123) Pumpkinhead (1988)

"Can't you stop this? Can't you call it off?"

Director

Stan Winston

Cast

Lance Henriksen - Ed Harley

Matthew Hurley - Billy Harley

John D'Aquino - Joel

Jeff East - Chris
Kerry Remsen - Maggie
Kimberly Ross - Kim
Buck Flower - Mr. Wallace
Florence Schauffer - Haggis
Tom Woodruff Jr. - Pumpkinhead

The late Stan Winston is a legend in entertainment. He's worked as a makeup artist for films such as "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" (1972), "Edward Scissorhands," "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," "Batman Returns" and "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me."

As far as horror movies go, he's worked on "Friday the 13th part 2," "Friday the 13th part III," Disney's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and "The Entity." He's an absolute master at makeup effects. 

He also sat in the director's chair for Guns n' Roses' "You Could Be Mine" video as well as Michael Jackson's short version of the "Ghosts" video. 

Winston's directorial debut was the 1988 American horror creature feature "Pumpkinhead." 

I think his presence plays a role in the film's cult status. 

"Pumpkinhead" has spawned three sequels - "Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings" (1993), "Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes" (2006) and "Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud" (2007). There's also a documentary on Winston's directorial debut called "Pumpkinhead Unearthed" (2008). 

It has been years since I've seen this movie. In fact, it has been so long I couldn't remember if I had seen this in its entirety before. Now, I have for sure as I watched it the other night.

The movie starts in a small secluded cabin in 1957. A farmer named Tom Harley tells his wife and boy to wait inside while he goes to check on the horses and then lock everything up. Something wicked seems too close for comfort.

He sits by the fire with his wife while his son lays in bed, eyes wide open in fear and anticipation. 

Soon, a guy who's being chased by something or someone unseen stumbles up to Tom's front door, pleading and begging to be let in. 

But Tom doesn't want any part of this man's demise. He seems to knows who this man is and whatever evil deed he's committed. Tom yells at him through the door to leave as he must take care of his wife and son first.

Tom's son, Ed Harley, peeks through his window as the man at the door is attacked by a towering creature that's definitely not human. 

The movie shifts to present day. Ed (Lance Henriksen) is a widowed farmer raising a young son of his own named Billy (Matthew Hurley) who's about seven or eight years old. 

Ed operates a small general store alongside the highway. 

When he opens shop, a small group of teenagers pull up hauling dirt bikes in their pickup trucks.

Mr. Wallace (Buck Flower - "Back to the Future"), one of the locals, pulls in as well for supplies plus some animal feed which Ed accidentally left back at the house. 

He leaves Billy alone, telling him to stay in the store while he'll only be gone for a little bit to go grab Mr. Wallace's animal feed. 

Jeff East as Chris in "Pumpkinhead" (1988).

As he leaves, one of the teenagers, Joel (John D'Aquino) decides to ride his dirt bike around the hills behind the shop regardless of his buddies advising him not to. 

Billy's dog runs out of the shop at the sound of the dirt bike's engine. Billy, of course, chases after it. 

When he runs outside, Joel accidentally hits Billy with his bike at full speed, killing him instantly. 

Having just come out of jail, Joel doesn't want to get into trouble again,. So, he packs up his bike and drives off leaving Billy in the dirt. One of the teens named Steve (Joel Hoffman) stays with Billy until his father returns. 

And when Ed comes back and realizes what happened while he was gone, he picks up his son and takes him to Mr. Wallace's place. He assumes all the teenagers are responsible.

Ed knows that a witch lives somewhere deep in the woods who might be able to help his son. He goes straight to Mr. Wallace's place and inquires about this witch, but Wallace refuses to tell him where she lives. He gives Ed money for the feed and tells him to grieve and bury his son. 

Wallace's son, Chris (Jeff East), tells Ed exactly where he can find the witch. Chris even takes him partway to her lone dreary cabin surrounded by standing water and dank atmosphere.

When Ed walks into her dwelling, he doesn't need to tell her why he came. The witch, who's name is Haggis (Florence Schauffeer), already knows. 

He lays his deceased son down on a table. But the witch tells Ed that she cannot wake the dead. 

What she does offer is an opportunity to inflict revenge on the teens in the worst way possible. 

First he must dig up a corpse buried on a specific mound within an old pumpkin patch, and bring it back to her. 

Once that's done, she takes some of his blood and some from his dead son, and pours it on the corpse. It resurrects into a towering demon-like creature. She instructs this demonic entity to seek out the kids responsible.

She warns Ed to let this monster carry out the revenge he was summoned to perform. The creature will kill anyone, even Ed, who dares to stand in his way. 

Once it begins killing each teen one by one, Ed can feel each murder as it takes place. It leaves him twisting and writhing in pain. In turn, the monster can feel any physical harm that befalls Ed. 

Soon, Ed starts feeling remorse for taking his fury out as far as he did. So, he does what he can to stop it and prevent any further killing from taking place regardless of Haggis's warnings. 

Initially, the movie struck me as just another creature feature, but with some originality. This time, I made sure to watch until the end. After letting it settle a moment, I recognized a little depth to the story. There's more substance here, story-wise, than other creature features. In other words, it's not a completely mindless slaughter fest of a horror flick. There's a little something to take away from the movie. 

Seeing Ed lose his young son in an instant is difficult to watch. It's a strong bond that's severed by the stupidity of one teenager. 

And to add salt to the wound, that teen decides to flee.  

On top of that, Ed bears the weight of guilt on his shoulders as he left Billy alone in the store while he made a quick trip back home. 

That aspect isn't mentioned, but it doesn't need to be. Lance Henriksen acts with his eyes and facial features. Guilt is a very reasonable conclusion to come to watching his performance. 

I found Tom's way of grieving curious. He doesn't lose it like one would expect. He goes straight to rage and revenge in the darkest way possible, as though he knew beforehand that those mindless teenagers would cause harm in some way or another. 

The story leaves me with the idea that revenge is an evil thing. A person has no option but to tap into a dark place in some way or another to inflict vengeance on another. Even Batman chooses to work in darkness while carrying out vengeance in Gotham City.

Lance Henriksen as Ed Harley.

It never ends with the complete satisfaction one thinks they'll obtain. 

"Pnmpkinhead" depicts this moral well enough. It has a folktale feel to it. 

The story is based on a poem by Ed Justin.

"Keep away from Pumpkinhead,
Unless you're tired of living,
His enemies are mostly dead,
He's mean and unforgiving,
Laugh at him and you're undone,
But in some dreadful fashion,
Vengeance, he considers fun," as part of the poem goes.

To the movies credit, the actors seem to take their roles with a tone of seriousness.

Mayim Bialik ("Big Bang Theory") has a small role as one of the Wallace kids. According to IMDB.com, this is her first film role. 

The overall tone changes quickly from dry and sunny to the dank backwoods atmosphere laden with fog and uncertainty. This doesn't happen when Billy dies. It seems to occur once Ed  decides to turn to evil for revenge. 

The monster itself is memorable and easily recognizable. He bears a constant grin as though he's enjoying the vengeance he's called upon to inflict.

I appreciate the vulnerability Pumpkinhead carries. While his conjuring comes at a permanent price for the conjurer, it's demise also comes at the same type of cost...for Ed. 

Horror writer Stephen King does something similar in many of his stories. There's a solution, but that solution either comes in a way that the protagonist doesn't want or expect. That solution comes with damage, whether physical, mental, or both for the protagonist. 

"Pumpkinhead" isn't obscure but doesn't seem to stand among other, more prevailing horror movies of the decade. Still, it deserves audiences' attention.