Warning: spoilers for Hulu’s Carved.
Hulu’s dark horror comedyCarvedhas a one-of-a-kind killer, but despite the silliness of the character and the premise, there are some pretty brutal kills. In 2018, Justin Harding’s short filmCarvedwon Huluween’s short film festival, and now, six years later, it has a feature-length adaptation.Carvedtakes viewers back to Halloween 1993, at Cedar Creek Pioneer Village, a “living museum” in Maine with special activities for everyone to celebrate Halloween, including a stage play and a carving contest.
When a local man finds a strange and unusually big pumpkin, he takes it to the village and his friend decides to use it for the carving contest. However,this turns out to be a mutant pumpkin, and it comes to life during the contest, ready for revenge. The killer pumpkin targets the contestants and proves to be a much smarter and more cruel threat than it seems, as it listens to everything, uses different objects as weapons, and grows branches and tendrils to kill. As a result,Carvedhas a high kill count, but there’s one death the killer pumpkin isn’t responsible for.
10Barbara
Barbara Was Kira’s Friend & Part Of The Theater Group
The group of survivors inCarvedwas led by Kira (Elizabeth Peyton Lee), a young playwright and leader of the village’s theater group. Among them was Barbara (Carla Jimenez), a friend of Kira who also served as stage manager.Barbara wasn’t part of the carving contest, so, in theory, she should have been sparedby the killer pumpkin – unfortunately, Barbara wasn’t meant to survive the chaotic events of Halloween 1993 in the village. Kira, her boyfriend Cody (Corey Fogelmanis), her brother Trevor (Wyatt Lindner), and Barbara found a way to escape when they came across the Corn Wagon, so they got on it and drove away.
Carved Cast & Character Guide
Hulu’s Carved is a horror comedy with a killer pumpkin, and its cast is formed by some well-known Disney stars along with old and new talents.
However, sleeping inside the Wagon was Clint (Matty Cardarople), the son of the owner of the Corn Wagon. Clint was very high and thought everyone was joking about the killer pumpkin, and told them to move over and let him drive the Corn Wagon before they wrecked it. However, the killer pumpkin caught up with them and Clint crashed the Wagon.Barbara was severely injured, with a knife on her chest, and after some last words to Kira, she passed away next to the Wagon.
9Clint’s Father
Clint’s Father Was The Owner Of The Corn Wagon
Clint’s father (Chris Elliott) was the owner of the Corn Wagon, and he had some strict rules for Clint on how to drive the Wagon. Clint’s father didn’t appear much inCarved, except when he was fixing the Wagon at the beginning and in the third act when Kira ran to his farm for help. Clint’s father was pointing his shotgun at Kira, thinking she was a trespasser, but when she told him what was going on, he simply laughed at the absurdity of the story.
When the killer pumpkin appeared behind Kira, Clint’s father understood she wasn’t joking, especially as the pumpkin was using Clint’s body as a puppet. Clint’s father tried to shoot the pumpkin, but the pumpkin was, once more, smarter, andit took the shotgun and redirected it to Clint’s father’s head, shooting him and killing him instantly.
8Wes
Wes Took The Pumpkin To The Contest
The killer pumpkin’s very first victim was Clint’s friend and Corn Wagon colleague, Wes (Jackson Kelly). Wes was already high when Clint arrived in the Wagon with the pumpkin, and asked Clint if he could take the pumpkin to the carving contest, and Clint didn’t oppose. Because he was already flying high, Wes took a bit longer to start carving, but the pumpkin reacted quickly once Wes was about to begin. The pumpkin grew tendrils with which it grabbed Wes’ wrists, keeping him from using the knife, and some thin branches through which it literally got under Wes’ skin.
With the help of another tendril, the killer pumpkin held Wes’ head and titled it back, andused Wes’ own hand with the knife to cut Wes’ throat. It’s not shown if the pumpkin decapitated Wes, so it’s implied that it cut its throat and left him bleeding out on the floor. As high as Wes was at that moment, it was still a very painful death.
7Unnamed Contestants & AJ’s Cameraman
The Killer Pumpkin Got Creative Very Fast
Wes’ death was just a warm-up for the killer pumpkin, as it immediately went after the contestants next to Wes.First was the guy to Wes’ left, who the pumpkin decapitated with its tendril, followed by the contestant to Wes’ right, who the pumpkin immobilized by stabbing his hands on the table and then pulled his hair back and scalped him. Next was another contestant who ran away, but the pumpkin grabbed a knife and threw it at him, stabbing him in the face.
While some of these deaths were somewhat creative, they are less shocking and impactful to the story than others.
Another contestant (Claire, according to Barbara) was also caught by the pumpkin while running away. While hanging upside down, the pumpkin wrapped its tendrils around her, and thoughCarveddoesn’t show what happened to her,parts of her body flew toward Trevor. Next was AJ’s cameraman, who was stabbed by the pumpkin’s tendril on the back of his head and through his head, killing him instantly. While some of these deaths were somewhat creative, they are less shocking and impactful to the story than others.
