Tenth Annual FMS Scarelicious October Movie Series: #6 Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings

For some reason I have a soft spot for the original Lance Henriksen vehicle, Pumpkinhead.  I watched it online, on my desktop computer, in 2008 (twenty years after its release) and I just loved it.  The practical monster effects were terrific, the good guys and bad guys were amazingly not one dimensional.  It was way better than it should have been.

I am sorry to report that the sequel, Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, does not meet the standard set by its predecessor.

We start with a black and white flashback to 1958 where in the tiny town of Ferron Woods, a group of hot-rodding townies beat, stab and hang a disfigured hillbilly boy, Tommy.  Some thirty years later, a group of teenagers - assholes who act out a bit but who aren't really all that bad, just obnoxious - steal a spellbook from the local witchy woman and do the ritual that raises Pumpkinhead II.  This iteration of the demon - smaller than the original and kind of looking like the mutant alien in Joss Whedon's Alien movie - was brought out of Tommy's remains and thus begins rampaging to avenge his death.  SPOILERS FOR A 1994 MOVIE.  The body count is relatively high: PHII gets the six original hot-rodders, now doughy middle-aged men, plus four of the teenagers who raised him, for no good reason I could tell.  The sheriff saves his daughter but the posse takes out ol' PHII (in theory - there are two more direct-to-video sequels after this one).

Look, this one isn't scary.  I'm not sure it was even scary back in 1994.  There is no sense of atmosphere or tension and the characters are wooden.  Even the creature effects are only middling - and I am a huge fan and proponent of practical monster effects.  This is a lightweight and fairly stupid movie, not even trying for camp or any touches of humor.  Except that one character is named "Mayor Bubba."  That's kind of funny.