PUMPKINHEAD 2: BLOOD WINGS

year: 1994 cast: Ami Dolenz, Andrew Robinson, Gloria Hendry, Soleil Moon Frye, Caren Kaye rating: **1/2

In the original PUMPKINHEAD there was this really nasty, lanky, putrid and thoroughly ticked off demon: an aesthetic combination of Alien and Predator with a penchant for white trash teens… So now we get a backstory to the flesh-ravaging beast called… Well you know his name already…

In a rural small town, there were some bullies who chased a deformed kid further into the woods and hung him to die… At the same time, the boy’s cave dwelling mother felt the same pain and with that, ignited a synergized hell-spawn energy that would, years later, bring Pumpkinhead back to life along with, like many horror movie antagonists, heated vengeance searing through his formidable veins…

Talented 70's actors Gloria Hendry and Andrew Robinson keep it real throughout the camp

For a low-budget horror with a cheap-sounding synthesizer soundtrack, the acting is good… That is, there are good actors on board a campy vehicle… These include Andrew Robinson, the Scorpio Killer from DIRTY HARRY who, replacing Lance Henriksen’s woodsy lawman from the original, is right on the case…

Robinson’s Sean Braddock teams up with Dr. Delilah Pettibone, played by Blaxploitation starlet Gloria Hendry, spouting intentionally cornball lines with zest and passion… Both cop and doc investigate various mutilations and start to realize, this ain’t no bobcat…

Ami Dolenz wonders why all cute girls wind up with jerk boyfriends

Meanwhile, our young sexy scream queen is Sean’s daughter, Jenny. Ami Dolenz makes for a typical heartfelt victim, caring more than her selfish friends, and, haunted by surreal nightmares, she provides cryptic insight...

The kids in town, including PUNKY BREWSTER child actress Soleil Moon Frye, are more than body count fodder… Pumpkinhead prefers a group of grownup locals who might have something to do with his nefarious origin...

Soleil Moon Frye lights a candle... Maybe this should be called PUNKYHEAD

A banal side story about a zombie-witch we’re supposed to care about, and the casting of President Bill Clinton’s half-brother Roger as “Mayor Bubba” aside, with the otherwise talented actors, also including Steve Kanaly and Caren Kaye, and good old fashion mutilations with blood flowing like a fountain of death, this is hell worth the watch.

Okay, so it's bad... but as the sequel of an even worse original, PUMPKINHEAD 2: BLOOD WINGS is not entirely futile, especially for fans of schlocky horror.

"Aw shucks, buddy, it's water under the bridge, let's go have a beer."

"Has anyone seen my puppy Brandon? Or my multicolored sweater?"

"I don't understand this dialogue... I need a tutor... Wait, I am one!"

"All pretty starlets bite their bottom lip, why should I be different?"