6Arthur
Arthur Got An Unexpected Death
Among the initial group of survivors was Arthur (Ted Ferguson), a war veteran who tried to use his experience in the war to keep himself and the rest safe – the only problem was that Arthur was also visibly affected by the war, and sometimes he didn’t make much sense. Still, Arthur did his best to help and stop the rest (particularly Shane) from fighting, which only made his death sadder. While hiding in a barn and trying to make sense of what was happening, Arthur was talking about how they had to stay calm and together when the killer pumpkin heard him.
The pumpkin slightly opened the barn’s door and attacked Arthur with a tendril.The pumpkin stabbed Arthur and cut his abdomen, letting some of his organs fall. Unfortunately, the rest could only cover his body with a blanket and had to move on, as the killer pumpkin knew they were hiding there.
5AJ
AJ Only Wanted To Take Advantage Of The Village’s Previous Tragedy
The killer pumpkin’s preferred killing method was stabbing with its tendrils, and it used it again with AJ (Elvis Nolasco). AJ was a news reporter covering the Halloween events in the village, but he kept bringing up the chemical spill, even though Bill (DJ Qualls) told him they wouldn’t talk about it. AJ had no respect for Bill and the village, and he even tried to use the killer pumpkin’s murder spree to his advantage and paint himself as a hero, but he failed miserably.
AJ took the camera that his companion dropped and attempted to find and kill the pumpkin while catching all this on camera. Of course, the pumpkin was a lot smarter and took AJ by surprise, stabbing him in the back. The pumpkin lifted AJ and repeatedly stabbed him with another tendril holding a knife beforewrapping a tendril around his neck and decapitating him.
4Bill
Bill Died Trying To Save Kevin
Bill was the village’s general manager, so as the organizer of everything, the pumpkin had him on its list. Bill stayed safe for most ofCarveduntil Kevin (Marc Sully Saint-Fleur) made an honest mistake with the walkie-talkies that made the pumpkin realize they had been tricking it. Knowing that the pumpkin was going after Kevin, Bill left the group and ran to Kevin’s hiding spot, where they faced the killer pumpkin together.
This death is especially cruel as Bill and Kevin were a couple, so not only did the pumpkin figuratively rip Bill’s heart out when he killed Kevin but it also literally did it.
The first one to be killed was Kevin, and the pumpkin used its favorite method to kill Bill but with a gory twist.The pumpkin stabbed Bill in the back with one of its tendrils, but it ripped his heart out in the process, dropping it next to Kevin’s head. This death is especially cruel as Bill and Kevin were a couple, so not only did the pumpkin figuratively rip Bill’s heart out when he killed Kevin but it also literally did it.
3Kevin
Kevin Truly Fought To Survive
Kevin was caught by the pumpkin before he could reach the barn where the group first hid, and he was believed to have been killed. However, Bill and the rest were surprised when Kevin contacted them through Bill’s walkie-talkie, telling them he was hiding in another building. Kevin was severely injured on one of his legs, but he did what he could to help the rest by throwing walkie-talkies all over the village to distract the pumpkin.
Kevin’s death is not shown but it’s heard through one of the walkie-talkies.
As mentioned above, an honest mistake by him led the pumpkin to him, and not even Bill could help him. Kevin’s death is not shown but it’s heard through one of the walkie-talkies, and it was pretty brutal.The killer pumpkin cut Kevin’s head off, and it probably tortured him in other ways as well, all this in front of Bill.
2Shane
Shane’s Death Was A Result Of His Ego
Shane (Jonah Lees) was part of Kira’s theater group, but he was very loud, aggressive, and didn’t follow the rules. As much as everyone told him to lower his voice and shut up, Shane was too loud, and that almost led to them being caught by the killer pumpkin. Shane didn’t care about anyone but himself, and that mentality is what led to his horrible death. When Cody finally got the keys to his truck, the remaining survivors ran to the truck, but when Cody struggled to open the door, Shane pushed him away and tried it himself.
There was an extra level of torture in Shane’s death.
The killer pumpkin arrived and stopped Shane from opening the door, wrapping its tendrils around his neck and wrists, cutting his right hand off.The pumpkin then put Shane’s bloodied right arm down his throat, choking him. There was an extra level of torture in Shane’s death, which might have been the result of all the mockery he made and that the pumpkin definitely heard.
1Clint
The most brutal kill inCarvedis definitely that of Clint. After crashing the Corn Wagon, Clint was caught by the pumpkin and dragged to the outside of his house, which was decorated with carved pumpkins. Clint tried and failed to save himself by telling the killer pumpkin that they love pumpkins and carving them was a form of celebration. Of course, the killer pumpkin didn’t fall for that, and it went straight for Clint’s face.
Carved’s Ending Is A Direct Reference To The 2018 Short Film (But With A Better Twist)
Hulu’s horror comedy Carved borrows the ending of the original short film, but it did so with a better twist and a necessary change.
When Kira was with Clint’s father,the killer pumpkin used the headless body of Clint as a puppet, and his father accidentally blew his arm off while trying to shoot at the pumpkin.The ending ofCarvedgives a last look at the carved pumpkins, and next to them is Clint’s head without eyes, nose, and lips, and with a tendril coming out of his eye.
