Punkinhaid

From Bloodydisgusting, "the first exclusive pictures from PUMPKINHEAD: ASHES TO ASHES, currently shooting in Romania under the direction of Jake (EVIL ALIENS) West. The film is a direct sequel to the 1988 original, effectively sidelining 1994’s PUMPKINHEAD II: BLOOD WINGS, and sees the return to the franchise of Lance Henriksen as the ghost of his character from the first film, Ed Harley.

British actress Lynne Verrall, under heavy makeup, plays Haggis, the old crone who can raise the vengeful demon, while Bunt Wallace, the teenager who led Harley to the witch, is now grown up and played by TV actor Douglas Roberts (who recently wrapped another monster film, ATTACK OF THE GRYPHON). The story centres around Doc Frasier (played by horror icon Doug Bradley, pictured below), an eccentric small-town physician with a sideline in unauthorized organ donation.

Bradley has become an old hand at Romanian-lensed sequels, having already made THE PROPHECY: UPRISING, HELLRAISER: DEADER and HELLRAISER: HELLWORLD (which also starred Henriksen). West previously worked with Bradley when he directed the extras for Anchor Bay’s HELLRAISER box set, and there is another connection in that the Pumpkinhead suit (originally designed by Stan Winston) has been created this time by Gary Tunnicliffe, who provided special makeup for the later HELLRAISER sequels.

ASHES TO ASHES is shooting back to back with PUMPKINHEAD: LOVE HURTS (they were announced as PUMPKINHEAD 3 and 4, but it has now been decided to drop the numbers from the titles). This film retains Henriksen’s ghostly presence and has the same crew, including Tunnicliffe’s FX team and cinematographer Erik Alexander (BROKEN) Wilson, but is directed by Mike (ROOM 6) Hurst, helming his fourth horror feature in 12 months. LOVE HURTS is a more darkly comic tale than West’s film, with Pumpkinhead introduced into a plot modeled on ROMEO AND JULIET (!).

When Fango visited the set last week, Hurst explained the franchise’s appeal: “Pumpkinhead’s a cool archetypal horror character. There’s a very elaborate mythology around him. The first film is an excellent morality play, and I like the complication involved with the summoner feeling like he’s in the right, then realizing that revenge is not the best option and violence begets violence. That makes it somewhat deeper than your standard stalk-and-slash movie. Plus, it’s a great creature, a great design. If you’re making a monster movie, you want to have a good monster!”

ASHES TO ASHES will be shown on the Sci Fi Channel in October, with LOVE HURTS following in 2007; limited theatrical releases are also being considered. Look for more on the new PUMPKINHEADs in the pages of Fango later this year; Hurst and Henriksen will both be attending the Burbank Weekend of Horrors convention June 2-4."