Director: Jeff Burr (1993)
Starring: Andrew Robinson, Ami Dolenz, Soleil Moon Frye
Find it: IMDB
Sodding about in the woods as kids so often have a habit of doing in nineties horror movies, a gang of youths accidentally wind up resurrecting the demon Pumpkinhead. No, not the dude from A Nightmare Before Christmas, this is the gruesome Stan Winston creation to which I refer. His head doesn't look remotely like a pumpkin, but he's a force to be reckoned with, nevertheless.
I have a vague recollection of watching the original Pumpkinhead, years ago, late night on television. I remember Lance Henriksen being in it, a revenge story (maybe) and Pumpkinhead himself looking utterly stupid. Effects master Winston has brought us some magnificent designs in the past, but Pumpkinhead is not one of them. It doesn't help that I was literally expecting Merv Pumpkinhead from The Sandman, not some punk who looks like a cross between H.R Geiger's Alien design and the Creeper from Jeepers Creepers.
Still, there is some fun to be had from this sequel. Andrew Robinson is enjoyable as the town Sheriff, although that could just be nostalgia, on my part, having liked him as the Cardassian tailor in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. There's also a brief appearance from one of the cannibals of Leatherface fame (a film also directed by Jeff Burr) and some surprisingly decent action sequences - one of which comes with a country & western soundtrack.
Pumpkinhead II is a cult classic that dishes up plenty of the former but almost forgets about the latter. The Pumpkinhead franchise isn't without its fans though, many of whom will be
The Small Print: follow me on Twitter for a chance to win Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings on DVD. Liking the Facebook Page as well gets you a bonus entry, because I'm generous like that. Region 2 only, so make sure you can actually play the damn thing before you enter. Competition closes 09/05/14, winner picked at random. If I see you put the fucking thing on eBay, I won't be happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment