As silly and fun as a killer pumpkin can be Cinemax
A few years ago, I ate pumpkin. Although it has many health benefits, it didn’t taste good, so the overall experience was pretty bad. So when I recently heard about a horror movie called “Carved,” whose heroine (or should we say villain) is a pumpkin that comes to life after a chemical accident and starts slaughtering people, I realized I had to see it to give it a second chance. At worst, the movie will disgust me so much that I’ll continue to avoid pumpkins. At best, we might have a silly but enjoyable horror movie that makes me try pumpkin again — because horror movies are notorious for having these nutritional effects.
“Carved from horror giant Hulu has received quite a few reviews so far, ranging from negative to reasonable. Even if you accept that it’s hard to take a movie with such a stupid plot seriously, it has a lot of problems – plot-wise, effects-wise, humor-wise, and more. What’s surprising is that I found it quite enjoyable for several reasons, as the following review shows.
A Pumpkin is Born as a Short Film
“Carved” is above all a project of Justin Harding, who directed the film and wrote the screenplay, alongside Cheryl Meyer. Both of these names are unknown to the average horror fan. Yet in what little Harding has done so far — a resume that mostly includes TV series episodes and short films — he’s shown his penchant for monsters, at least as far as small budgets allow.
Another of Harding’s affections probably involves pumpkins. “Carved” is based on a short film of the same name that he wrote and directed in 2018 for “Huluween,” Hulu’s horror programming festival. The film, about five minutes long, features a farmer who finds a creepy pumpkin that annoys crows and cuts off its stem. A child decides to buy this “disgusting” pumpkin, according to his helpless father, who soon begins carving it into a jack-o-lantern (that is, a pumpkin that has been emptied of its contents and carved into the shape of a menacing face with a candle or other lighting device inside). The problem is that this “murder” somewhat annoys the pumpkin, which turns out to be a monster. Without spoilers, this monster will present its version of jack-o-lantern, which this time will not be. be done pumpkin.
If you have five minutes to spare, you can watch the entire “Carved” short here:
This fairly basic idea has a delicate mission: to become a feature-length horror film of around an hour and a half. A simple calculation I did with the Windows calculator shows that we need to add almost an hour and a half here, and the filmmakers have gone in an interesting direction.
What is the plot of the sculpted horror film?
The plot of “Carved” takes place on Halloween night 1993, in a small village called “Cider Creek”. Everything seems fine in this peaceful town, where a pumpkin festival is taking place is planned for children, culminating in a pumpkin carving competition. A reporter named AJ (Elvis Nolasco of the TV series “Godfather of Harlem” and “American Crime,” who stars in another recent Hulu horror film, “Mr. Crocket”) arrives with his small team to cover the occasion. What interests the journalist is a train accident that occurred a few years ago in the small town, which caused a chemical leak, destabilized the lives of many families and affected the village in other ways.
You may have already figured out what one of the possible consequences of chemicals coming into contact with a pumpkin is, but even if you haven’t, the characters will soon figure it out.
The characters in “Carved” are a fairly large group of unfortunates who find themselves trapped on a farm after the pumpkin – picked up by a sleazy guy dressed as corn (the hilarious Matty Cardarople, “Jurassic World”, “Free Guy” and the TV series “A Series of Unfortunate Events”), and carved during a competition by another guy sordid (Jackson Kelly from the TV series “Chucky”), comes back to life and starts killing.
This group includes main protagonist Kira (Peyton Elizabeth Lee of the TV series “Andy”), director and creator of a play performed at the festival, who naturally dreams of reaching more prestigious territories. One of the players in the play is Kira’s boyfriend, Cody (Corey Fogelmanis of “Girl Meets World” and the solid horror film “MA”), a guy who soon becomes more focused on his career.
We also meet Kira’s little brother, Trevor (Wyatt Lindner, currently appearing in the horror film AfrAId, part of a series of films dealing with dangerous smart homes), who is secretly in love with another actress in the play’s cast, a beautiful girl named Maddie (Sasha Mason, in one of her earlier roles), who enjoys playing the flute and memorizing Fascinating anecdotes, especially about pumpkins.
