Pumpkinhead
Released in 1988 and garnering quite a bit of attention as the directorial debut of movie FX Legend Stan Winston, this is a horror / monster movie that seems to spin off of old folk tales as its inspiration, and it does succeed in a couple of aspects, namely in its atmosphere and the incredible look of the titular creature itself. Lance Henriksen (in his big follow-up to his starmaking role as Bishop in Aliens) stars as a down-home farmer and rundown general store owner who one day while at the store with his young son sees some teenage âcity folkâ arrive to make some purchases. Before you know it, the kids are riding their dirt bikes up and down the property, which Henriksen doesnât seem to mind until his son wanders outside and into the middle of the fray, where (naturally) he gets run down by one of the bikes and laid out. Henriksen, instead of taking the kid to a hospital or even a local doctor, brings him home where he seems to think a wet rag over his sonâs head will make him all better. Unfortunately, the kid dies and Henriksen vows revenge by visiting an old witch (named âHaggisâ) and using her to summon a demon of revenge against the teens, even though only one of them was actually responsible for the death and quickly took off afterwards while the others WERE genuinely concerned for his sonâs well-being and tried to get help. The demon, of course, is Pumpkinhead, an impressive creation slightly offset by the annoying use of strobelights off camera whenever he appears, and it sets to work tracking down and killing the teens, even if its preferred method of dispatching them is basically to beat the shit out of each of them until they are dead. As you can see, there are a myriad of problems with both the story and execution here, not the least of which is the fact that Winston pretty much holds out on us when it comes to showing anything gruesome during the demonâs attacks, as generally the victim is just shown being tossed this way and that before finally landing on the ground dead, thus taking away the overall frightening effect the demon could have had. Henriksen for the most part is good (except for one confrontation with the old witch where he overacts a bit) and brings some real weight and credibility to the enterprise, but the actors playing the teens (which includes John DâAquino and Jeff âYoung Clark Kentâ East) are completely bland and come off more as types than actual characters (The Asshole, The Milquetoast, The Catatonic, The Passive One, The Angry One), so the viewer has little to no emotional investment in their fates, and of course, once the demon actually kills the aforementioned guy who was RESPONSIBLE, we wonder why he continues to attack the others at all! But, at least we get the legendary character actor George âBuckâ Flower in a supporting role, and Florence Schauffler as the old witch is a lot of fun also. But really, despite the impressive mood and lighting that the film achieves in certain spots, not quite as great as it could have beenâŚ
5/10