Monday, August 1, 2016

The Pumpkin Karver, Off with your Faces this Halloween

Less than 90 days until Halloween!  The summer heat is still keeping us down, but before we know it the crisp fall air will usher in our favorite holiday.  So, to kick off this elongated countdown to our October celebration, let us look at Robert Mann's 2006 shocker, "The Pumpkin Karver."  A spunky tale, perfect for the season, our film will have, even us horror professionals, turning our heads.  There will be booze, rock'n roll, pre-marital sex....and lots of hunks and babes...and of course....a slasher. Unfortunately, many of these great looking young characters will meet gory demises....but that's the way we like it on this blog.
On Halloween, the sultry Lynn (Amy Weber), clad in pink lingerie, is waiting for her boyfriend, Alec (David J. Wright).  Uh oh....Alec has a warped sense of humor and decides to scare Lynn with a prank.  Clad as a pumpkin faced fiend, Alec approaches Lynn as Michael Myers nears his sister. Double uh oh, Lynn's brother Jonathan (Michael Zara) believes he is defending his sister when he stabs Alec in the head a dozen times.  Totally accidental, sure, but now Alec is mentally scarred (sanity issues).  One year later, Lynn and Jonathan move to a really small town.  Lynn finds a Halloween party held near a rural pumpkin patch. Okay, not the best idea if your brother has Halloween sanity issues.  The good news, Lynn has set up her brother with a babe named Tammy (Minka Kelly).
Tammy and Jonathan hit it off.  Tammy seems normal, though Jonathan is hearing voices and has visions of a pumpkin-faced slasher pursuing him.  Visions?  Maybe not.  As the party commences, the lovely Rachel (Charity Shea) will be interrupted in her pursuit of pre-marital sex and meet the object of Jonathan's hallucinations.  Her fate will be stomach turning...you'll see.  Now Jonathan continues to see his nemesis, but Lynn tries to convince him it is just his past haunting him.  As the wide-eyed and vulnerable Tammy and Jonathan grow closer, and even kiss, the pumpkin fiend gets more overt. Some great looking young people will meet all sorts of wild deaths, including decapitation.
You may think you know who lives and who dies while watching this film. Beware, Robert Mann isn't interested in following a standard norm with his slasher film. Will Jonathan, with his sanity issues, be able to convince drunk babes and hunks that a slasher is also present at the party?  Who is this pumpkin-faced fiend?  Might it be Jonathan? What does our fiend have planned for his victims? Hint: The title of this film!  Is Minka Kelly too cute to be carved up like a jack-o-lantern? "The Pumpkin Karver" joins "Halloween" and "Trick or Treat" as the perfect Halloween film.  When deciding on which DVDs to put on this October, don't miss "The Pumpkin Karver."

2 comments:

  1. Watched this many moons ago and was rather underwhelmed. That said, after reading your review, I'm prepared to give it another shot. Thanks Christopher.

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  2. Christopher, nice to know you're a fan of gory Halloween films. Thanks for the review of my film, The Pumpkin Karver. Being the writer and director of this little cult movie, I hope your fans enjoy the seasonal gore. I am currently in production with Robert Mann's 10.31. Humm, does the title "scream" out anything seasonal to you and your fans? Much blood, horror, screams and laughs this and every Halloween. Robert Mann

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