Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud (2007)

Written by Filipe Manuel Neto on July 5, 2022

Bloody Romeo and Juliet: if they won't let us marry, we'll slaughter them all.

Soon after the 2006 film, released directly to television, the producers bet on its direct sequel, also in physical format. The story appears to take place about five years after the events of Pumpkinhead 3 and tells how the creature will be awakened back in our world to decimate an entire family.

If there is something that has guided the sequels of Pumpkinhead it has been the permanent ineptitude of the screenwriters involved, incapable of creating credible, logical, appealing stories capable of reasonably supporting a horror movie. The script of this film, if you look closely, looks like a sly and weird retelling of Romeo and Juliet: the couple love each other and come from families that have been at war for decades over a pittance. However, as the families won't let them stay together, the boy decides that the most logical and natural thing to do is, of all the options available, visit a witch, wake up a hellish demon with the risk of losing his own soul and slaughtering the whole beloved woman's family! It makes sense… who wouldn't do the same?

In addition to this poor script, we have characters that are frankly sketchy and not very believable, who have been left to the care of an amateur cast, which is not capable of dealing with all the problems at hand and is doomed to fail in their efforts. And this time there's not even a worthy villain here... just a petty war between redneck families, for futile reasons, and a little scary monster. In fact, the monster has long since lost any ability to scare us, even though it makes excellent bloodshed with the corpses of its victims, much to the delight of lovers of gore and some violence. Lance Henrikssen is still present, and his character is given greater relevance in this film, but he doesn't do much for the film, nor could he prevent its failure.

Technically, it's a cheap and not very scary movie, although it has some scenes that can make us nauseous and a general improvement in the technical quality, at all levels, when we compare this movie with the third in the franchise. In fact, the cinematography is better and the shooting and editing are more regular. Also, the effects are much better, more effective and believable, and the sets and costumes are quite good.