Pumpkinhead Review

Pumpkinhead is one of the most straightforward and simple movies I think I have ever seen. You know that motif of, “made for TV movie” that movies like Tremors have? Pumpkinhead has that same feeling. While it does hold a place as a cult classic, that doesn’t mean it’s good.

Pumpkinhead can be found on Amazon and free on Hulu if you have Hulu right now.

Pumpkinhead Synopsis

Pumpkinhead is the story of a group of young twenty-somethings who are headed out to a cabin in the woods. As far as I can tell this is supposed to be set in the south, which is difficult for me because what isn’t shot on a soundstage is very obviously locations in the hills of LA.

As our
group of kids stops at a small local store for some supplies, the rowdiest of
the group inexplicably hops on dirtbikes and starts riding around doing sweet
tricks. The son of the store owner is fatally injured by one of these sweet
tricks, and all but one of the kids head into the hills to avoid having murder
pinned on them.

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The owner
of the shop returns and finds his child mortally wounded, so he seeks revenge
the only way he knows how – he goes to see a witch to put a death curse on the
kids who killed his son.

Long story short, Pumpkinhead is summoned by the witch – he is a big ugly creepy looking …pumpkinhead. He cuts a swath of revenge through the kids and anyone who gets in the way of his revenge. 

Pumpkinhead Review

Pumpkinhead (directed by Stan Winston) is a better than terrible slasher that has a great monster and a cult following of adults who were scarred in their childhood by this gruesome beast. As far as movie structure goes, it’s pretty clear what is going on at all times and why. 

Unfortunately, it’s never interesting enough for me to care about anyone or anything. The lighting is intentionally on the pitch-black side of dark (to hide the costume), and the writing is barebones and interchangeable with any other crappy 80’s slasher.

Here at
Horror Movie Talk, we try to see things as they are, putting down the nostalgia
glasses and looking at horror movies to compare them honestly. We won’t pander
to you, or your childhood, and only minimally to our own (we hope). Pumpkinhead is a bad movie. What it brings to the table is an easy to understand
storyline and a pretty great monster, along with a memorable name. 

While you
may remember this movie fondly, I think only the most die-hard horror snobs
will go down with this ship to be seen as a “true horror fan”.

My Score for Pumpkinhead

3/10

Pumpkinhead Spoilers

This movie is about as barebones as you can get. I won’t go
into astonishing detail because it doesn’t exist.

At the start of the movie we get to see a flashback of Ed
Harley as a little kid. His family is enjoying a nice evening in, and their
neighbor comes to their door screaming about something hunting him. They
decline to let in this neighbor and avoid being killed.

Dirtbiking Gone Wrong!

Cut to present day, and Ed (Lance Henriksen)
has a kid of his own. Ed runs a local shop. Some rowdy twenty-somethings show
up at Ed’s shop for some supplies, and the rowdiest of the bunch just can’t
contain themselves – they MUST dirtbike NOW!

While these ruffians are performing sweet tricks, Ed’s son
is fatally wounded by dirtbike antics. All except one of the kids escape, Steve
stays behind to look after Ed’s kid.

Revenge Via Witch Inspired Pumpkinhead

Ed heads over to the local witch, as you do when you are
seeking ultimate revenge on a pack of ruffians. She warns Ed that revenge comes
at a terrible price, but he is willing to accept the charges. She sends him out
to retrieve a dead body at the most insane graveyard ever.

When He returns, she uses the blood oh his kid and him to
resurrect this dead body into, you guessed it, Pumpkinhead.

Pumpkinhead Does The Thing

At this point the kids are feeling remorseful for, you know,
murder – buts it’s too late. Pumpkinhead kills them. Yeah, it takes a while,
and yeah, it’s boring. Every time Pumpkinhead kills, Ed has visions of the kill
from within his own head, as though he also has a pumpkinhead…

The Twist

Ed decides he can’t stand watching Pumpkinhead’s rampage and
starts trying to stop him. He injures himself, and we see that Pumpkinhead is
injured at the same time inexplicably. Now we know Ed and Pumpkinhead are
linked. Ed tries to kill himself to end the spree, but ultimately Tracey kills
both Ed and Pumpkinhead.

Final Recommendations

You may like this movie – that’s fine! Cult classics are
cult for a reason; they posses something that keeps people coming back. If you
haven’t seen this, don’t bother unless slashers are your bigtime jam, and even
then, probably don’t bother. If you dig crazy monsters, ok maybe. The real
reason to watch this is to say you have.