Pumpkinhead (1988)

That was an excellent one.

Good concept, poorly executed.

An Exercise In Nonsense

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I looked this movie up so I could applaud all the others who watched it and thought the same as myself. Then I saw a 3 stars average! This crappie movie is some of the worst mess I have ever seen. There are some bad horror movies out there, but Pumpkinhead takes the cake. A cult following? Yeah, you'd have to be in a cult to think this movie was any good. You can never really see the creature because the film maker's made sure to put it in the most dimly lit scenes. Why? So, you couldn't see how terrible the Pumpkinhead costume really was! I know I saw wires. I can't believe there are sequels. Ooooh, I really hate this movie! Lol!

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.

Wait. THIS is who Linus van Pelt was writing his annual Halloween letter to? Don't know what's so great about this pumpkin.Man, do I love 80s horror. It seemed so diverse back then. You had demons, slasher-killers, holiday themed massacres, ghosts, dolls, everything and all rated R. Nowadays, it a rarity to get any horror film that doesn't involve ghosts or possession from ghosts or ghosts in a house or found footage of ghosts. And almost all PG-13. Too bad.Now, Pumpkinhead is definitely cheesy at times – some of the reactions from our "heroes" had me unintentionally laughing out loud a few times, but damn, did they work on this story. While it's the basic Twilight Zone/Tales from the Crypt story, unlike most horror movies during that timeframe (late 80s,) this one took it's time setting up everything and the lure verses making it all a monster/demon movie.Apparently, there's this demon whose name only describes his resting place and is called upon to seek revenge upon what evil one man had committed to another man. Or so they tell me. I guess females are off the hook.In this case, a man's tragedy spurs him conjuring up the demon to exact revenge on the "people" responsible. There was really only one involved out of six young adults, but my guess, giving the movie the benefit of the doubt, is that Pumpkinhead carries out revenge on who the innocent man *thinks* is guilty.This is strictly for fans of 80s horror and, namely the always incredible Lance Henriksen and Stan Winston. If you just want gore and the monster throughout, you'll be disappointed. But, if you're looking for a little more depth, setup suspense and a change, this might be for you.***Final thoughts: 'Cheesehead: The Revenge' was the movie title I was thinking throughout, even though I don't do football. 'Cheesy Bread: The Movie' might have also worked, but now I'm getting hungry. Excuse me.

31 Days Of Horror: Day 23Pumpkinhead is the king of supernatural backwoods legends, one of those atmospheric 80's slice n' dicers that's perpetually saturated with fog from an unseen smoke machine, and presided over by a huge impressive monster made from considerably complex animatronics, eternally more effective than CGI. Simple southern dude Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen) lives in smoky rural nowhere with his adorable son and scruffy dog Gypsy. He's a feed stocker for local farmers, but things get out of hand when a group of moronic city dwelling teens and their ditzhole girlfriends show up for a vacation. When one irresponsible youth accidentally kills Ed's son in a dirtbike accident, Ed goes mad with grief and rage. He turns his attention to a decrepit witch who lives in a dark part of the local woods (spectacular set design in this sequence) who is rumored to be able to bring about a curse on people who have wronged someone. She warns Ed about the ramifications of setting such a force loose, but blind with grief he persists. And so she releases pumpkinhead, a nine foot tall friggin monster of a creature that looks like a xenomorph crossed with gollum and, with just a touch of inbred dragon. This thing mercilessly hunts down not only the kid who ran Ed's son over, but turns it's bloodlust to the rest of the pack too, and anyone who gets in the way. By the time Ed realizes what he's unleashed, it's too late. There's some killer god gore scenes as the physically imposing creature wreaks havoc, snapping necks and drinking blood and all sorts of goodies. Henriksen gives the movie a gravity it almost doesn't deserve, being at its core a monster flick, yet his earnest emotion and anger is welcome, giving the story that human element among the grisly chaos. Nothing brings us atmosphere like an 80's horror flick, and unlike the genre movies of today, they still stand as testaments to quality, effects, hard work and pure passion for bringing a grotesque story like this to life.