The Pumpkin Karver

I saw this movie in the theater on it's opening night (a preview). I've got to say, it has a very creative plot twist right out of the gate which I think sets it aside from most of the low budget, predictable horror flicks. There are a lot of fun, weird kill scenes (my favorite killing is the guy who gets it at the pumpkin patch). Okay, so we're not seeing any big movie stars running around in this movie, but you can't gage a horror movie on it's star power. It's a low budget hack and slasher but it's right up there with all the other low budget hack and slashers. I believe this movie has the potential to become one of those popular, underground horror flicks. A nice rental...

This was not a bad movie. Some of it was predictable but so what. I liked the idea and for Halloween it's a good offer. Teen slashers are always produced with the same thought. Good looking young actors, girls in skimpy outfits, screaming, and blood and guts. This one doesn't let you down. However, there were some victims I could hardly wait for their demise, they were that annoying. Won't go into the story as that has been reviewed enough. I did like the old man who was stalking and making himself menacing. I also liked Michael Zara. Sort of reminded me of the guy who plays superman on TV. He had a hard part to play and did a fairly good job. Plus he's a good looker on top. The sister annoyed me. Also the girl friend who screams very well. And that's about it. I give it a 2 for the old man and Zara.

In the Halloween in West Minister, the teenager Lynn Starks (Amy Weber) is attacked by a man wearing a pumpkin face mask in the basement of her house. Her younger brother Jonathan Starks (Michael Zara) is carving a pumpkin in his room and hears her sister crying for help. He uses the knife to protect his sister, stabbing the assaulter. When they take the mask off his face, they realize that the man is Lynn's boyfriend Alec (David J. Wright) playing a prank on Lynn.

One year later, the siblings are living in Carver, and they are invited to a Halloween party in the field. Lynn introduces her friend Tammy (Minka Kelly) to her brother, who is haunted by Alec, and Jonathan stays with Tammy. However, her former boyfriend Lance (David Austin) bullies Jonathan along the night. Meanwhile several youngsters are attacked by the Pumpkin Face that carves their faces.

"The Pumpkin Karver" is a film with terrible story, characters, direction and acting. The plot is unoriginal and full of clichés; there are several slashers very similar to "The Pumpkin Karver", but the conclusion is awful. The characters are stupid and non-charismatic and the two guys dressed in white are annoying and unbearable. The direction and the acting are bad, and Michael Zara is very weak in the lead role. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Pumpkin Karver, a Nova Face do Terror" ("Pumpkin Karver, the New Face of Terror")

This movie begins with a teenager by the name of "Jonathan Starks" (Michael Zara) sitting at the dining room table on Halloween night carving a pumpkin. Also at home with him is his older sister "Lynn Starks" (Amy Weber) who is waiting for her boyfriend "Alec" (David J. Wright). Upon getting there he essentially acts like a jerk and is told by Lynn to come back later. Sometime later, a man wearing a pumpkin mask, sneaks into the house and attacks Lynn with a knife. Jonathan hears her screams and kills the intruder with the knife he was using to make a jack-o-lantern. However, it's only after stabbing him multiple times that both Lynn and Jonathan realize that the intruder was Alec playing a prank. The scene then shifts to one year later with Jonathan having undergone counseling and now moving with his sister to another town to start a new life. Upon arriving they are greeted by several people including one older man named "Ben Wicket" (Terrence Evans) who appears to have some emotional issues of his own. Likewise, another young man by the name of "Lance" (David Austin) also quickly develops a disliking to Jonathan due to his former girlfriend, "Tammy" (Minka Kelly) showing a romantic interest in him-and trouble soon starts not long afterward. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started off pretty well and showed some good potential. Unfortunately, the director (Robert Mann) seemed to lose control after the first 30 minutes or so and the plot went seriously off the rails after that. Along with that, I didn't especially care for the acting on the part of Michael Zara who seemed totally inadequate for the task at hand. On the other hand, I thought both Amy Webber and Minka Kelly performed reasonably well as did Charity Shea (as "Rachel") to a lesser degree. Even so, it wasn't enough to overcome the flaws just mentioned and I have rated this film accordingly. Below average.

I always like an Halloween themed movie. I am always on the lookout for them. Despite being 18 years old, i had never heard of this one until a few years ago wich i stumble across it randomly on some "website" if you know what i mean. I had it in my Halloween season backlog for a few years and finally decided to have a go.

Lets start by the good. The movie happen all on Halloween and does feature several carved pumpkins. Costumes are rather lame but at least peoples are costumed. The actresses are for the most part fairly attractives. Yup... think it sum it up.

Sure this movie is very low budget but there is no excuse for the mess that it is. First of all there is so much time spent with characters dialogues that could had gone to stalking or killing. The movies has a ton of characters and just forget about some of them. As in litterally they don't even die or participate in the "horror parts".

Speaking of characters, this movie has some of the worst ones i seen in a long time. Loud, obnoxious, annoying to an insane degree, especially the 2 in the white robes, you wish they would be written off as early as possible.

Amy Weber plays one of the few decent character. I remember her from WWE Diva Search and i know she done a few movies but i am not familiar with them. Minka Kelly altough never getting an A status achieved some popularity over the years and was the other character i cared for. The rest were absolutely horribles.

They try to establish some kind of romance between the main male character and Minka's (Tammy if i recall correctly) but it feel so off, as in why would she care about this weirdo? You never feel a reason why she would be attracted to him.

The movie goes the mystery masked man route and have us playing the guessing game, but the payoff was not satisfactory at all.

The kills themselves were for the most part started on-screen but finished off-screen, probably for budget restrain. There is a few post-mortem gore but its not enough to justify enduring the rest.

Overall this is a VERY mediocre movie. I juggled between a 3 and a 4, but ultimately this is not "slightly below average". Its worst. Im sure i will rate other movies a 4 that i will have enjoy way better.

Its possible to make a good horror movie on a tight budget (first Terrifier comes to mind). And if i would judge only the kills and horror i wouldn't be so harsh. But there is no excuse for these terrible obnoxious characters and for not showcasing more kills/horror/stalking instead of lame dialogues and juvenile terrible "jokes". And the general plot is nothing special or original.

So yeah 3 out of 10... can't go higher.