In terms of overall design, one of my all-time favorite movie monsters was Pumpkinhead. Unlike most of my friends, I liked the original movie and thought that special effects wizard Stan Winston did a bang up job with his directorial debut. I loved reading about how he turned the creature making and design over to his team and let them have at it. The final design for the creature is outstanding and if I had $4000 dollars I'd buy a life-size version for my house… well, that and if my wife would let me… The original 1989 movie, which featured Lance Henriksen as a devoted single father whose son is accidentally run over and killed by a jerk yuppie, still stands an excellent revenge fable. Doing what any good father would do, he decides to find a way to punish those responsible. Being that he lives a backwoods type of life, the only thing he knows to do is incur the wraith of the local legend of Pumpkinhead. He tracks down an old witch who can cast the right spell, and knowing that he must give up his soul calls upon the demon. Only when the creature appears and starts it rampage does he realize the folly of his choice.

A few short years later, a sequel found its way into the Hollywood machine. It was called "Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings" and that's about all I'll say here about it. It stunk… bad. So when I heard there was going to be another sequel, "Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes" I hung my head low. How could they even attempt to ruin it again? However, when I found I had the chance to review the planned DVD from Sony, I figured I might as well give it a shot. And to my surprise, it turned out to be a pretty decent sequel. This time they stuck to the original myths surrounding the character, as well as mostly using traditional effects to create him. (There were a couple of horrible CGI shots, which I only forgave because the movie as a whole was slightly better than I expected.)

So now we have yet another sequel… "Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud." Considering the last sequel wasn't too bad I thought I'd give this one a spin… but in retrospect I'm not sure it was a good idea. My first clue that I might not be on for a rollicking good monster time was in learning that the 'feud' of the title was referring to the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys. Now, the REAL feud between the families is the stuff of legends, but using it here just felt kinda weak. I think I would have been happier if they had called them the Matfields and HcCoys. Then there was the fact that these 'hillbilly' folk talked and acted like they had walked out of the 1800's when it was obvious they were living in the present. (To the film's credit, this nitpick was knocked down a notch or two when I was reminded of my neighbors - I live in Texas, that should be enough of an explanation.)

This particular version of the feud just happens to take place in the same area where old Ed Harley (Henriksen) called upon the demon Pumpkinhead to avenge the death of his son. Hence the appearance of Harley's spirit throughout the film and his attempts to restore order (and pick up a quick pay check). The feud, as it is explained in the film, is ramped up when two young lovers (one from each family… and thankfully a boy AND a girl) decide to give up their kissin' only cousins tradition and fall in love. Their rambunctious couplings in the woods are guarded by the Ricky McCoy's younger sister. Unfortunately, she has a run-in with some of the Hatfields which leads to her demise and Ricky's torture. Ricky then takes on the chains of revenge and calls upon Pumpkinhead to wipe out the Hatfield's once and for all.

From this point on we get a few grisly deaths, interrupted with lots of scenes of people talking. And even these deaths aren’t particularly interesting, until the film's last act whereupon Pumpkinhead goes for broke and just starts killing everyone, Hatfields and McCoys alike.

What I can say the film has going for it is the fact that they again decided to go for practical makeup effects and a costume for Pumpkinhead. Though he looks a little different from the original… and a bit smaller to boot… there is only one instance of CGI that I caught (and a horrible instance at that). Anytime the effects guys forgo CGI, I'm a happy camper.

The DVD for "Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud" is devoid of special features, but really what special features could there have been? Now I'm waiting to see if they are going to give us a 5th outing. Perhaps they can base it on some other historical inbred feud… perhaps Election 2004?

Directed by: Mike Hurst
Starring: Rob Freeman, Amy Manson, Bradley Taylor, Lance Henriksen
Extras: None
Specifications: Widescreen (1.85:1)
Studio: Sony / Columbia Tristar
Release Date: 10/2/2007
Region 1
MPAA Rating: R
Website

We'll give Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud an C-.