Now THIS is the DVD that Helloween fans have been waiting for! The Pumpkin Video DVD has twelve music videos on it from the first one, Halloween up to If I Could Fly from The Dark Ride. As a fan in the US this is especially great cos I have seen a whopping three videos on TV / video and another couple of them off the internet in crappy Real Player, so to go from that to the comfort of my own room on my TV is awesome.

The first two videos are the ones that are most often seen, Halloween and I Want Out. Halloween is typical 80’s cheesiness but other than the that the thing that pisses me off is it is a butchered three and a half, four minute version of this song with some of the worst editing I have heard. I Want Out is a pretty comical video for such a classic, it has some major oddness in it such as a guy duckwalking across the desert with a vacuum cleaner during the guitar solo. The first video to come about that I haven’t seen before is Kids of the Century and it has some more Helloween trademark quirkiness to it. That’s one thing that’s a staple in the majority of these videos, the band always has fun and doesn’t take things too seriously, for example in Kids of the Century Michael Kiske is singing into a plastic flamingo and a fork at moments and there’s the whole “egg-eyed” thing going on as well. When the Sinner is kind of eh, it wasn’t the greatest song to begin with and the video is pretty weird too and makes no sense at all. I can’t really explain it, you have to see it.

The Andi Deris era starts with Mr. Ego and I do not like this song at all. The video is alright I watch it when it comes on and it helps that there’s this pretty hot chick in it as well. Random thought : Andi looks funny in a backwards baseball cap. Where the Rain Grows cracks me up every time I see it cos this is just pure messing around tom foolery the whole entire video. There’s some underlying theme that I don’t really get, it’s a businessman that goes down to the beach and then dresses like an Indian and then dances around a fire. Maybe in some abstract way this has to do with the title of the song like in an Indian culture even though the lyrical content are not Native American in nature at all. There’s footage of the band on a concrete pier with Uli playing drums off Andi’s head and Roland with a hard hat on making funny guitar faces and also a part where Markus and Uli are dressed up and pantomiming playing on sticks. The oddest segment though is when it comes to the, “woa ohh ohhh ohh” part after the solo and here Andi pops through the window of a wooden kids house with suns and flowers painted on it. Like I said this cracks me up every time I see it. Perfect Gentleman is also an amusing video. This one has a performance with a little story going on about a retarded looking pimp like dude that thinks he’s all cool and everything except his obscene snobbishness just gets his ass kicked by the end of the vid. Also take note of how the guys are playing their instruments when it cuts to them in suits, Markus and Weiki are holding their instruments up to their chins playing all “business like”.

Power is next and the video is just as enjoyable as the song is classic. It cuts from the band playing with a strobe light in a factory to another hot chick dancing around and also uses some innovative camera techniques and editing jobs. Once again it is hard to explain but it has the camera spinning around the guys vertically, from their feet to their head as they rotate as well. I haven’t seen this effect that much so its innovative to me at least. The Time of the Oath is dark and brooding with much wind and fire going off and Forever and One is a live video interspersed with tour footage. The final two videos are the best in terms of “concept” in my opinion, I Can and If I Could Fly. I had seen I Can ONCE back in ’99 when MTV did an A-Z countdown and surprisingly this they played it at like three in the morning and not surprisingly, never again. From Andi driving a car blindfolded to him walking a tightrope (still blindfolded) to him swimming with sharks this goes well with the lyrical content and looks like a very professionally filmed video. If I Could Fly is dark in terms of appearance and has shots of the guys playing on floating platforms, and no it doesn’t look cheesey. It is a bit cheesey however when Andi straps on some big black wings and goes flying about but it ain’t that bad, I’ve seen much much worse.

There are no extras or perks with this DVD, there isn’t even a MENU! I’m not gonna complain however cos this is a real treat to FINALLY have all of these videos together, on DVD and at my fingertips. The Pumpkin Video DVD isn’t too terribly difficult to obtain but it will take some effort. I highly recommend this to any Helloween fan out there that like me, has only seen one or two of the videos or otherwise just have seen them on the internet somewhere.