The Sheriff Was A Joke

I agree, he was farcical.
But I think that was what the director was going for, to make him seem 'a joke', yet underneath he was not only dead serious....but what he said was often correct about the group.

Plus, it was very likely to throw the audience off, like much of the film was.
You didn't expect any trouble from him, so when the Witch took his countenance & used it against them (when the Witch imitates his voice at the door) they didn't know what to believe.



I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

OPEN THIS GOT-DAMMED DAWWARRR

That son of a bitch! Don't get me wrong, he's a fine writer.

Well, I thought he was hilarious and amusing. He was one of the best parts about the film. Every line he says always makes me smile.

He is hilariously bad! Who cast this doofus when the rest of the cast was so well chosen?

I disagree.. besides Electric Warlock and me, no one here on this thread really got his purpose.

Yes he was hammy but that's how he was written and meant to be. He's at first the goofiest character of the whole movie as he's a redneck from hell who happens to be the Sheriff. They were trying super hard to make that whole Sheriff Department look dumb as can be (you can find the Sci Fi special for this movie on You Tube, and there's a bit in it where they drop a dead body off a stretcher lmao.) And in that way they worked really well especially considering how the other natural locals are portrayed the same way especially the people who owned the store.

However then comes the twist mid way that in fact he isn't the goofy one at all; in fact he is honestly the true hero of the movie. He knew how screwed up Jeff really was and was trying his hardest to stop him. However it was too little too late; hence why he was so serious and disgusted in the interrogation scenes. He tried his hardest to stop it but the shoddy asylum let him out. In that way I hate the fact Artisan forced theriselves on the movie.. Berlinger was on his way to making a solid mind f*** based movie that was very subtle and sharp; but Artisan wanted it to do be a slasher movie with the Witch involved and screwed everything up. Originally Jeff's issues had no scenes showing it in detail in the asylum, and it was gonna be a major twist that he was crazy.. Cravens literally was the only one who knew. But instead Artisan changed the tone completely by showing his loony bin days it screwed everything up.

As for the character himself I love how they did it.. even in the screwed up form he was a hoot to watch. The actor was having a ball and enjoying himself and that's the kind of hamming I love. I wish he had way more time.