Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes

As a fan of the original movie, I've always been attracted to the story and effects associated with Pumpkinhead. However, this movie fails to fulfill every craving a Pumpkinhead fan might have.

The most notable flaw of the movie is its acting. As the original movie depicted a folk-world lost from civilization, this movie's depiction of the southern environment that the story resides in could be considered parody by comparison. The southern accents are so labored and over exaggerated that you may not stand to watch the movie past its opening scenes. Not to mention that certain key actor's presentations are so dull and boring that you may wonder exactly how they got their roles in the first place. The lines are delivered as flat memorization ... no ... rather like they're being read from cue cards instead.

The shining gem of this movie is Lance Hendrikson's small role. His sheer presence on the screen not only mesmerizes but may make you forget you're actually watching a low-grade Sci-Fi Films movie, if only for a split second. It's a shame Hendrikson does not play a larger part in the film than he does, for if the story revolved around him, the presence of so many acting follies could have been forgiven.

The story does take quite a few surprising turns and introduces more than you might have expected, but in the end you may look back and wonder exactly what the logic was behind certain scenes. Although not uncommon, the director should have known his movie was going to be put under the scrutiny of fans, and its utter stupidity in some cases is ultimately its downfall.

And although the writers do show that they're definitely fans of the original movie, they seem to ignore the artistic genius behind Pumpkinhead's presence, portraying him as a quick, ruthless, and indiscriminate killer of anything he comes across, which is in stark contrast to the slow, lumbering, and horrifying sense of dread the original movie gave to the character.

All in all, the movie is still better than the original sequel 10 fold, but will nonetheless disappoint most fans of a groundbreaking cult film.