Director
Jake West
Cast
Lance Henriksen Ed Harley
Doug Bradley Doc Fraser
Doug Roberts Bunt Wallace
Tess Panzer Molly Sue Allen
Lisa McAllister Dahlia Wallace
Lynne Verrall Haggis
DVD Release Date: March 27, 2007
Rating: R
Running Time: 95 Minutes
The Movie
Doc Fraser lives in a small Southern town and is in charge of the local crematorium. He and his small group of friends and employees have taken it upon themselves to make things a bit more lucrative. Instead of burning the bodies, they simply take out the organs, cut off the skin, or chop off whatever spare parts they can sell to anyone willing to pay adequate prices. Afterwards, the bodies are simply taken out into the marsh and thrown in never to be seen again. Some are also thrown into the hay bales in the barn you know, whatever keeps them hidden.
The town they are doing this all in isn’t exactly your normal run of the mill place either. It’s down in the Deep South and full of regular everyday locals and some Amish looking old timers. An interesting mix to say the least, but they don’t really seem to mind and also don’t realize what Doc Fraser is doing.
That doesn’t last long though as some of the offenders get busted and the Doc’s operation soon gets revealed. Local woman Molly Sue Allen is extremely upset seeing that her young son is one of the bodies that was butchered and taken apart. Cue the crazy woman that lives deep in the woods and is considered a witch by all those who have heard of her. Those who have witnessed their dead loved ones’ bodies destroyed are destined to do something and with her help.
Gathering the courage to travel into the woods and visit her, they seek her help in getting revenge on Doc Fraser and those who have done the horrible things to the dead. After a spell bonding their blood together, they are able to raise the evil demon Pumpkinhead who can do their dirty work for them and exact their revenge. The only problem is that they should have known never to trust evil as the monster will not be told what to do. Pumpkinhead has been brought back will and does kill anything that comes near it.
The film really isn’t a bad one, but there are too many aspects of it making it that way. The Pumpkinhead demon is just downright awful looking when they show it in its full CGI form. It looks so badly done that you’d think a twelve year-old created it in an after school computer class. The actor version in a costume of the creature looks so much better and is quite believable. Even though the creature looks quite different then he did in the first film, it’s still good. But considering they needed the creature to do such supernatural things like standing on the roof (?), then I guess the CGI was called for.
Throw that together with the fact that the acting by most involved is just laughable at times. One of the opening scenes where a hiker is trying to get away from the bad guys results in a chase where he puts cardboard boxes in their way which they have the hardest time getting rid of. Then he is a good two rooms away from them and for some reason he turns around and pitches his backpack at an empty doorway? I don’t know, I didn’t get it either. It’s a real shame that Lance Henriksen only appears as a ghost and for a very limited amount of time in the film because he really could have made any of them better just by being in the scene with them.
Last but not least there were the most horrible Southern accents I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I live in the South and I have never in my life heard anyone speak like they did in this film. Tess Panzer (Molly Sue) is just a horrible actress and sounds completely ignorant when she speaks. Her mere presence in any scene makes it one not worth watching, and that says a lot considering she is one of the main characters.
The Video
The film is presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and looks pretty damn good. The colors are bright and look really good in some of the town scenes and on the faces of those walking around. The dark scenes have a nice vibrant black that makes it stay shadowy but not too dark where we can’t see anything. Sure the CGI created Pumpkinhead doesn’t look its best at times, but that has nothing to do with the DVD itself.
The Audio
The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound which is very nice considering the surround sound is not found too often on direct to DVD releases. It’s nice but rather obvious why it’s not usually included because this film barely uses it to the capability it could be used. Otherwise things sound really great and there should be no complaints.
Special Features
Trailers – Attack Of The Gryphon, Decoys 2: Alien Seduction, Night Skies, The Grudge 2, Incubus, Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, Population 436, The Covenant, The Woods, and Hostel
The Inside Pulse
The film had the chance to be something good since it is an actual sequel to the original Pumpkinhead story/film, and not just some random new story like the second film was. But the horrible acting and lousy execution just made it unbearable to watch at times. There were actually moments I was hoping I could flip the channel, but then remembered it was a DVD. A lack of special features makes the DVD worth even less. So unless you really want to a sequel to the original, then avoid this at all costs.
