HallowScream - The Life and Death of a Pumpkin (2006)

       Hey guys, Chuck here. The Life and Death of a Pumpkin is a 2006 short film directed by Aaron Yonda and produced by BlameSociety, the same creative team behind Chad Vader. 

      The short is told, in first-person narration, from the perspective of a pumpkin. It details the process of being taken from the pumpkin patch, taken to a home, cut open, gutted, carved into a Jack-o'-lantern, placed on a porch with a little candle inside of it on Halloween night, and being nabbed by teens who take it to the middle of nowhere to smash it to bits. 

       The humor of the short is in how the pumpkin narrates in excruciating detail the fear of being taken from the pumpkin patch and the pain of being cut and carved up, and being set outside as a Jack-o'-lantern, and finally feels the relief of freedom from its pain and suffering when it's smashed into many pieces. And, what makes it even more hilarious is in how Matt Sloan provides the narration as the voice of the pumpkin in a mostly deadpan nature. 

      What's additionally brilliant with The Life and Death of a Pumpkin is the cinematography. While we do see humans throughout the short, the camera is always aimed specifically at the pumpkin itself, and rarely is there a camera angle that doesn't have the pumpkin in focus. Add to that that the audio is only in the narration, the music, and the occasional groans of pain coming from the pumpkin, and this is what makes The Life and Death of a Pumpkin so brilliant. In fact, the short actually won the award for Best Short Film and Best Concept at the 2006 Chicago Horror Film Festival. And, a few years later, Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda produced a standalone sequel, which we will be looking over in December. 

        All in all, I definitely recommend hopping onto YouTube and checking out The Life and Death of a Pumpkin. It's a lot of fun, and it's a neat reinterpretation of what most see as a mundane but enjoyable tradition of Halloween: picking a pumpkin to carve into a Jack-o'-lantern. 

      Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and next on HallowScream, we'll be looking at The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

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