10 Horror Movies Monsters That Just DIDN'T Work

9. Jack-O - Jack-O

Jack-O 1995
Triboro Entertainment Group

Adorning households with jack-o-lanterns has been a time-honoured custom during Halloween for over a century. As a result, it was only a matter of time before a Halloween slasher centred around a grinning pumpkin monster came to fruition.

Which brings us to 1995's Jack-O. In this supernatural slice-a-thon, the townsfolk of Oakmoor Crossing find themselves being tormented by a pumpkinhead scarecrow wielding a scythe.

Sadly, Jack-O is an absolute mess, thanks to its sluggish pacing, dodgy action, and shoddy dialogue. It also contains a terribly distracting cameo from John Carradine - who'd been dead seven years before this film was released - as a wizard.

Of course, Jack-O's biggest problem is the titular villain. Thanks to the atrocious lighting, it's sometimes difficult to tell that Jack-O has a pumpkinhead. Due to his generic design and blank expression, there's nothing intimidating about this paranormal foe. Heck, the jack-o-lanterns from the Goosebumps series were scarier, and that was a kids' show.

The kills are equally uncreative, with the camera regularly cutting away before Jack-O plunges his scythe into his victims. 

Though viewers probably weren't expecting a fruit-based monster to be nerve-wracking, this was embarrassing to watch.

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows