In one scene a farmer is being killed while his mistress is out in the car looking for cigarettes. The kills in the film are surprisingly gruesome and fantastic with heads and limbs being ripped off left, right and centre. Yet Pumpkinhead 2 never crosses the line of going too over the top with the actors mostly playing it straight, like there REALLY is a pumpkin headed monster after them. Pumpkinhead 2 knows what kind of film it is and plays up the camp and ridiculousness of the situation with references to other horror films “what the f**k is this Pet Semetary?”. For me personally anything with witches and disfigured revenge seeking kids is perfect in my books. The thing about Pumpkinhead 2 is that this kind of narrative has been rehashed hundreds of times but the film’s attitude towards itself allows it to have fun with the story. They drive to the woods (shock horror where Tommy was killed), find the hut of the old lady who now is a decrepit old witch, end up beating her up and raising Pumpkinhead from the dead (who has Tommy’s spirit inside looking to enact revenge on anyone who caused him pain). His daughter Jenny (Ami Dolenz) has a troubled past and gets caught up with the bad kids at Ferren Woods High on her first day.

We then fast forward thirty five years later when a new sheriff (Andrew Robinson), his wife and daughter move to Ferren Woods from the big city looking for peace and quiet. When Tommy goes out to play in the woods he is teased and eventually killed by a group of school bullies who bludgeon him to death and throw him down a mine. The story begins in Ferren Woods a small all-American town in 1958 where a disfigured boy named Tommy is being looked after by an old lady. Made in 1994 and directed by Jeff Bur this straight to video release surprised me as an entertaining 90’s gore fest. Never having seen the original Pumpkinhead (which I believe has hit cult status) I dived straight into its sequel Blood Wings a tale about a poor outsider who comes back for revenge against the bullies that caused his death. If horror films have taught us anything it is that being a freak is the worst! You either kill from the get-go (The Hills Have Eyes) or get bullied and teased so bad that you come back as an evil killing machine (ie Carrie). Thrill-seeking teenagers resurrect a demon from his grave and a bloody rampage for revenge begins

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