Pumpkinhead

Pumpkinhead. 1988. Dir. Stan Winston. With Lance Henriksen, Jeff East, John D’Aquino, Kimberly Ross, Joel Hoffman, Cynthia Bain, Kerry Remsen, Florence Schauffler, Brian Bremer, George ‘Buck’ Flower. Screenplay by Mark Patrick Carducci and Gary Gerani, story by Mark Patrick Carducci and Stan Winston & Richard Weinman, based upon a poem by Ed Justin. 

Badness: NOT A BAD MOVIE!!! 

Enjoyment Factor:

Consider, for a moment, the face of Lance Henriksen. It is long and lean, with soul-piercing eyes. This is a face of a man who has seen darkness and terror, and lived through it. Countless casting agents and directors have hired him, in a long and prolific career, in large part due to the expressive and haunting work that he has gotten from this face.

      Lance Henriksen gives one of his best, and one of his most underrated, performances in the 1988 horror film Pumpkinhead. This film is noteworthy for many reasons, but two of them will be mentioned here: it was the feature film directorial debut of special effects legend Stan Winston, and it is the first movie on this website to be featured that is not, actually, a bad movie.

I had watched Pumpkinhead a while back along with a string of legitimately terrible horror movies, and was shocked that I had found an atmospheric, suspenseful motion picture. Sure, the film is clearly influenced by slasher movies, and features many teen-aged characters played by actors of varying quality, but it is an interesting and creepy tale. It is a Southern fried horror tale, expertly acted by Henrikesen. Oh, and the monster is scary.

Henriksen portrays Ed Harley, a simple man who runs a gas station and is raising his young son Billy (played by Matthew Hurley). Early in the film, there is a terrible accident caused by a group of traveling teenagers, and Ed vows vengeance. He winds up, against better judgment, traveling high atop Black Ridge and requesting the help of the local witch, Haggis (Florence Schauffler, well-cast). Haggis has Ed summon the demon known as Pumpkinhead, to kill the teenagers and satisfy Ed’s revenge. Ed reluctantly agrees.

This is a rich and beautiful horror film. Winston has a natural eye for composition, and really makes the most out of his locations. The scenes in the pumpkin patch as Ed digs up ol’ Pumpkinhead are especially affecting.

The movie is an effective mix of the slasher film, which was so popular at the time, and a darker and more brutal type of horror. This was only one of two feature films that great, late Stan Winston directed, the other being the 1990 film A Gnome Named Gnorm, starring Anthony Michael Hall. It’s a shame he didn’t direct more, because he had a singular and unique vision. Check this movie out, for one of Lance Henriksen’s most striking and powerful performances.