The seven expert pumpkin carvers' first challenge is to master the classic Halloween jack-o'-lantern and feature a dynamic use of light. In the Quick Carve round, the competitors must depict the struggle between good and evil. For the Big Carve round, each competitor is given one of the seven deadly sins to inspire their truly horrifying creation.

In the Quick Carve round, the remaining six competitors have to create frightening science experiments gone horribly wrong! Things literally heat up in the Big Carve round as the carvers must incorporate an element of fire in a 3-D diorama depicting pumpkin trick-or-treaters.

In the pet cemetery-themed Quick Carve round, the competitors feature animals returning from the dead, and their structures must be at least two pumpkins tall and include everything from stem to seed. For the Big Carve round, the carvers create enormous prehistoric animals, and wind, rain and snow make the challenge extra difficult.

In the final challenge, host Alyson Hannigan tasks the remaining four pumpkin carvers with their most-monstrous carves yet. For the Quick Carve round, they have to create a terrifying monster-in-law. In the Big Carve round, they have to make a 5-foot-tall monster bash scene using Atlantic Giant pumpkins weighing in at over 1,000 pounds each! Judges Terri Hardin and Ray Villafane decide which monster is the life of the pumpkin party and which carver takes home the $25,000 prize.