Watch Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes For Free

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Residents of a small backwoods community summons the murdeeous demon of vengeance himself for revenge against a local mortician who wronged there deceased love ones, while a town physician seeks to kill those involved in it's summoning. Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes is way better than 'Blood Wings' but also way creepier and for a low budge straight to dvd horror sequel? The soundtrack was suprisingly great (the church sequence was awesome) and the acting wasn't bad either. Henrisken's cameo was cool too as Ed Harley. (6.5/10)

I did enjoy the 1988 Pumpkinhead, without it being one of my absolute favourite horror films. While I didn't care for Ashes to Ashes all that much, it is at least better than Blood Wings. It does have some good points, Lance Henrikssen has a rather small role but he does do a great job with what he's given, the score is suitably eerie,the Romanian scenery is beautiful and atmospheric, Doug Bradley also gives a good performance with at least some charisma and there are a few nice surprising turns in the story. On the other hand, the rest of the acting is an uneven mix of over-acting and under-acting, some of the camera work is rather frenzied which further cheapens the already slapdash effects, the dialogue felt stilted and the characters I never felt anything for. The story does have some surprising turns, but of any effective scenes and such the only one to leave any lasting impression was the Ed Harley's Ghost sequence. The rest, not helped by some sometimes tedious pacing, lacked any true horror or suspense, and has lapses in logic. The titular character has his moments, but perhaps here too generic and ruthless, which was the opposite effect in the original. Overall, not as good as the original and has a lot of problems, but it also has redeeming values and is at least better than Blood Wings(then again a lot of movies are). 5/10 Bethany Cox

You will note that I said this is not the best introduction to the series that began with Pumpkinhead. Being that this was the only episode available on DVD for rental at the time, I started with this episode anyway. I should know, therefore, that Ashes To Ashes is possibly the worst possible sequel to be introduced to the franchise by. The first Nightmare On Elm Street film I saw was the second, and a rather clumsily censored television edit at that, so I am speaking from quite a wealth of experience here. That said, all of the elements for a good horror film are in place here. The cast is strong, the premise is creative, and the special effects help tell the story rather than detract from it as is usually the case with horror films. The problem is that, as one previous commentator has already pointed out, it really needed another rewrite or two in order to excise the fat. Which is ironic when you consider how many films on the market have been brutally murdered by too many rewrites.Ashes To Ashes is set in a town where the illicit trade in transplant organs is so rife that the local population depends on it in order to be able to afford healthcare. When one of the prospective donors escapes and dies in a local resident's car, a search uncovers a series of hastily-discarded corpses. As bad as that sounds, it gets worse when the aggrieved locals solicit the aid of a local mystic who looks like she last saw water when Hiroshima was free of radioactivity. The twist in Ashes To Ashes is that in contrast to the Nightmares On Elm Street or Hellraisers, there are no good guys in the traditionally understood sense. Everyone in this film is tainted to some degree. Another contrast to other horror films that is set well in Ashes To Ashes is that it gives the characters a credible reason to summon the titular monster, so much so that the summoning ritual as demonstrated in the film might stretch credulity to the limit, but it works in spite of that. Selling a rubber-suit monster is no easy task, after all.Helping the side is some very credible acting by Lance Henriksen and Doug Bradley, two veterans of the low-budget science fiction and horror genres who have this style of acting down to a fine art. Henriksen only appears as a ghostly portent of doom for the most part, but when he does make his infrequent appearances, he sells the reality of the film in a manner that reminds one of those credit card commercials. Doug Bradley unsuccessfully attempts to sound American and comes off sounding like he is at least mildly drunk. Despite that, he keeps the audience rooted in the film, delivering dialogue stilted enough to have appeared in The Phantom Menace with a gentlemanly authority that only Bradley can wrench out of such dialogue. He even gets to deliver a quick monologue about the nature of pain that leaves one expecting him to sprout nails. His character is pure evil, as is established early in the proceedings. In a total reversal of his better-known character, however, he manages to sell the fact that this particular character believes otherwise.Pumpkinhead: Ashes To Ashes, is also the kind of film that rewards a second viewing, in spite of its stitled and clumsy script. Little things such as how those who summoned the titular monster react to the things it does become apparent the second time around. The problem is that the characters are so underwritten that without the consummate acting skills of Henriksen or Bradley, the characters are completely flat. Aside from the stereotypically Bible Belt accents, one could mistake the action for taking place in any environment besides the urban. On the other hand, it is nice to see the "ol' country" through eyes that are unflinching in their view that what some will try to tell you does not happen in this kind of environment not only does happen, but at the exact same per-capita rate. It makes for a nice contrast to the way cut-off nowhere lands without adequate healthcare or employment are confused with paradise by the dull travelogues that comprise ninety percent of the Australian film industry.Unfortunately, the film has no sense of pacing, and aside from the inevitable scare sequences, this is one incredibly talky, slow-moving piece. Sometimes the excess of dialogue works. The sequences with the dessicated old witch are a good example of this. However, when the townsfolk converse for more than a few seconds, the thin characterisations shine through brilliantly. The priest at the sermon in particular would have people knocking down his door to appear in other locations, as people who put that much into their speeches are not exactly easy to find. Ultimately, however, the film is meant to be about vengeance and the price it entails. As we learn that one of the summoners wants to stop the Pumpkinhead from rending the flesh of everything in the town, the question shifts from who is going to get killed to what it will cost for this cessation. And while the answer to that question could have brought a spark of delight in the hands of the right director, Ashes To Ashes shows us the answer in a manner that is so perfunctory it defies all good writing sense.I gave Pumpkinhead: Ashes To Ashes a three out of ten. It is a step up from watching paint dry, but not by much.

This movie should be expected to be bad and therefore not a surprise when it turned out to be so. Obviously going to be questionable since its a t.v. movie, but there are still TV movies out there worth watching. Low budget film. Average, if not below average CGI effects. Poor acting. Poor directing. Very few entertaining parts if any. Not a good movie for the horror fans out there who appreciate good horror flicks, but rather a mockery of what even a decent t.v. horror flick should be. The only minor good thing about this was it had lance henriksen who is awesome in almost everything he's in. If your a horror buff definitely skip this one. Actually everyone should skip this flick, the only people who should watch it are people who saw how bad the second one was and wanted to see if the third was better or worse. I.E. Pumpkinhead fans (are there really any?) may want to check it out but for everyone else, there are much much better horrors out there.