Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud
I really thought the Pumpkinhead franchise was on its way back to respectability. The last entry in the series, Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes, was a throwback to the feel and style of the original film. It wasn’t anywhere near as good as the original film, but it was certainly better than the bastardized sequel Pumpkinhead 2: Blood Wings. Unfortunately, this installment of the Pumpkinhead series is more like part two than parts one and three.
The film is a ridiculous bastardization of the Pumpkinhead mythos. The plot for this film is like Romeo and Juliet meets backwater hillbilly land. In the midst of the Hatfield and McCoy feud, one of the Hatfield men falls in love with one of the McCoy women. While the two are out making the beast with two backs, a couple of Hatfields stumble onto a McCoy girl and accidentally kill her… after they try to rape her. The young Hatfield man that is in love figures that him and his inbred love can never be while the Hatfields are still around, plus he’s super pissed that they killed his sister, so he calls on the questionable terror of Pumpkinhead. The whole time, Lance Henriksen keeps popping up and giving mystic advice to people. I don’t know why, he really isn’t needed in the film. The plot is almost as ridiculous as the execution of the film.
For this film, Michael Hurst takes his turn in the director’s chair, after previously helming such horror tripe as Room 6 and House of the Dead 2. If you’ve seen either of those films, then you know what type of experience you’re in for. Hurst shows that he has no idea what looks good on film. The film’s style is pretty bland and the visuals are completely uninteresting. The only things that Hurst manages to get right are the gore scenes, which have some pretty awesome head explosions. Sadly, Hurst’s film suffers from being cheap looking, despite the quality cinematography.
Part of the reason that Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud is so un-enjoyable is that every aspect of the movie is poorly thought out and executed. The acting in the movie is terrible, mostly due to the fact that the film was filmed in Romania and you have Romanians trying to pretend to be backwoods hicks. The result is a lot of dubbing that sounds terrible. The canned sound of a dubbed “Yee-haw” is a little more distracting than one might think. Here’s a hint for aspiring filmmakers: If you’re going to make a film about hillbillies in America, don’t go to Romania to film your movie, just because it’s cheaper.
The set design of the film is abysmal. Most of the buildings in the film look like they were thrown up over night, and I get the distinct impression that if someone tried to walk behind one of the houses in the film all you would see is the backside of a wall. None of the sets looked realistic and they seem like they were designed simply to be in a movie. The only good scenery is the forest, but even cheap Romanian labor can’t screw that up.
The special effects are really a mixed bag. The CGI in the film is terrible as super-shiny, rubber-looking Pumpkinhead once again makes his appearance. The CGI Pumpkinhead looks absolutely terrible and it makes one want to cry to see how far Stan Winston’s creation has fallen. The practical special effects are pretty cool, as I mentioned before; there are lots of severed limbs and decapitations and they are all done with some quality. Unfortunately, even the practical effects have some hiccups as once again the Pumpkinhead suit looks ridiculous and the actor inside the suit is even worse. Why does Pumpkinhead walk as if he is a constipated old man?
I really thought that the Pumpkinhead series had turned a corner, but with this installment it has taken two giant steps backwards into the realm of bad horror movies. It’s a shame to see such a cool monster as Pumpkinhead basically turned into a hillbilly’s bitch. Free this creature from the greedy, vengeful paws of the toothless and inbred and let him roam the land free. Maybe if the filmmakers did that, Pumpkinhead would once again be able to rank right up there with the coolest monsters in movie history. As it is now, he is the battered wife of horror movie monsters.
Final Synopsis: Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud is a terribly disappointing film that never lives up to expectations. Gorehounds can have some fun with this, especially the film’s final shootout between 10 hillbillies and Pumpkinhead. Pumpkinhead fans should view this with caution. Everyone else should stay away from this film.
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