It’s kind of sad that “Blood Wings” is about as good as the series ever got. Surely the first film is good just as it is, but “Blood Wings” is about the only good sequel the movie series ever received, and I’m surprised the studios never sought to deliver higher quality follow-ups. You could technically count this as the final film in the series, and one that doesn’t completely realize the concept or expand on the mythos of the pumpkinhead monster. “Blood Wings” garners a smaller scale and much less logical tale about a dad wreaking havoc on the killers of his child, and focuses more on a witch, more reckless teens, and really awful performances all around.
In 1958 a local deformed young boy named Tommy is tormented by a group of teenagers, all of whom torture him before murdering him in cold blood. Many years later in the same town, Sheriff Sean Braddock arrives with his wife and daughter to take over the job as the new sheriff. Meanwhile his rebellious daughter gets in with a group of wild kids, one of whom is related to one of the murderers of Tommy, thirty years before. While cruising one night in his car, the teens run over an old woman named Ms. Osie. Upon exploring her run down cabin, they learn she’s actually a witch, and despite her attempts to thwart their curiosity, they resurrect pumpkin head, leaving her to burn alive in her home.
Pumpkin head is now back from hell and is on the hunt for those that murdered the Tommy many years before as well as their descendents that killed Ms. Osie. “Blood Wings” is a mostly lukewarm horror movie which plays on the entire concept of the sins of the father coming back to haunt the children. Pumpkinhead is still a wildly imaginative monster but one with not much to do in his own movie. The beast merely lumbers and stomps around and magically popping up in every corner to destroy his victims with brute strength. Its powers and speed are never fully fleshed out, thus it seems to just appear at wildly convenient moments to move the narrative along. “Blood Wings” is surely not the follow up that the first film should have earned, but it’s at least better than “Ashes to Ashes” and “Blood Feud.” That’s a consolation, however minute.
The Blu-Ray features a commentary with Director Jeff Burr, who discusses with great detail about the film, and other aspects of his career. He also discusses working in the film industry as a whole, and what can be surprising as a working director. There’s an hour long interview with Jeff Burr, who discusses his life and his career in great detail; the segment plays out like a quality retrospective of director Burr. “Recreating the Monster” is a thirty minute special effects extra featuring interviews with Greg Nicotero, Gino Crognale and Mark McCracken. Finally there’s seventeen minutes of Behind the Scenes footage.