eginning in almost the exact same way as the previous Pumpkinhead film, this fourth and final installment opens with a chase as the brutal, titular monster stalks its prey through the woods. This time, however, the victims are on motorcycles – and the violence has grown a hair more complex, as an impressive decapitation awaits one of the riders. Once again, the primary antagonist has been resurrected to exact revenge on wrongdoers – and is physically linked to the summoner, just as it is unstoppably drawn to its targets.

“No McCoy is gonna have a peaceful wedding … as long as there is Hatfields around.” Five years after the events of the opening scene (involving Dallas Pope [Rob Freeman], who is now the town sheriff), a McCoy wedding reception turns into the latest battleground for the perpetual feud with the Hatfield clan (originally started by an incident with a car). Jodie Hatfield (Amy Manson) doesn’t want the fighting to continue, but a group of rowdy siblings are intent on causing trouble. Jodie is the only voice of reason in her family; the rest are too prideful and bitter to let bygones be bygones. “You just wanna see the best in them.”

As it turns out, young Ricky McCoy (Bradley Taylor) is also fed up with the ceaseless contention – and he’s in love with Jodie. But it’s a terribly forbidden union. And when Sarah McCoy (Maria Roman) is killed while serving as the lookout for one of the star-crossed lovers’ rendezvouses, Ricky seeks help from the local witch, Haggis (Lynne Verrall), who knows of only one otherworldly solution.

The Pumpkinhead series has always been something along the lines of hillbilly horror, focusing on rural areas, campfire tales, vindictive witchcraft, and isolated and technologically deficient communities. It’s a unique angle for supernatural thrills, though the quality of each subsequent entry hardly justifies yet another sequel. Here, bringing the historical West Virginia-Kentucky families into the storyline, along with the Romeo and Juliet romance, is marginally interesting, creating a fitting setting and players. But the script itself struggles with originality; there’s nothing fresh about a bunch of people getting slashed to pieces by a klutzy giant … for the fourth time now in this franchise.

Unlike its direct predecessor, “Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud” doesn’t employ irritating color manipulation gimmicks to force a visual dinginess. Instead, it maintains a mediocre look throughout, frequently basking the monster in too much light or finding graininess in nighttime shots. And the CG-augmented scenes are equally unconvincing, especially those that utilize a computer model for the hulking behemoth. Once again, the practical effects and makeup are most amusing, even when Pumpkinhead appears as an ungainly man-in-a-suit.

Sticking to the tone of the previous chapters, comic relief is virtually nonexistent – save for the unintentional humor of shoddy filmmaking. One such sequence arrives as an incredibly graphic yet poetically justified death in which a McCoy lays a bear trap, reminiscing about a time when he watched a bear chew off its leg to escape one, only to fall into his very own trap and have to amputate his leg. It should be appalling; but it’s laughable. Fortunately, as a change-up from the previous picture, a notable protagonist appears, giving audiences someone to get behind. And Amy Manson is a surprisingly decent actress for this kind of Z-grade production; she may scream and cry a lot, but it’s still better than the outrageously bad acting of the supporting cast, many of whom are dubbed poorly – probably because of the Romanian shoot and lack of budget for English-speaking extras.

– Mike Massie