 
A deformed orphan boy
Tommy (J.P. Manoux) is badly
tormented to death by a bunch of teenaged
delinquents back in the 1960's and then
falls into a well.
Thirty years have passed and a teenage
girl Jenny Braddock (Ami Dolenz)
moves into a country with her parents as
her father Sean (Andrew Robinson)
is the head county sheriff.
Jenny falls into the wrong crowd lead by
a guy Danny Dixon (J. Trevor
Edmund) who's on parole for causing
trouble whom is also the son of an
obnoxius Judge (Steve Kanaly) whom is
ignorant about the legend of Pumpkinhead
and the terrors of what could happen if a
local witch Miss Osie (Lilyan
Chauvin) is ever crossed with.
Jenny also seems to be attacted to Trevor
and then they hang out at the well where
Tommy was killed as well as going on a
cruise at night accidentally hitting Miss
Osie causing to dent Travor's car.
They also go to Miss Osie's old shack
where she resides and takes some of her
medicine that is very powerful and then
goes to an old burial ground where
Tommy's corpse resides then does a chant
to see if the spell works to revive this
boy as Miss Osie curses Pumkinhead's
wrath on them all.
Suddenly Osies shack is on fire and she
is sent to a hospital and Tommy becomes
Pumpkinhead and rises from the grave and
wreaks havoc on the locals whom once
tormented him and then goes after the
teenager too in which both Sean and his
assistant detective named Delilah
Pettibone (Gloriah Hendry) tries to solve
the missing pieces of the murders going
on in their town and to rescue Jenny as
Sean has a secret of his own that
involved Tommy.
Good camera shots on a prologue with bit
part actors played by people like Jason
Stanford as a 50's teen running,
attacking and tormenting Tommy and tying him up dropping him
in a well with good shots on Miss Osie suffering
on the ground in which the moments really tried
to make this setting disturbing but
really doesn't go too far with it.
There's a real cheesy conversations between Sean and Beth trying to have a serious discussion and
making it seem touching but it is not
convincing at all.
There's some interesting shots on the
well with some teenagers causing trouble
and hanging out.
We also have a good confrontation on Sean with Jenny in his
police vehicle telling her she doesn't
want her hanging out with that crowd and
her griping.
We spot some good camera shots on Jenny, Peter, Marcie and Danny driving their vehicle at
night goofing around looking like natural
party crazed teenagers with Jenny freaking out at Danny for
driving crazily on the road which looked
natural for teenage behavior along with
them hitting someone and then they all
freak out on what to do since it reminds
me of a similar moment in I
Know What You Did Last Summer.
There's also good shots on the four of
them walking through a graveyard and
other parts in the dark with mist showing
giving the film a nice feel to it.
A nice presence by Miss Osie looking blind with her deep words when
the others were goofing around in her
shack along with a good struggle between
her and Danny along with a
perfect shot on her lying on the floor
with her evil words that Pumpkinhead will
get all of them.
There's some good shots on the teens
walking up to a burial ground along with Danny digging up a grave and then trying
to do that chant.
We also spot a good shot on Miss Osie acting like she's having a seizure on the
floor with candles falling down and her
shack catching on fire with Jenny screaming and telling the others she's in
the shack.
There's also a perfect shot with a clawed
hand rising up from the grave with smoke
and flames from the hole of the grave.
A nice discussion between Sean and Delilah at the burned
down shack along with some evidence on
what was the cause of it.
A great dream sequences
between Jenny and Danny in a bed outside in the woods making out
and then a great shot on Pumpkinhead luring over Jenny with her screaming.
There's some perfect night time camera
shots with Ernst at his farm with the wind and lightning
happening along with shots on Pumpkinhead attacking and throwing him around in his
barn.
We have a cheesy discussion between Sean and Danny when he
talks to him about what happened with the
old lady and the burned down shack.
There's a good dispute between Sean and Judge Dixon about a death of a resident and Dixon himself being overly opinionated towards him as
it looked believeably done by having
an ignorant behavior.
A good shot on Red Byers and Nadine by having a
sex scene in a wooded warehouse and later
on a good presence by Pumpkinhead about to attack with Red screaming and then being thrown around.
There's a good shot on Nadine looking shocked after seeing his corpse
thrown outside and a nice close up shot
on her face screaming in fear.
Once again a nice conversation between both Sean and Delilah at the warehouse with
a good presence by Nadine running out freaked out of her mind with Sean trying to calm her down.
Many good shots on Miss Osie acting like having a seizure in the
hospital bed.
The best moment of all was with both Sean and Delilah in the hospital room
with Miss Osie rising up with her
deep ghostly voice in what to do to stop
Pumpkinhead with a terrific close up shot
on her which looked eerie.
A good moment with Dixon lying on the floor while about to be
attacked by Pumpkinhead not
believeing who it once was.
We see a great shot on Pumpkinhead crashing through a window which almost
makes you jump.
There's a nice shot closing in on Marcia with her screaming.
A good shot on Pumpkinhead grabbing Danny by the neck and
holding him off the ground along with a
good shot on Jenny screaming in
terror.
Many good camera shots on the hunters shooting their
rifles with Pumpkinhead slowly
being shot to death.
