Pumpkinhead

Pumpkinhead

1988

Director- Stan Winston

Cast- Lance Henriksen, Jeff East, John D'Aquino, Kimberly Ross, Joel Hoffman, Cynthia Bain, Kerry Remsen, Florence Schauffer, George Buck Flower

           

    Lance Henriksen plays Ed Harley, a hardworking man scraping a living together for him and his son in the backwoods. A group of young “city folk” disrupts his simple but happy existence when one of them accidentally kills his son while drunkenly riding their bikes.

     Ed visits an old witch who gives him the means to exact vengeance. She says that for each of man’s sins, a demon exists, and the demon of revenge rests not too far away in an old cemetery.  After bringing the witch it's desiccated husk, the witch summons Pumpkinhead, who sets out to kill the youngsters.

Although the “city folk verses country folk” is a tired convention over used in horror films, the rural, Appalachian setting is needed for the dark fantasy to work. It feels very much like a cautionary fairy tale. Someone makes a bargain, not really contemplating the cost and when they get what they asked for, they realize it’s not what they wanted and the price is too high.

Lance Henriksen, who usually turns in fine supporting performances, gets to steal the show in the lead part. This was probably the best time in Henriksen’s career. He made Terminator in' 84, Aliens in '86, Near Dark in '87 and Pumpkinhead in '88. That’s  a damn good 5 years! Stan Winston, who was used to working behinds the scenes on special effects, makes his debut as director with Pumpkinhead. Made without CGI, which usually doesn’t age very well, the creature effects still look pretty good all these years later.

In a decade best known for its slasher films, Pumpkinhead  was an original and entertaining monster movie that works as both entertainment and allegory.