Cast:
Lance Henriksen (Ed Harley), John D'Aquino (Joel), Jeff East (Chris), Kerry Remsen (Maggie), Kimberly Ross (Kim), Joel Hoffman (Steve "Scratch"), Cynthia Bain (Tracey), Florence Schauffler (Haggis), Matthew Hurley (Billy Harley), Buck Flower (Mr. Wallace), Brian Bremer (Bunt Wallace), Mayim Bialik (Christine Wallace), Lee DeBroux (Tom Harley), Peggy Walton-Walker (Ellie Harley), Madeleine Taylor Holmes (Old Hill Woman), and Tom Woodruff Jr. (Pumpkinhead) Directed by Stan Winston.
Review:
“It was a small picture, something I thought I could handle as a director; and I felt there was a lot that I could bring to the story. So I told the producers, ‘Yeah, I’ll do the creature — but only if I can direct the movie.’”
Apparently, Pumpkinhead started out as a poem, written by Ed Justin. It was merely a poem about avoiding Pumpkinhead unless one was tired of living or was one of his dead enemies, complete with stating that nothing, not even a guard dog prowling in the yard, would protect from it. Four different people were given writing credits: Mark Patrick Carducci and Gary Gerani wrote the screenplay, while Carducci, Richard C. Weinman and Stan Winston were given credit for the story. Winston expressed interest in directing the movie when asked by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group about doing the special effects. Winston originally started in Hollywood as an aspiring actor before deciding to aim for makeup work, rising from an apprentice at Walt Disney Studios to having his own company by the 1970s. He won a handful of Emmy Awards in the decade before becoming a perennial Academy Award-nominated name, which started with Heartbeeps (1982) and peaked with Aliens (1986). Winston directed just two films: Pumpkinhead and A Gnome Named Gnorm (1990) but continued to work in effects for films that saw him win four Academy Awards before he died in 2008 at the age of 62. The movie inspired three follow-up films: two for television and one direct-to-video that saw Henriksen reprise his role twice. A remake has been teased for a few years now but nothing has happened as of yet (honestly, it wouldn't be a bad idea to try and give new life to the material - what, you want remakes of great horror movies again?).
Admittedly, it is a bit above average. It has one worthwhile performance in Henriksen to go along with a solid looking monster to hold up a movie that is sometimes satisfying in what comes from one having to actually hear about what revenge really means when dealing with a creature that comes from an old pumpkin patch in a graveyard. Inspired or not, it reminds one of Forbidden Planet (1956), which had "monsters from the id" as a key focus, although it is placed in a movie that has a body count of a few teens that is more about having them be victims of impulse and anger rather than just straight up being people to dispose of like other slashers. It's a movie that has one interested most of the time in its rural atmosphere and occasional nice shots to see for a movie that has an interesting looking monster. It only gets shown in the dark, but it manages to come off so well with what you actually see of it and its movements, managing to come off a creature of vengeance and fear right from the jump, particularly since it doesn't have one of those silly weaknesses that could corral other being of anger but instead inward. Henriksen manages to achieve most of the goals probably set out in a performance meant to built on pain, mostly because he is likable enough to make you understand why someone might inquire about the sacrifices one might take when their pride and joy is put in danger. He makes for a quality doomed figure, one who we want to understand in the vulnerability that comes in looking upon what anger takes a person, which carries a movie where the teens are mostly just fine. The guilt is palpable even with the inevitability that comes with, well, a slasher, although it is curiously one with multiple final people. I like the ending in its swift nature of showing just where vigilante justice can take a person and what it may lead to again for those down the road, whether it involves one or a group to target. As a whole, Pumpkinhead has its peaks and valleys when it comes to entertainment value that you either like for what it is in spectacle or wash away in the sea of slashers. You might find some enjoyment here.
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
Next up: Tales from the Hood.
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