Pumpkinhead (1989)

Plot Outline: A backwoods father calls upon the demon "Pumpkinhead" to extract his revenge when a bunch of city teenagers accidentally kill his son during a bike ride.

The Review: Basically a monster-on-the-loose/slasher film, Pumpkinhead isn't too bad of a timewaster for the less-demanding horror fan. It deals with the effects of revenge and we get to see first hand just what revenge can be all about - both for the victims, meeting a brutal demise at the hands of the title monster, but also for Lance Henriksen's character who has to suffer the pain of each of it's victims. Henriksen shows that he's solid enough to carry a film like this on his own and it's a shame the man committed career suicide in the late 90s/early 00s with a succession of awful horror films. The rest of the cast do what they have to do: try and make themselves to be sympathetic so that we actually wish that Pumpkinhead hadn't been called to kill them. But when the creature looks so damned mean, it's hard to root for anyone else. Stan Winston was behind the camera directing but so it was up to Tim Woodruff to create the excellent design for the creature. Looking vaguely like an alien from Aliens, the creature is one tall dude with long talons ready to cut open flesh in a moment's notice. The fact that it's so tall and quiet just adds to it's imposing stature. It moves very stealthily along and Winston and his lighting cameraman like to place it in front of blue lights and fog just to really give it that killer touch. Added to the creepy forest sets, this is one dude you don't want to come across on a foggy night.

Final Verdict: Pumpkinhead is a good old fashioned revenge flick and whether or not the teenagers deserve it is up to you to decide. But when you've got a really big assed monster carving people up, do you really care as long as it gets some?

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