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PUMPKINHEAD II: BLOOD WINGS (1993)
3 Stars
88 Films. Blu ray. Out Now
The original PUMPKINHEAD from 1988, wasn’t particularly successful at the box office, despite a cool monster and being directed by FX maestro Stan Winston. It really found an audience on home entertainment release, which opened the door for several sequels.
First one out of the gate was the film under review – directed by Jeff Burr, known for films like FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM (1987) and who then made something of a career in helming sequels including STEPFATHER II (1989) and LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III (1990).
The film starts in black and white in Ferren Woods in 1958. An old crone (a witch?) is putting food outside her house and calling for Tommy – a deformed, feral young man. A bunch of high school jocks turn up and chase him through the woods. They mercilessly beat him and eventually kill him (this also affects the old woman who we assume is his mum).
Fade to colour and a contemporary Ferren Woods. Sheriff Braddock (Andrew Robinson, Scorpio in DIRTY HARRY (1971)), who grew up around there, has returned to take up his post as the law in them there parts, away from the travails of the big city. His hope is it will keep his daughter Jenny (Ami Dolenz, offspring of Micky Dolenz) out of mischief, but of course it isn’t long before she has fallen in with the “wrong” crowd – Marcie (Soleil Moon Frye), Danny Dixon (J. Trevor Edmond), son of local judge Dixon (Steven Kanaly, best known for TV series Dallas), Paul (Alexander Polinsky) and Marie’s boyfriend Peter (Hill Harper). The gang are soon filling in the “city girl” about local supernatural stories.
Sneaking out one night, against her Dad’s wishes, they are out for a ride, when they knock over an old lady (“Some folks say she’s a witch”). When they stop to check on her she has gone. They decide to wander through an odd cemetery like area to the shack where the senior lives and finding no one home they search around inside – finding a page with a spell on it to bring back the dead from the ‘Book of Shadows’ plus a vial of blood. When the blind, possible witch, returns she demands they leave and curses them with “the vengeance of Pumpkinhead”. You know this isn’t a good thing!
Before long the titular monster is attacking and killing…
With effects by KNB, this is a fairly successful, if slightly mediocre, low budget horror creature feature, with the filmmakers making little effort to keep the beast in the shadows – hey we paid a lot of money for this man in a suit so we are going to show it off! The script tries hard to make the legend something spooky, whereas we all know this is really just a good old fashioned monster on the loose outing. Which is all we want really. Linnea Quigley pops up in a small role and the film looks great on this new Blu ray release.
Steve Kirkham
EXTRAS
4 stars
Audio Commentary by Film Journalists Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
Audio Commentary by Director Jeff Burr
Monster Mash – Interview with Mark McCracken (21 mins): He plays Pumpkinhead. Started as a monster movie fan, doing make-up for Halloween, going to LA, working on Matinee (1993) and breaking into the FX community, leading to this film.
The Creature Wore Tennis Shoes – Creating Pumpkinhead II (12 mins): interviews with Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger who both worked on the Special Make-up FX. Features behind the scenes footage.
Behind the Scenes Footage: (17 mins) Rough looking footage – from VHS I am guessing.
Original Trailer and Stills Gallery.
Fabulous new artwork by Graham Humphreys and reversible sleeve featuring original poster art.