Bottom line is that this sequel really
lacked the story on the first film yet it
is fun, campy and exciting too with the
creature attacking and the dark feel to
it along with moments at a burial ground
too.
It's cheesy for sure but a nice party
flick for everyone who wants to get
together and watch it for the fun of it
and the special effects too.
The film like the first one shows your
typical ttenage troublemakers doing
things they shouldn't be doing and a good
girl who's the daughter of a Sherrif
wanting to tag along with them which is
common in lots of these kinds of films
too.
However, the story doesn't do a heck of
alot in most spots with people dropping
dead and the county police looking in on
it and what is causing this with the
townspeople talking about the legendary
Pumpkinhead in which I kinda wondered if
this one had anything to do with the
first one.
They try to make the story disturbing and
at times hard to watch but it fails a bit
due to the cheesy writing in the film but
yet, it looks like this one influenced
some elements to the flick I Know
What You Did Last Summer too.
The film was made by the same makers of Leatherface:
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III.
The acting is not
too bad but however lead actor Andrew
Robinson (Sean Braddock) seemed to just be saying
his lines and very little getting into
character as the head sherrif of the
county. He did show some energy now and
then with his aggressions and intensity
here and there. A perfect speech by him towards one of his actors by convincing him
that his daughter wasn't responsible to
what happened to him in the past which
looked very powerfully performed.
Ami Dolenz (Jenny Braddock) has the good girl looks
but can she act? Well.... she's passable
and does well when she gets aggressive
along with her frights too and screams
well to top it off. Yes, I could say she
gets into character without a problem.
Gloria Hendry (Delilah Pettibone) portrays her job well
as a detective with a good serious
attitude to her role and seems powerful
with her words too.
Soleil Moon Frye (Marcie) always had that
perfect charm since her childhood days in
her TV series Punky Brewster
and really pulls her part off well as a
rebellious teen and really knew how to
act sleazy too with her words and
actions.
J. Trevor Edmund (Danny Dixon) was perfect in his
part as a bad ass teen with his nasty
behavior and aggressions towards others
in the film and is probably the best
actor in this film and can really go
places with future acting gigs. Shows off perfect aggressions while pointing a gun at the rest of the cast
and demanding them to stay put.
Steve Kanaly (Judge Dixon) does his job well as a
jack ass judge in the film in which his
part reminds me of many other overly
opinionated dickheads I had to deal with
in my life and really brings his
character right to the point.
Caren Kaye (Beth Braddock) seemed about right
playing a sympathetic and calm housewife
in the film really playing the passive
role just right.
We have a key supporting role by
Lilyan Chauvin (Miss Osie) whom I enjoyed as the
wicked and cold Mother Superioir in Silent
Night Deadly Night in which
she's covered in make-up to look like an
old hag witch in the film and proves to
be versatile in her role with her deep
speaking and ghost like features. What a
treat to see her in another horror film
and pulling off this type of a role but
it kinda made her look bad too playing
this kind of a creature type of role as I
found her to be a character actress who
can pull off other parts in shows.
There's been a number of cameo's by
b-horror film celebrities. Let's take a
look.
Joe Unger (Ernst) from Leatherface:
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
I will always remember his part in as a
redneck crazed farmer in which he brings
the odd humor in and quite a character
too.
His co-star from that movie R.A.
Mihailoff (Red Byers) who played Leatherface
stood out too as a sleazy burly man
cheating on his wife in a warehouse who
brought character too and knew how to get
scared while being attacked by
Pumpkinhead. It was nice to see what he
looked like from that leather mask and
hear him talk too.
Speaking of that Kane Hodder (Keith Knox) does a good
job playing another redneck and tough guy
too and showed his stuff whom we all
remembered as Jason Voorhees in many of
the recent Friday the 13th
sequels.
*Gasp!* Who do we also have??? Yes, Linnea
Quigley (Nadine) who played Trash in Return
of the Living Dead as well as
numerous cheesy b-horror films who plays
a sleazy one in the film but often played
these types of roles and showed a
different character too as well as
showing terrific frights and lots of
screams after encountering the terrors of
Pumpkinhead. She will always be one of my
favourite scream queens.
Sexpot/b-film scream queen Linnea
Quigley exposes her breasts while
fornicating with a burly man at his
warehouse.
Pumpkinhead does more
people in by slicing off a farmers arms
and legs.
Clawing a burly man
Some blood splatterings
Two teens impaled on a sharp object
A head pulled off and thrown
Some awesome
backwoods hillbilly southern guitar
playing in the necessary scene's as well
as some terrific piano playing and
synthesizer music too. Some of the other
synthesizer playing sounds quite cheesy
here and there but not overly terrible.
Just a little annoying at times. The
music was composed by Jim Manzie.
There's some
terrific songtracks used in the film
especially during the closing credits
with Roger Clinton performing
"Just Like You" as well as a
brief tune when the credts are about to
finish by a rockabilly type group called
Jymmi Briggajanos performing "You Don't Want to See
(Pumpkinhead)" which these songs
kicked ass big time along with many other
artists performing some of their songs
throughout certain scene's.
Miss. Osie: You will
die! You all will die! Miss Osie curses
every one of you to the vengeance of
Pumpkinhead! |
