Review: Pumpkinhead (1988)
Directed by: Stan Winston
Starring: Lance Henriksen, John D’Aquino, Jeff East
Written by: Mark Patrick Carducci, Gary Gerani
Music by: Richard Stone
Country: United States
Available on: Blu-ray/DVD (Scream Factory), DVD (Warner Bros)
IMDb
Beloved effects artist Stan Winston, the creator of such luminary entries in the cinematic bestiary as the Predator, Terminator, Xenomorph Queen, and the dinos from Jurassic Park, took a turn in the director’s chair for 1988’s Pumpkinhead, based on a poem by Ed Justin. Even the most slight glance in this movie’s general direction and you can tell Winston is involved. The eponymous monster, a backwoods demon spawned from a pumpkin patch, summoned by those seeking vengeance (in this case, by Lance Henriksen as Ed Harley, a widower whose son is accidentally killed by reckless tourists in his Dust Bowl town), looks very much like a thing Mr. Winston would have concocted.
Pumpkinhead, the monster, is one of the great creature designs in horror film — it’s all intimidating, spindly limbs, just human enough to creep you out, but definitely evil and ready to deal death, generally by tossing its victims around like ragdolls. Pumpkinhead, the movie, isn’t quite as awesome. A lot of folks really dig this movie, and every time I put it on I’m ready for true love to blossom, but alas. My encounters with this thing are more like a satisfying but empty fling than anything that’s going to lead to happily ever after. A lot of it really works for me, from the fog that swirls over every dead, gnarled branch, to the spontaneous storms that snap into foreboding existence when the creature is roaming, to the terrifyingly majestic way Pumpkinhead stalks around for prey. It’s all very gloriously gothic with a Southern hue — bountiful atmosphere and mythos. I’m right there with any story about the viscous darkness of small-town sin. Henriksen is doing a fine job drumming up pathos and gravitas. This is a film that looks great and has a decent story in its favor.
But I think there are two primary shortfalls: almost all of the supporting acting is dirt-poor and there is a very noticeable dearth of bloodshed. All the teens who come into town and destroy Ed Harley’s life are bland as skim milk, which is pretty unfortunate since the audience spends a whole lot of time with them and you’re supposed to sympathize with their plight, one they might not quite deserve. And they don’t even have the decency to die interestingly. Most of them perish via the PG-13 blunt force trauma of being tossed against a tree or a rock. It’s not as if Winston was shooting for a milder rating, either; this is an R-rated horror film that’s just disappointingly mild. Although a genius in his field, Winston is not generally known for splatter. But a few beheadings, disembowelments, or ruinous slashings would have worked miracles. As it stands, the demon doesn’t seem particularly passionate in its quest, spending its time meandering and picking people up then putting them down just roughly enough to extinguish their life.
I mean, that said, I enjoy Stan Winston’s one and only foray into directing in the horror genre. He had talent behind the camera, and most of Pumpkinhead is well-staged and looks spooky as heck, and it’s engaging overall. But it’s falls quite a bit short of “classic.” I don’t think I’ll be proposing any time soon.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10
