Masterful Cinema

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes (2006)12 years after the second sequel, We actually got True sequel to the first movie and I do think it was better then Blood wings. It took me bit of time to get in this movie but when the movies get going, it never lets upI really liked how they connected to first movie and I really liked how they brought the Pumpkin head back,Creature did look a little different but not by much, I think the death were bloody there last two movies.A lot of fast pace action scene in this movie, some decent turns in the story.The acting was not bad at all, decent acting from most of the cast. 6 out of 10Off to see number Blood feudNot a horror bad series at all,

I did enjoy the 1988 Pumpkinhead, without it being one of my absolute favourite horror films. While I didn't care for Ashes to Ashes all that much, it is at least better than Blood Wings. It does have some good points, Lance Henrikssen has a rather small role but he does do a great job with what he's given, the score is suitably eerie,the Romanian scenery is beautiful and atmospheric, Doug Bradley also gives a good performance with at least some charisma and there are a few nice surprising turns in the story. On the other hand, the rest of the acting is an uneven mix of over-acting and under-acting, some of the camera work is rather frenzied which further cheapens the already slapdash effects, the dialogue felt stilted and the characters I never felt anything for. The story does have some surprising turns, but of any effective scenes and such the only one to leave any lasting impression was the Ed Harley's Ghost sequence. The rest, not helped by some sometimes tedious pacing, lacked any true horror or suspense, and has lapses in logic. The titular character has his moments, but perhaps here too generic and ruthless, which was the opposite effect in the original. Overall, not as good as the original and has a lot of problems, but it also has redeeming values and is at least better than Blood Wings(then again a lot of movies are). 5/10 Bethany Cox

Ashes to Ashes is easily my favorite Pumpkinhead movie. While the effects may not be the best, the story more than makes up for it. One problem with the first one, to me at least, was the lack of a true villain. Pumpkinhead was more of a weapon than a villain, the teens felt guilty for killing Ed's son, and Ed saw early on that he was wrong in summoning Pumpkinhead. In this, however, Doug Bradly plays a true villain, a character you truly hate and want to see punished. Seeing him console Molly Sue Allen when her child's corpse is brought out, knowing that he's the one who desecrated it, makes him utterly detestable. The added continuity of characters such as Bunt, Haggis and, of course, Ed Harley, really improve it over the second movie. In the first, Haggis warns Ed that he would become the next Pumpkinhead. In Pumpkinhead 2, it's a boy who was killed decades before the film. In this, however, before taking the form of Pumpkinhead, the corpse briefly takes Ed's form, showing that he did, indeed, become the next Pumpkinhead. Although I do think having Ed's ghost appear in this and the next movie was a bit much.

Doc Fraser(Doug Bradley)has Bunt Wallace(Douglas Roberts presenting a flawed, but sympathetic character)throw corpses his removed the skin from in the swamp as he sells the hide to others for grafting and plastic surgery. His source is a meth-maker named Lenny(Emil Hostina)who can sell the skin and other parts(like a poor live soul who makes the unfortunate mistake of crossing their path on a hike through the backwoods)such as kidneys to other lucrative clients. When the poor unfortunate soul is able, despite having his kidney removed, to run into Molly Sue(Tess Panzer, whose character is a grieving mother stuck in an unhappy marriage)traveling on the road. When Molly calls on the local fuzz, Doc's operation suffers, although he isn't unmasked as the ringleader. Those taken in are Bunt(who is often visited by the ghostly image of Lance Henriksen's Ed Harley from the first PUMPKINHEAD film;it's Bunt who told Ed about the witch in the woods..Ed serves as a type of guilty conscience for Bunt)and his meth-addicted sister(and Doc's lover)Dahlia(Lisa McAllister). They are the ones who dug up the corpses for Doc from their graves. When Molly's interference causes the finding of all the corpses, both found in a barn and in the forest, Doc has to come up with a plan to halt anyone finding out his involvement. That's the least he has to worry about, because Molly will pay a visit to the witch in the woods, along with three others including her husband's lover, Ellie(Ioana Ginghina). Seeking vengeance for her son being dug up and skinned, Molly will give over her blood marking all those involved with the grave-digging operation. The corpse of Ed Harley will be the demonic vessel used to summon Pumpkinhead to wreak havoc not only on those marked, but also anyone, innocent or otherwise, that stands in the way of that murderous goal. Will Molly's husband Oliver(Emanuel Parvu)be able to find a way, along with Ellie who regrets her decision for participating in the summoning of the monster, to stop Pumpkinhead and it's bloody rampage? Can Bunt find redemption for his past involvement with Fraser? And, will Fraser be able to kill all those who summoned Pumpkinhead before he becomes a victim? This film is a welcome return to the franchise and seeing Bradley out of his Pinhead make-up is really neat. He's a good actor and being able to play a human monster without a disguise is fun. The cast outside of Bradley and Henriksen, who is also a welcome sight even if he's basically in it as a messenger communicating to Bunt about how vengeance and summoning evil can do no good, is forgettable and uninteresting. The monster is terrific, even if the filmmakers can not resist whipping out the CGI for some climbing sequences(particularly the church sequence). The film also wisely avoids even mentioning the sequel BLOODWINGS adopting a more serious tone and staying close to what made the first film so intriguing. It's also quite gory with the monster mangling quite a few folks who get in it's path of bloodshed.