Pumpkinhead 2: Les Ailes de Sang

while easily falling into the category of b-horror, this isn't nearly as horrible as i expected. after reading MANY reviews on IMDb and elsewhere that were scathingly negative about this sequel, i figured i'd try it out since i enjoy the original (and lance henriksen) and of course...i had to see if the bad reviews were accurate.

very fortunately (and heres the upside to going in with low expectations) this film pleasantly surprised me...not as good as the original, not incredibly connected to the original, however, it does what it sets out to do quite well. as far as the pumpkinhead sequels go..this is the one to check out.

i wish i had anything complimentary to say about volume III in this series...however...that's pure crap, stay away..and what a waste of both lance henriksen and doug bradley... but i digress.

blood wings isn't a great movie my any means, but fan of horror know that you must judge horror movies far differently from films outside the genre... and as far as horror movies go, i find this to be extremely underrated.

but tastes are like ***holes so... give it a whirl and post your own

Pumpkinhead II is interesting because it succeeds where its predecessor failed and where that one succeeded, this one fails. Pumpkinhead II , contains better acting, a more interesting back story, while at the same time, it is noisier, less stylish and unconvincing in special effects. As a result Pumpkinhead II is no better or worse than Stan Winston's film. It is just another low budget horror which offers some charms for the monster fans.

Getting a little carried away one night, a group of kids resurrect a body which is buried on the property of the town's fabled witch. As it happens, the body they dig up is deformed boy who in the 1950s was killed by a group of town ruffians. Now with the boy's soul inside him, Pumpkinhead goes after his killers (now middle aged) and his awakeners. As the killings start to occur, Sheriff Braddock tries to piece this whole mystery together amidst an agitated and highly superstitious town. Both Pumpkinhead and the town want to kill each other, whose gonna live?

I'll give this movie credit for one thing, it increases the monstrosity from the first. Although still far from scary, this monster is far more aggressive than his predecessor, and he kills with great ferocity, clawing, gnawing dismembering his victims. On the negative side, the special effects have fallen a bit. The first Pumpkinhead may have been a slow mover, but his movements were rather fluid, and muscular and like a creature. This one moves like a guy in a suit and is shot from too many bad angles which ruins the scale of the creature.

If you liked Pumpkinhead, then I don't think you will be too disappointed in this. Maybe as a whole, it is slightly less accomplished than the original. but it's sufficient for a sequel.

Just stick with the first Pumpkinhead kids 'cause if you watch this you'll get a headache. The plot has little to do with the original Pumpkinhead and ignores continuity (the old lady who invoked Pumpkinhead died but Pumpkinhead stayed alive. Big plot hole. And soft music during a so called "horrifying" (Re: absurdly fake) murders don't make it better. The only scary thing about the movie is it has Roger Clinton and the girl from Big Comfy Couch.

Pumpkinhead II: Bloodwings is a slightly mixed bag. Director Jeff Burr has had better results from sequels in the past (Leatherface) but does his best with the material. I might not love the story, but you won't hear me complain about the cast. Bloodwings has a great cast featuring some familiar genre faces and a few veterans. These faces include Andrew Robinson, J. Trevor Edmund, Joe Unger, scream queen Linnea Quigley, and Kane Hodder. Throw Punky Brewster and former president Bill Clinton's brother in the mix and you've got the cast. I enjoy the score as well; very reminiscent of Southern Comfort. One of the best pieces of this puzzle is KNB effects. KNB's work is always fun to watch. With all this going for it, I still can't help but feel like something's missing. Something is holding it back from me giving it a positive review. One aspect I don't like is that it has little to do with the original, other than the vengeful demon. Speaking of the demon, he seems to carry around a strobe light that gets real old real quick. And the look and feel stinks of the straight-to-video curse. On one hand, it doesn't touch the original. On the other, it just didn't need to be made.

"Bolted doors and windows barred, guard dogs prowling in the yard, won't protect you in your bed, nothing will from Pumpkinhead."

I'm going to preface this by saying, I enjoyed Pumpkinhead I. It was a good story about backwoods lore. Though the camera found the monster a little too often (Stan Winston can be forgiven for falling in love with his creation, though) it was a good 80's popcorn horror flick.

Having said that, the people who made Pumpkinhead 2: Bloodwings, should be skinned alive, strapped to a chair with their eyelids peeled open and forced to watch this ridiculous piece of garbage again and again. Did Andrew Robinson even read the script before he showed up to shoot this train-wreck?

You were in Hellraiser for God's sake, have some pride!

Did these idiots even watch the first film? Was that old woman supposed to be the same witch that stole Lance Henricksen's soul? I hope not--because otherwise, it's quite an accomplishment that she was suddenly good, and that her name was changed.

The fifties flashback? The mullet-ed mayor with the guitar? The annoying medical examiner who--for some strange reason is ALWAYS at the sheriff's house? And the idea that this new Pumpkinhead was the hell-spawn of the old Pumpkinhead and some "not so special woman" is idiotic. What? Are you trying to tell me they slept together? Did you see the first movie? If you look closely, you'll notice that ol' Pumpkinhead isn't exactly anatomically correct.

The absolute most horrendous part of this movie came in the character of Paul--otherwise known as the friend who didn't get any throughout the whole film. I want to say something to Paul right now, are you listening? You had no point at all in this film. You deserved to get killed for those stupid clothes you had on. Your one job was to go and get the car from around front--you couldn't even do that right. May God have mercy on your soul.

I don't know why God let this movie get made. My buddy Marc told me I had to watch it because it was so stupid. I believed him beforehand, but--in a Twilight Zone-ian sense, I had no idea HOW RIGHT he was. I want to conjure Pumpkinhead to come get him for having brought it home from the video store.

I feel like having watched this movie, I've somehow been exposed to some great and terrible contagion that will make me incapable of appreciating a good movie ever again.