Fella_shibby
I first saw this on a VHS in the early 90s. Revisited this recently on a blu ray. Plot - Lance Henriksen is a country man who owns a small grocery and is raising his small boy on his own. As a kid, he had witnessed Pumpkinhead (demon/monster) in action. City kids come into town with their motorbikes, and cause an accident killing Henriksen's small kid.... The movie is shot in the remote backwoods (myself a fan of backwoods, badlands n road movies). This film is the directorial debut of the FX genius Stan Winston. Pumpkinhead easily ranks among the best monster movie. It is one of my fav monster movie. The design of the demon/creature is astounding. The movie also features some good cinematography. The swamp scenes are bathed in an eerie blue light. The murky, foggy woods where the witch lives is just fantastic. The hill where the creature is dug up is spooky. The design of the witch's cottage is the true visual highlight. Its an old and dilapidated one, full of old relics and even some living animals. The flickering candle create heavy shadows n make the witch herself much scarier. Henriksens character and performance r excellent.
tdrish
Let's face it, it's incredibly difficult to make a good horror movie. Pumpkinhead is not only a good horror flick, it actually excels! With a good concept, a great script, and with wizard effect specialist Stan Winston in the corner, what can possibly go wrong? From my perspective, very little. This was put together quite intelligently. The violence and gore is just enough to satisfy its target audience, and yet is certainly tame enough to not abuse its authority. When a fathers son is accidentally killed by a group of young bikers, a father is left craving some pretty strong vengeance. One of the bikers claimed it was an accident. Not good enough, boys. It's just not good enough. A trip to a witch leads daddy to an interesting relic called Pumpkinhead, a tall, beastly creature that has a long history of settling some uneven scores with many of its "clients". Okay, so he's got his revenge, the question is...how do you put this monster back in its box? Heh heh heh, my friend...let me explain something to you. See, Pumpkinhead doesn't work like that. Your revenge came with a price, a very HIGH price, and he learns all too late, how Pumpkinhead works. With a unique sacrifice, Pumpkinhead will continue to please for years to come. My only complaint with the movie, is the night time scenes, when the action really gets intense, its kind of hard to see and make out what is going on...you mainly hear just a bunch of screaming, but its much too dark to make out what is going on ( Who knows? Maybe that was what was intended. Stan was very good at what he did for a living!) All in all, this movie was a treat, and I do not follow the sequels, I can't imagine any of them trying to live up or triumph the original, so I just simply won't waste my time. I recommend you don't waste yours.
Anonymous Andy (Minus_The_Beer)
Country bumpkin gets his revenge in "Pumpkinhead." In creature/special-effects wizard Stan Winston's directorial debut, Lance Henriksen ("Aliens," "The Terminator") plays a loving father in the backwoods of rural America. When some city folk disturb his way of life and accidentally strip away his reason for being away from him, he sells his soul and summons the legendary demon, Pumpkinhead to do his bidding. Ah, the sacrifices parents make for their children.Being that Winston's prior experience was in the background, crafting and perfecting all manner of special effects and the sort things that go bump in the night, it's no surprise that his film focuses more on the monster than it does its characters. Aside from Henriksen, who colors his character as much as he can with a good, stern grimace, the victims of Pumpkinhead himself as about as cardboard as '80s horror movie characters get. Even the teens Jason mowed down in many a "Friday The 13th" had a little more dimension to the ones here. All we know about these kids is that the jerk leading the pack is really good at riding a dirt bike, so his sins are forgiven by his friends. But not by Pumpkinhead, who wastes no time laying them to waste in the film's tight 88 minute run-time.What the film lacks in character development, it more than makes up for in the visual department. Not only is Pumpkinhead himself a glorious chunk of animatronic genius, but the film itself has an ominous, almost Gothic atmosphere, which meshes surprisingly well with the dusty, old-timey setting it's couched in. Winston sure knew how to make things look and function well and "Pumpkinhead" is a testament to that. If you can forgive a little predictability and lack of character development, you'll find "Pumpkinhead" to be worth summoning time and time again.
LeonLouisRicci
Oozing With Atmosphere and Lensed Photogenically Dark and Creepy, This Minor Cult Film is Dripping with Style. Directed by Legendary SFX Man Stan Winston, it Remains One of the 1980's Best and Different Teenagers in Peril Movies.What Sets it Apart from the Others is the Way it Looks and its Emphasis on Story and its De-Emphasis on the Gory. Winston Seems to Pull Back on the Creatures Slaughter of the Aforementioned, City Teens Traveling on Roads Less Traveled and Encountering Fate's Formidable Reckoning. The Monster, the Set-Up, and the Folklore are All Handled with Attention to Detail and Presented with Scary Scenes in the Backwoods Inhabited by Hillbilly's and Haunted by a Hag who Conjures Up Creatures from the Undergrowth, but Only by Request.Lance Henrikson, One of the Best B-Actors Ever, Who Seems to Never Give a Bad Performance and Enhances Every Project He Appears, is a Grieving Father that Calls on the Witch and Immediately Regrets It.It's a Near Perfect Horror Show, but it Does a Few Things that Keeps it From Elevated Status Beyond its Loyal Following in the "Famous Monsters of Filmland" Crowd. The Aforementioned, Obvious Reluctance to Go for the Gore and Splatter Relying on Tone, Tells the Scary Tale with a Reverence and Refuses to Capitulate to the Prurient Blood-Letting.That Makes Some of the Avenging Demon's Horrific Slaughter Seem a Bit Tame in Terms of What is Shown Anyhow. Seen Today, That and the Pacing Appear Somewhat Slow. Still, the Movie Makes Up for it in the Way it is Framed and All the Sets and Design are as Eerie as They Come.Overall, its a Way Better Than Average Film of its Type and Along with the Cinematographer, Stan Winston's Monster Makers and Hendrickson Deliver a Better Than it Should be Entry in the Glut of 80's Horror (for example at the time of its release Halloween 4 was about to hit theaters). Nuff Said.
AD
