A different way of telling a story

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

After a group of bikers accidentally kill Billy Harley, his father Ed is devastated and the only thing he wants is revenge.He goes to an old woman who is said to be a witch, and conjures up the titular demonic creature and with revenge on his mind unleashes him upon the bikers.....It's not the breaking the mould for horror films, but Winston has crafted a fairly decent film, with wonderful puppetry of the titular character.When you can get over the fact that Billy looks just like the Milky Bar Kid, what you get is an enjoyable over the top horror film that crosses Death Wish with The Keep.Henriksen is wonderful as the grieving father, and puts in a really good performance in what could have easily have been a coasting role for him.The rest of the cast unfortunately, are nothing more than your atypical horror film teen fodder, and you can more or less guess which ones get killed and in which order.It's a pretty gory film considering when it was made, and how restraint horror films were because of the over the top censoring film boards were at that time (thankyou James Ferman), but they are inventive, and the film doesn't hide the fact that Pumpkinhead looks so good.There is a little twist at the end which is quite impressive, and a scene that refers to the cold opening, but other than that, it's just a perfectly perfunctory horror film with wonderful special effects.

I am guessing that 65% of people reading this have never heard of this film before, which, in my opinion, is not a good thing. I first saw Pumpkinhead in 2008-2009 when I picked up a VHS copy of the film from a dealer at my hometown's local yard sale. The title got me interested. The first thing that I noticed was, obviously, that the creature on the VHS cover didn't actually have a pumpkin for a head. Regardless, it terrified me. Prior to watching the film, I was constantly worried that the creature would be lurking behind me, preparing to do something awful. I popped in the VHS. When the film was over, my opinion and POV of monster/horror films changed forever.Pumpkinhead was the directorial debut of special effects master Stan Winston, who was also responsible for the creature effects in Aliens, Terminator, Jurassic Park, etc. Of all of Stan Winston's works, Pumpkinhead is unfortunately his least popular. Not only did Pumpkinhead feature beyond fantastic creature effects, it also had a real story to it. Ed Harley (played by Lance Henriksen, who was also involved in Aliens) is the owner of a small grocery store in a rural southern town. When a group of city teenagers come to visit for a little dirt biking, Ed's son, Billy, is accidentally hit and killed by one of the bikers, named Joel. The portrayal of Joel's character seems to have inspired the run-of-the-mill drunk jerk-type character from I Know What You Did Last Summer. In addition, you can actually feel sorry for the character's in this film who are killed off, even the jerk who killed Ed's son. The characters in this film aren't portrayed as pure annoyances as they are in most modern horror garbage, they are portrayed as real characters.Another thing that makes the story of this film superior to what we see in a lot of 80's horror movies (and most movies before and after the 80's) is that it does not involve sex. Absolutely no sex at all. Why? Because the brilliant writers of this film, such as Gary Gerani, were actually thinking when they wrote this. Unlike the gratuitous summer camp consular sex scene in Friday the 13th (1980) that set a very low bar for entertainment, Pumpkinhead has a story motivated by the love between father and son, and the desire for vengeance that lurks within Ed Harley. I am truly grateful to Gary Gerani (as well as any other writers of this film) for putting together such a masterpiece. Now for the creature effects. You have no idea how much my blood begins to boil when I see or hear people saying that the design of the Pumpkinhead demon is a ripoff on H.R. Giger's xenomorph. These creature effects are coming from the same person responsible for the design of the xenomorph queen, so you have to expect some degree of inspiration and stop looking for excuses to make everything look un-original. In my opinion, Pumpkinhead has to be one of the greatest monster designs of all time, and should be featured on one of the covers of Famous Monsters of Filmland. The creature's large head with white unseeing eyes, pointed teeth, and the spongy brain of the creature being exposed on either side of the head really make this look like a demon that could actually come from Hell. The creature's tail also reminds you that this is a demon, and was not added to the design with the intention of being a ripoff on the xenomorph. The blowing wind and dead fall leaves that follow the creature wherever it goes in this film are pure creative genius, and they really remind you of when this film is taking place. The additional flashing lights are also a very atmospheric touch. I could go on forever with the creature design, so I'll stop here.The interior of the cabin belonging to Haggis, the old witch of the woods, in this film has to have taken hours to set up. There's so much going on inside the cabin, I won't even begin trying to describe it all here.My blood begins to boil on the verge of exploding whenever I read Empire's biased review of this film: "a Friday the 13th clone with very little atmosphere." Are you kidding me? Everyone who I have talked to that didn't like this film has never denied the power of its atmosphere, and how can you even compare it to Friday the 13th? That would be comparing an insane mother with a knife who's enraged about idiotic teenagers having sex to a huge monster who has set out to avenge the death of someone's son. Keep in mind that Empire's "review" of this film is probably coming from the same uneducated idiot who thought Jason X was "clever". Empire, you should hire real film reviewers or stop trashing masterpieces altogether!I will always consider the original Pumpkinhead to be an extremely atmospheric and underrated masterpiece. Stan Winston, a true legend, died in 2008, and I miss him every day. Normally I would say that Halloween III: Season of the Witch is the most underrated horror movie on my list, but being that H3 has been rediscovered recently and finally gotten the reception it deserves from (some of) the public, and this film really hasn't, I will say it: Pumpkinhead (1988) is the most underrated monster/horror film of all time. Ignore the sequels to Pumpkinhead, they are mostly an insult to it, but I do think the stories had potential.So you can have your Michael Myers stalking Laurie, you can have your Jason Voorhees cutting up naked women and drugged teens for no reason, you can have your Freddy Krueger murdering children. But give me a film with fantastic creature effects, atmosphere, likable characters, and a bond between father and son.

I first found out about this movie in my local blockbuster. It was on the end of the horror movies section, full of dust and its cover was really messed up. When i saw the cover art, i was completely compelled to rent that creepy movie! So i came home, made some popcorn, got some beers and baaam...started watching Pumpkinhead. When i saw the setting, that is, a desert surrounded by some creepy woods, i knew the film would be good. I'm not going to spoil it, but a man who lusts for vengeance can do crazy things, just like Ed Harley did. This movie had a quite huge budget for a horror movie from the 80s, and that is well shown in the special effects and the devil's costume. The designers really spent a lot of time perfecting Pumpkinhead, and that deed will definitely leave you impressed. Ethical and moral issues are also debated throughout the movie : The characters start thinking about what is the right thing to do, and they all build a sense of community in times of danger. Horror movies are definitely lacking this nowadays. There's a group on facebook ''Pumpkinhead Fans'' full of horror maniacs, so you should check it out once you are done watching this flick! I'd also recommend Pumpkinhead two.

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.