Le Masque d'Halloween

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 film was very hard to rate. For a low budget horror flick, it wasn't bad, but it could have been so much better.

First, it spent entirely too much time with the actors just acing stupid. Lots of hot girls running around, but the guys were just plain dumb. It wasted a lot of time that could have been spent on horror. After all, it is a Halloween slasher film.

The old man was one of the best parts of the film. Now, he was really creepy. Lance (David Austin) and his buds were just like Draco Malfoy and his crew. You just wanted them to get their due.

The pissing on the head bit was certainly original - and funny.

Less silliness and more slashing.

Nothing too over the top here, "The Pumpkin Karver" simply tries to deliver a lot more then it actually can. Robert Mann directs this strait to video ooompus that attempts to out smart it's target audience, but flattens out like a Halloween pumpkin on November 2nd. The cinematography is above average yet the acting is below crap, less the always sensational Terrence Evans as the creepy old guy. The plot is stupid and has far too many holes to be taken seriously, add the token slasher movie characters and what you are left with is a mushy mess of pumpkin guts with no real soul... Although many of the gore scenes are decent, several others are too amateurish to be taken any other way but laughable. The females are quite beautiful but unfortunately cannot act, or at least cannot deliver this ridiculous dialog with any real effect. I've certainly seen much worse but there are multitudes of better no- budget indie slasher flicks out there. Good for a free rental pick when you've seen all the other bottom shelf slasher films at least twice.

"Low budget" is not a valid excuse for a lousy film. Some great films have been products of extremely low budgets. This is not one of them.

Quick plot summary: Halloween night, sister's boyfriend pretends he's a masked murderer. Sister doesn't get the joke and screams for help. Young brother arrives with blade in hand and viciously attacks assailant. Shoot forward one year, sister and brother are moving to a new town and attend a locals' Halloween party on a pumpkin farm. As the evening progresses, so does the body count.

The villain's mask in this film is above average in the grotesque category and was pretty effective. Amy Weber and Minka Kelly are gorgeous. A couple of interesting plot twists.

Now for the bad: 4000 plot holes! Albeit, the masked-serial murderer has been (pardon the pun) done to death, but this film had potential to be a decent Halloween flick. Unfortunately, it is all presented in a choppy, careless manner that not even its gratuitous (and extremely brief) bare breast scene could assist in saving.

Amy Weber and Minka Kelly are gorgeous, though.

The Pumpkin Carver is yet another one of the recent attempts to apply the tried and true slasher formula. And as so many do, this movie fails to deliver. The plot is plain stupid as are most of the stock characters. You have the fragile hero (whiney is more like it), the drugged out party dudes (annoying as hell), and the token asshole jock type. These are the party-people, and yes, they are destined to get killed.

The movie would have us believe that some evil pumpkin carver is killing kids at a Halloween party.....in a pumpkin patch! Actually, the movie can't find a plausible reason why this thing is killing kids. The premise is very confused and ultimately hurts the movie. The ending is plain awful....I still don't know what really happened.

The kills were low budget all the way, which is unfortunate given the polished look of the film in general. Really not an ounce of clever to be found here. And as one reviewer has pointed out, no nudity despite saying otherwise on the box.

One bright spot was Minka Kelly, a pouty lipped poor man's Jessica Alba. She was stunning and I anticipate seeing a lot more of her. Overall, I say avoid the Pumpkin Carver.