Bob's Review: Pumpkinhead (1988)

Review: Pumpkinhead (1988)
Principal Cast: Lance Henriksen, Florence Schauffler, Brian Bremer, George “Buck” Flower, Matthew Hurley
Director: Stan Winston
Genre: Horror/Demonic

The Basics 
Ed Harley, a local store keeper in rural America, suffers a tragedy when a group of young dirt bikers from the city cause the death of his young son and leave the scene of the accident. Enraged by the death of his son and the indifference of those involved, Harley seeks the help of an old backwoods witch who raises the demon of vengeance, locally known as Pumpkinhead, to make the city kids pay for their crime. 

Recommendation
Outside of fans of 80’s horror, I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Lance Henriksen. The r-rating is for violence, occult images and language (although there is little in the way of gore.)
My Take
This is one of the movies that I pull out and watch every Halloween season and it makes me miss the 80’s, where the horror movies were the brainchild of a writer with an idea rather than a producer with a desire to sell a product for the season.
 *Spoiler Alert* In this film, there are many elements of horror stories working together: Revenge horror, the scary bedtime story come to life, psychological horror, occultism/witchcraft, and the city kids who go to the country and get killed. All these elements are there and do come together very well, but to look at the story in this way is somewhat missing the point. This is a story of personal tragedy and what that madness of grief will drive a man to do, and the consequences of giving in to this personal demon. The creature effects might not have been top of the line, and this is not the goriest of horror movies even with an R rating, but for me, the story along with Henriksen’s performance are what makes this movie a horror classic.
What we have is a character driven story. It’s not a story about random people and a demon, it’s about a man and his vengeful sin, and how that sin effects the world around him. Only one of the “city folk” actually hit Billy Harley with his dirt bike, but since Ed Harley’s rage is directed at the group as a whole, Pumpkinhead seeks to kill the entire group, not just the one who killed his boy. His lust for revenge also effects the rural farmers, as they fear for their safety and the safety of their livestock, which is their livelihood. And in the end, Harley learns the hard truth of the cost of his vengeance, not only for himself, which causes him to attempt to hunt down the creature.
The connection between Harley and the demon is made clear from the first killing, but it’s nature is not fully revealed until the end, when the demon’s face becomes that of Ed Harley and he has to kill himself to end the demon’s onslaught. This is an aspect of the story that has been the subject of debate for some time since it is somewhat up to interpretation on why this is so. Here’s my take. The obvious answer is Harley had to “sell his soul” to pay for his revenge, but I think it goes a little deeper. Not only did he have to forfeit his soul, the witch gave it directly to the demon, along with his anger and his pain. And this would explain why the demon had Harley’s necklace around it’s neck as he was being buried. This could have led to some interesting story elements such as shots showing Pumpkinhead growing angry when he sees the city kids in the woods or having a story element about Harley having an aversion to the church which would have given more meaning to the scene where the demon destroys the cross in the church. That’s my opinion anyway.
One thing I would have like to have seen in this movie was a little more difference between campfire horror story the kids know of Pumpkinhead, and the true nature of the demon itself. In other words, have the story told to the kids be something a little, not much, but a little different than what we see happen in the movie. It would make sense that Bunt the farm boy would know the true story since we are led to believe his grandfather told it to him seeing as how the demon was on the killing path. But what about the story he heard before the night it became a reality? Was it the same or different? I did like how “Pumpkinhead” was a local folk name for the true beast; the demon of vengeance. The other thing I wanted to see more of was the demon’s intelligence. This is not a brainless monster. We see him take the chain off a motorbike and show it to his victim before picking up bike and rider and throwing them across the woods. I wanted to see more of that, along with more of his relationship with the old witch.
I say that the creature effects are not top of the line, but given the budget of $3.5 million, I thought Stan Winston produced a demon that was almost as nightmarishly slick as his most famous creature; the xenomorph from Alien, which is a movie that was made nearly ten years earlier on a budget of $11. So this film, for me, is another example of what can be done with a little dough and a lot of creativity.
I will admit that I do get a kick out of horror movies that use a very basic story as an excuse for 90 minutes of gore and naughtiness. But, none of these would make my list of best horror movies ever made. This one does because it tells a story, not a series of events happening to generic characters.

Statistics
Story: Excellent. Well developed character driven tragedy.

Cast Performance: Excellent. Special nods go to Lance Henriksen, Florence Schauffler, and George “Buck” Flower.

Violence/Gore: Moderate. The bloodiest scene in the film is the witch drawing blood from the hands of Harley and his son to use to wake the demon.

Nudity: None. The story did not call for any.

Ambiance/Music: Good. The music was fairly generic, but the cinematography and sound effects were done very well and provided an aptly eerie atmosphere. I like the use of the cicada sound effect when in the presence of the demon.

Overall rating: 4.2/5

Interesting stuff
-Look for a young Mayim Bialik (Blossom, The Big Bang Theory) early in the movie as one of the rural farm children.
-The story is based on a poem by Ed Justin, and it is recited by the farm kids early in the film.
-Lance Henriksen provided much for his character. This includes the clothes and cap he wears throughout the film, props such as his WWII era shotgun and the silver dollars he uses to pay the witch, and a set of dentures to make him look more rural.