Pumpkinhead (1988) – Review

The name of the late, great Stan Winston is rightly etched into the legends of cinema thanks to the special effects alchemy he weaved over movies to such an iconic effect. The sight of a majestically crested Alien Queen squaring off with Sigourney Weaver in a clanking power loader? That was him. The image of the metal skeleton of a Terminator  rising from burning wreckage? That was him too. And let’s not forget that all those practical, on-set dinosaurs you marvelled at while watching Jurassic Park was also him working on a scale that few of his peers could match. However, what you might not known about him is that his remarkable vision was giving him an irresistible urge to direct movies for himself, and in 1988 he finally got the chance with Pumpkinhead, an atmospheric monster movie that also came with lashings of eerie southern gothic, a crusty old witch and Lance Henriksen acting his fucking balls off as per usual. However, Pumpkinhead (also known on some shores as Vengence: The Demon) is rarely touted as a memorable example of 80s horror as much as it should be – so what gives? Did Winston’s talent stop short with special effects or was Pumpkinhead a victim of a curse far worse than witchcraft – a shitty release schedule?

Leathery windower Ed Harley lives a simple life in the country as he runs his ramshackle store and cares for his Jonathan Lipnicki-style son, Billy, whom he adores, however, when a cluster of city kids arrive for a vacation in a cabin, two of their number – Steve and his jackhole older brother Joel – decide break put their dirt bikes early and start tearing up the place while their more responsible friends tut accordingly. However, while Ed is out fulfilling an order, Billy runs off to grab his excitable dog only to get fatally poleaxed by Joel’s bike mid-stunt and things break foen fairly rapidly from there. You see, Joel’s on probation for an earlier accident and guess what, the dipshit’s been drinking too, so he grabs his shit and his horrified girlfriend and takes off, threatening his friends to keep their mouths shut, ripping our phone lines back at their cabin and even going so far as clonking one of his buddies with a log when he insists on going for help.
When Ed returns to find his son as bereft of life as a marionette with its strings cut, he decides to get mad and get even, but instead of grabbing the nearest rifle and going psycho-hick, he seeks out an old woman who lives up on the mountain who is rumoured to fuck around with the dark arts in a witch-like capacity.
Before you know it, souls have been sold, vengence demons have been invoked and the spiteful monstrosity known as Pumpkinhead is reborn in order to lay the righteous smackdown on those city kids no matter is dome of them are technically innocent or not. However, as the demon starts kicking ass and taking names, Ed finally starts to realise what his blind rage will cost him and sets out to try and undo what he has called onto this world. However, Pumpkinhead is a demon who loves his job and it’ll take far more than a shaky conscience to call him off.

While its limited release during a time when 80s horror was still in its special effects bonanza stage certainly couldn’t have helped its chances much, there’s a sense that time has been especially kind to Pumpkinhead. Eschewing the dying throes of of the slasher trend and the more broader tones of other, special effects bonanzas such as The Blob remake or Phantasm II, Winston chose to give his tale a more gothic, subtle feel – or at least as subtle as you can be when your main antagonist is a nine foot spite-monster – that at times almost feels like a modernised, American take on all those mist enshrouded Hammer movies of the 60s and 70s. Winston takes this notion and applies it hard to almost every scene that’s set once the sun goes down, switching from dry, dusty exteriors to more stylized sets the more Pumpkinhead starts to make his presence felt. Orange and teal lighting is deployed with reckless abandon and the more supernatural scenes are punctuated with either flashing strobes or more dry ice than looks technically healthy and you get the real feel that Winston was trying hard to put a modern spin on an increasingly gothic vibe.
Also working heavily in Winston’s favour is the presence of Lance Henriksen whom Winston famously tore in half in Aliens and, in repayment, attacks his role of a grieving father with the typical tenacious nature that you’d come to expect of the actor. Employing that gravely voice and that intense nature, he switches from a benevolent father to a juggernaut of grief as his first port of call – naturally – is to employ the services of a witch named Haggis to put a demonic hit on the punk kids to killed his boy. While some might argue that the fact that Ed never once thinks to call an ambulance feels a little too much like convenient storytelling, the sheer intensity of Henriksen’s grandstanding sells the fact that Harley immediately chooses demon vengeance over, say, rounding up a lynch mob or calling the local sheriff perfectly.

Of course, gothic visuals and a bellowing Lance Henriksen are one thing, but when you’re watching a movie directed by the man who created the frickin’ Predator, you can’t help but pray that his special effects guys are up to the task. Thankfully, they are and the result is yet another monster that not only is imposing as hell, but infuses its title creature with a mean spirited personality that makes it more than just a hulking suit of rubber. Simply put, Pumpkinhead really seems to enjoy his work, putting little vicious tics into his work as he preys on his victims. At one point he carves a cross into the head of a particularly religious victim and later mockingly lifts her head up to a window like she’s some sort of crying periscope. Elsewhere, he shows an impressive knowledge of the workings of motorcycles as he removes the chain from one as bait to lure someone in hoping to escape – however, while that raises some odd questions about whether hell trains its minions in the finer art of vehicle maintenance, the shot of Pumpkinhead teasing the kid by dangling said chain in front of him is fucking priceless.
In the face of a triple threat of Winston’s expansive, gothic style, Henriksen’s all-consuming performance and one of the most underrated monsters of the 80s, the cast of youths who find themselves preyed upon can’t help but be rather bland in comparison. In fact, the more decent they are, the more uninteresting they prove to be, but the movie needs meat for the grinder I guess and their city looks do prove to be a great counterpoint to all the redneck chic that’s going around – plus, we also get a small role for George “Buck” Flower which is always a treat for those who love their lines drawled without mercy.

It’s a real shame that Winston’s directing career never really came to fruition as the promice he showed here could have led to things far more prestigious than the underseen fantasy buddy movie A Gnome Named Gnorn and the 40 minute music video for Michael Jackson’s Ghosts. Still, in the pantheon of 80s movie monsters, Pumpkinhead still stands tall as one of Winston’s more underrated creations.
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