Carved

A group of people find themselves trapped at the Cedar Park historical reenactment village on Halloween after a mutant pumpkin springs to life and goes on a bloody rampage.

Had I noticed that D. J. Qualls was in Carved, I might have passed on it, but I'm glad I didn't: after a rather bumpy start, the film eventually kicks into gear when the killer squash goes on the hunt, making people pay for taking a knife to its fellow pumpkins - and the rest of the film is a delightfully daft and surprisingly gory treat. Hell, there's even a reasonable amount of tension as the handful of survivors put into action an ingenious plan involving walkie talkies.

The acting is passable for this kind of nonsense (even Qualls), writer director Justin Harding injects just the right amount of humour, and the special effects - a mix of CGI and practical - are fairly impressive, the pumpkin scuttling along on its tendrils, which it also uses to impale and dismember its victims.

I rate Carved 6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

I'll preface this by saying floral apocalypse fiction is my favourite science fiction, and comedy horror is a favourite genre of mine.

I adored this movie, there were obvious themes of anthropogenic environmental devastation, which was definitely blooming by the early 90s. We were left wondering who the real villain was after all, a killer pumpkin, or a species whose every holiday revolves around killing plants or animals (Halloween: pumpkins, Christmas: pine trees, Thanksgiving: turkeys). We are a species who cannot subsist without killing, and this movie was a fun and delightfully gruesome commentary on that.

Characters were developed as thoroughly as a 1.5hr movie had time for. A few fresh takes on the interactions between main characters.

Really enjoyable comedy horror 😊

Dont recommend. Skip this, do michael myers stuff, this is not a silly haha but kind of a off brand horror halloween night and meaningless killing. I wasnt attached to anyone, they gave us 15 mins of etting to know people then them being chased for the rest with everyone being weak, a druggy corn seller guy with a weak brain. A main character cool girl with her little brother. Kind of gross tentacles from the pumpkin in moments.. This would be fine as a backround movie, and maybe that is why it still has a slightly slow pace feeling. Interesting villain not sure how you would get a strong tentacle monster, other than how they attempted.

Carved is an ultra cheesy attempt to exploit our love for any type of holiday related horror.

But it's kind of mid.

It has it's moments.

And a certain charm.

With filmmaker Justin Harding at least taking a stab at making a cool monster, using traditional effects (though CGI is used at parts).

It's got some good laughs.

And a few instances of sweet gore.

But you can tell it's been tailored toward teenagers, with it's childish humour.

The crux of the plot revolves around a chemical spill in a small town, that has saturated the local farmland, and caused pumpkins to mutate into sentient, spider-like beasts.

Though, they aren't exactly malevolent creatures, per se.

Just loving parents that will resort to murder when they feel their family and friends are threatened.

They say two wrongs don't make a right.

But here, it seems one massacre makes up for another.

In the end, it's entertaining enough to keep you engaged.

Just not in a way that is particularly memorable.

4 out of 10.

I love all types of horror movies, scary movies, monster movies, thrillers, etc. I even love and appreciate low budget and campy attempts. I appreciate them bc you can tell the work, thought and love they put into it.. None of that for this. It was a mess. Bad writing. Horrible premise and story line.. and a big thing here: if you can't find a decent kid actor to play the big role in the film, than cut the damn role!! I'm really sorry, but I hope he stays in school. I can't believe that no one on crew or set mentioned that they should make a change. And he shouldn't feel too bad bc the rest of the cast was weak. Especially the one who played the older sister and the boyfriend. Just a real #%*! Cake.

I would have given 0-1 but there were some great slasher kills in this flick. Not all kills were great, or even good. But there is a stretch in the act that has some good kill.

Do yourself a favor and find something else. I watched it so you don't have to.