Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Instant Favorite.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

"Pin" is an anatomically correct, see-through mannequin. His interests include tutoring, chocolates and terrorizing young ladies. Pin speaks with a slow, thin, whispery voice. His educational expertise includes math and sex. He also enjoys listening to incestuous poetry and creeping quietly in the dark. Pin's story is destined to become a cult classic. The strength of this movie lies not in direction, nor necessarily in acting, but in story. Pin is one of the strangest movies you'll watch. Scenes include a skinless mannequin giving a private sex lecture to a young brother and sister, a man giving his daughter an abortion, and a nurse who uses Pin as a sex doll when she thinks no one else is watching.This neglected gem is an example of 1980's horror at its most creative. Its not a gory film by any means, but it will chill you to the bone, as its a superbly crafted psychological study into the mental disintegration of a fragile mind. The most disquieting scenes of course involve Pin, whether its involving Leon, or just when another character is alone in the room with the mannequin. It seems to exude a threat even when Leon is not around to carry out Pin's 'bidding'. At the heart of this film is a superb performance by David Hewlett as the adult Leon. He gives a very sympathetic performance of someone whose mind has been unbalanced by the maladjusted childhood he has gone through. Cynthia Preston is also very good as the grown up Ursula, who tries to get her life back together, whilst also coping with the increasing demands of Leon/Pin. Don't expect anything too exploitative or overly sensational, as 'Pin' builds up the tension and the scares by telling a good story and providing proper character development. A fascinating film!!Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

In this low-budget descendant of "Psycho", Ursula and Leon are sister and brother, living alone, save for a large wooden puppet they call "Pin" (for Pinocchio). When Ursula starts hanging around with new boyfriend Stan, Leon and Pin take action.What drew me to this film was Terry O'Quinn, who has never (so far as I'm aware) made a bad film. And although he is more of a secondary, supporting actor here, this film is no less good than anything else he has done.What makes this film good is its relatively slow pace, building the suspense, waiting for the moment when all heck will break loose. And, for first time viewers, there is the mystery: is Leon crazy or is Pin truly alive and only willing to open up to specific people? (The answer was not what I expected.)

I heard of this film when it was released but it didn't get much word of mouth, as often happens with Canadian films. Pin is too restrained to be a true horror film and not deep enough to be a good psychological drama as often happens with Canadian films. The opening makes one speculate how the story might go--and a supernatural explanation seems possible--but the film ultimately goes with the mundane option as often happens with Canadian films.It has competent performances by the main leads--and has an interesting/weird first act that might compel or repulse viewers, but as it goes on, it starts to show strains and the ending felt bland to me. The ho-hum aspects of the film may be explained by the fact that it is funded by the Canadian government, and in the 1980s, following a decade where it had an anything goes policy--which launched the careers of David Cronenberg and allowed for the funding of just about anything-even a porno film, they radically cut back in what they would give money to. Among the restrictions was that serious criminal activity and homicidal violence could not be shown. The movie follows that rule closely. We see some beatings, and there is a few deaths, but they do not happen in violation of the government rules. Even a scene near the end involving an axe is ambiguous. One might notice that in one scene the boyfriend is shown studying french for a foreign trip--this is likely to follow rules on bilingual content! In the end the film is really about dysfunction and illness--which is once again a feature of Canadian filmmaking. The real question--and the most disturbing aspect of the film, is how anyone could think it would be commercially viable, even with the attempt at an Anywhere USA setting. There are elements in it that reminded me of the UK films Peeping Tom and the Maniac but unlike this film, they did not face such restrictions in content thus they could go deeper into psychological and horror elements and leave a stronger viewing impression.

Although I acknowledge that this film is well written and directed I can't say I personally enjoyed it. It was too boring for me, too slow. We do get to know the characters and even care about them a bit, but the pace is just too slow and doesn't really fit a horror film. We don't get any moments of sudden rage where people get murdered. I can see that this film was intended to be suspenseful and atmospheric - and it succeeds at achieving that, to an extent. But it's not enough for me, it doesn't have that "something" to grab my interest. I found some scenes quite creepy and sickening, particularly the one where the woman uses PIN as a sex doll. I also found the whisperings of incest disturbing. The ending was clever too. Overall though I would only recommend PIN to those that can tolerate very slow-paced, subtle horror that requires a bit of thought. Gore-hounds, look elsewhere!