This sequel does an end-around "Pumpkinhead 2:Bloodwings" and plays as a direct follow-up to the first film. The main connections are Lance Henrikson as Ed Harley (albeit in corpse-turned-Pumpkinhead form and ghost form) and the characters of Bunt (who was a young teen boy helping out the good guys in the first film) and the old witch lady who oversees the manifestations of the title creature. It's good they forgot about the second film, which featured Bill Clinton's brother as Mayor Bubba! It fairly stunk. This one follows the first film's straight-up revenge theme better. Doug Bradley, Pinhead from the "Hellraiser" films, shows up as the town's doctor, who secretly harvests organs from recently-deceased town folk to sell to a local connection. When his cohorts are arrested after the discovery of bodies in and around the local crematorium, the doc does his best to cover his butt. But several of the kin of the dead people go to the old witch lady and ask for a reckoning for their kinfolk in the form of Pumpkinhead.

It's not long before the creature is wrecking havoc on the the bad guys, and even good guys that get in the way. And once again, the message is that, once you let Pumpkinhead out, you have to let him do his work until he's finished. The best scenes feature Henriksen, who is always good, playing a ghostly conscience haunting Bunt, and the scenes with the monster, who in this film seems to be partly full-body suit and partly CGI. It works to pretty good effect. Bradley is not bad as the doctor, who discovers the secret to stopping Pumpkinhead.

I don't remember too clearly, but is this the first time the creature has had a tail? In the first film I know he had huge shoulder spikes, but in this film they're a bit smaller. I've purposely forgotten parts of the second film, but it seemed like the beast was pretty much like it was in the first. And did he actually have wings, hence the "Bloodwings" of the title? Nevertheless, the third film is a not-bad time passer and a lot better than some stuff you'll see on Sci-Fi. I may rent this and see if anything was cut out of the film. I also see here on IMDb that a fourth film is in the works, with Henriksen once again playing Ed Harley and a cast of people playing Hatfields and McCoys. Are we going into the past or are these people the present kin of the old clans? Interesting. Last words-I recommend this film, but mainly if you're a fan of Lance Henriksen or the Pumpkinhead monster, of which I am both.

I watched this last night and it is practically a remake of the original. However, I will give the filmmakers credit for actually retaining several characters from the original (the siblings are all the kids of George "Buck" Flower's Wallace character in the first film). Director Jake West - who made the absolutely inept EVIL ALIENS - handles the filming well. Sadly, he doesn't capture Pumpkinhead's towering stance well though, shooting it mostly in close up. On the downside, the actors seem to have never stepped foot in the South. We're talking Gomer Pyle hysterics here. If you look closely, you can actually see Lance Henriksen cashing his check for this one. And there are a few wonky CGI bits.

For fans of the original Pumpkinhead, it was hoped that this second sequel, which picked up from the first film would be a return to form after the disastrous second film. While director Jake West keeps the tone and mood similar to the first film, he is hampered by things out of his control. First off, this is a TV movie. As such it is low budget. The thing that makes a creature feature like this sink or swim is its monster effects. Our Pumpkinhead is on screen a lot of the time in this film, so why did more money not get put into the suit? Its a pale imitation of Stan Winston's original. Add in some of the worst CGI in a horror film ever and you get a monster that doesn't scare like it should.Next up is the fact that this was filmed in Romania. I'm sorry, I'm sure Romania is a nice place and I know its cheap to shoot there, but it doesn't really look like America like it is so often called upon to do. Doug Bradley is fine as a doctor without a conscience, but Lance Henriksen is wasted in his return to his character from the first film. Could have been a lot better than it is.