Pumpkinhead 2: Blood Wings - More of the same, but much less

In B-movie terms, the original ‘Pumpkinhead’ movie was a classic.  It had decent actors, a solid premise and, most importantly for a monster movie, a pretty damn hideous beast, slashing and ripping its way through the cast.  With its reasonable success, it was no surprise that it spawned a sequel.

And I really wish it hadn’t.

Okay, so ‘Pumpkinhead 2: Blood Wings’ is every bit the B-movie that its predecessor was.  However, one fact remains – the acting is awful this time around.  Yes, no one really expects Oscar-worthy performances with films that primarily go straight to DVD.  However, in this case the acting can’t go unmentioned.  Yes, there are a few decent actors who try their hardest to make the best out of the awful lines given to them, but, on the whole, the acting is noticeably substandard, even by B-movie terms.  Although, I may be being unfair on the cast.  The script is clunky and lame, so, I’m guessing even a cast that comprised of Robert DeNiro and Ian McKellen would struggle to breathe life into what was given to them.

Onto the story – it’s basically a re-run of the first.  Someone dies when they shouldn’t.  The monster, known affectionately as ‘Pumpkinhead’ stalks his way through those who have committed the wrong.  And you won’t really care who he kills.  Because pretty much every person who finds themselves on the wrong end of PH’s claws probably deserves to have their bowels ripped out anyway.

At least the monster himself isn’t too bad (and, despite being only a man in a rubber suit, acts better than some of his human co-stars).  He’s pretty nasty, but somehow still not as scary as the first film portrayed him to be.

Basically, you should just stick to Pumpkinhead (1).  It contains everything that will ever be good about the franchise.  Although, no matter how bad part II may be, it’s still about a million times better of any of the further sequels (just don’t get me started on those!).

4/10 You can watch this film while you're doing the ironing (you'll still get the general gist of it)