horror fans confuse with the 1995 slasher flick Jack-O.  This is due to the film's similar title and pumpkin masked killer.  I was not really interested in this film until I found out that James Balsamo and Bradley Creanzo was attached so I decided to get in the holiday spirit and check it out.
      The film follows a group of young adults who are looking for a bit of fun and decide to booze it up and visit a haunted attraction.  Unfortunately, they decide to go the night that a bunch of occult members unleash a demon named Jack 'O' Slasher in hopes he will bring in enough carnage to wake the devil.  He goes on a rampage killing everyone that enters the haunted attraction.


     Halloween has seen so many slashers over the years starting with the titular John Carpenter slasher Halloween.  Over the years we have seen Jack-O, Jack O'Lantern, Hack O' Lantern, Death O' Lantern, and you see where this is going.  Halloween is the time of year where anything can happen yet we continue to find slashers with pumpkin masks.  Jack 'O' Slasher is more of those kind of films but with little to no story.  The acting in this one is indie gold.  The cast show that they have the acting chops but lack some serious on screen experience.  This did slow the story down some and made several of the scenes awkward to watch.  The story for this one is weak and very difficult to follow in the way it was shot.  The film mostly takes place at a haunted amusement park or some sort of haunted attraction so it has a hard time creating a film that stands on its own and doesn't feel like one of the attractions.  There was several times I had no idea where the story picked up and what was just an attraction.  Editing would have helped in this aspect.  As for originality, sadly, it had very little.  The slasher, Jack 'O' Slasher, looked like they had used the exact same mask that Chris Seaver did in his Warlock Home Video film Death O'Lantern.  The film also has the same plot as several other slashers around Halloween following a satanic cult trying to raise Satan with blood.  Finally, the film does have a few kills scenes but they are very weak and offer up very little entertainment value.  The practical effects for most are nonexistent.  Overall, Jack 'O' Slasher could have been an amazing throwback to 90s Halloween slashers but tried to make something different with very little effect.  If you are looking for a pumpkin-headed slasher then I would recommend the cheesy Jack-O or the no-budget antics of Death O'Lantern.  Skip this one.