Also at the farm you’ll find festival director Bill (the adorable DJ Qualls, who got his start in silly teen comedies in the early 2000s and has since built an impressive CV, mostly on television), who is having a secret but very transparent homosexual relationship with his assistant, Kevin (Marc Sully Saint-Fleur). There are a few other characters, like a military veteran, but that doesn’t matter because most will probably die. This happens when time is short, the work is heavy, the location is relatively limited, and there are too many characters.
Here is the trailer for the horror film “Carved”:
Meet the Killer Pumpkin (Spider?)!
A horror movie about a killer pumpkin might seem like a stupid idea. It’s really stupid, just like the movie. Nevertheless, you have to remember that we are talking about a pumpkin here and not, for example, a cucumber, broccoli or cauliflower, so there is a closer connection to horror.
We have to wonder how you choose to present the spooky sides of the pumpkin, and there are a few. If, in the short film, we see a more monstrous villain, like a demon. In the feature film, the monster from the movie Carved looks more like… a pumpkin spideras one of the characters says. I can
The creature does its job design-wise, even if it seems more disgusting than scary: I personally don’t think it should scare you. but we have already seen that some people suffer from fear of fruit, so God knows. “More disgusting than scary” is a perfect term to describe the film itself, which very quickly moves in the direction of a horror comedy, with plenty of gore in between. Some jokes don’t work and others are too childish, but there are still a few moments in the film that made me smile.
Concerning the horror or the dimensions of disgust, the direction is more childish, in my opinion. “Carved” is not necessarily a horror film aimed at children who take their first steps into the world of horror through their parents, but rather at teenagers or older people who like silly films (oops!).
There are instances where the film’s low budget is less noticeable, such as in the effects which tend to be solid. In other cases, some look much less impressive to say the least (mainly cases where they chose to use computer animation). Unlike some other low budget films that started out as a short, I didn’t feel like they wasted time here, which is a plus.
Are you trying to take Carved seriously? Good luck
You don’t need to be an expert on Halloween to assume that part of the story here is the creators’ criticism of the holiday’s customs, which could be motivated by a variety of reasons (e.g., harming helpless plants). If, in “Trick r’ Treat”, the demon Sam punishes anyone who does not observe the customs of the holidays, the story is different.
It is quickly discovered that the main victims are people who participated in the pumpkin carving contest, derived pleasure from it (the film alludes to the physical pleasure of the act of carving, perhaps even sexual satisfaction), and damaged the pumpkins. The pumpkins, especially the one that had suffered a chemical injury, quickly became angry with them. Because who loves to be carved in the shape of a scary face, except for all those celebrities who inject everything that moves into their face, or Michael Jackson?
Like many films of recent years, the fact that it all started with a chemical accident probably says something ecological. Sure, there’s a treatment of relevant current issues here, like a same-sex relationship between a white man and a black man, but the film handles the subject delicately and naturally, as it should in 2025.
Obviously, in the case of a horror movie about a fucking pumpkin that kills people, it’s hard to talk about logic. However, there are still some serious gaps in the storyline, as well as instances where the characters cling to the fact that they are in a horror movie and act stupidly. Some characters are annoying, as you would expect, including some of the main characters we are meant to sympathize with. On the other hand, others stand out or appear sympathetic despite the problematic storyline or dialogue, ranging from ridiculous to plausible.
The chemistry between some characters is problematic, including some who are meant to be close or in love, and that’s a problem. Also. On the other hand, I am somewhat forgiving of this type of problems in films of this type. Silly horror movies aren’t where you’d usually find chemistry, story, acting, or decent human relationships.
Should you watch Carved?
It’s hard to say that “Carved” is a successful filmAnd you it should not be taken seriously. He can also be relatively consistent with his reviews, which, as mentioned, tend to be unfavorable to mediocre. Still, if you’re looking for a horror movie to watch in the evening, one that manages to be silly but to some extent also funny and disgusting, you can give “Carved” a chance.
Even if “Carved” probably won’t become cult like some of the other films we’ve discussed here, it’s quite enjoyable, sometimes bordering on “so bad it’s good.” Watching it won’t kill you, apart from a few moments of disgust, and it might even help your brain, which can rest from the challenges of everyday life. It’s like eating pumpkin, right?
