Pumpkinhead is the directorial debut of the late FX-guru Stan Winston, setting the precedent for other FX-artists to follow suit, with Tom Savini firmly placing himself in the director's chair on the remake of Night of the Living Dead in 1990 (although, Savini did have a bit more experience directing as he did a few television episodes of Tales from the Darkside before NOTLD '90, which was his feature film).

Both films set themselves apart in the fact that everything else in the film takes a backseat to the love and care applied to the special effects.

Besides the obviously amazing creature effects (one of the most arresting scenes had the vengeance demon perched at the top of a tree),…

American rural folk jam taking place in nowheresville USA completely shrouded in atmos of the highest order courtesy of thick fog and the glimmering beautiful colors seeping through it—making the setting seem like some backwoods nightmare that’s completely shut off from the rest of the world.

Steeped in dust on the Harley Homestead, an overgrown with plant life shanty house with skulls/owls/rodents owned by an old witch, Buck Flower, the incredible animatronics and creature design of our dark magik vengeance beast who lays in wait in a pumpkin graveyard, and Lance as Ed Harley—giving it all he’s got in a damn fine/touching story of revenge and it’s intertwined consequences. I wish Stan Winston directed more movies because seeing Pumpkinhead illuminated…

*Part of HOOPT🎃BER 5.0: “You don’t believe in the Boogeyman? You should.” challenge.
2/33
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"PUMPKINHEAD" looks like a dark fairy tale, which, for my surprise, doesn't happen during Halloween.

During most time, a thick atmosphere engulfs the characters either with constant gales, thunders, heavy fog or indirect lighting forming beautiful godrays in an endless twilight, creating a claustrophobic feeling, as if it were isolated from the rest of the world.

I also liked Lance Henriksen's commitment to the character, Ed Harley, a simple, hard-working man who raised his young son by himself. This little boy and his dog called Gypsy (played by a dog actor called Mushroom, cited in the credits, that also played Barney in "Gremlins") are the…

I was looking for something that had that wonderful fall/woods in the fall vibe to it and then I thought “oh what I really need to do is make a list of movies like that” and I haven’t gotten around to doing that yet because ugh thinking, but when I do this movie will definitely be on it. Anywho, this is pretty great stuff. Pumpkinhead is a total badass demon with a beautifully ridiculous name. The cast is good, the kills are great, and the dark atmosphere is so good you can almost feel that nip in the air.

Also, totally random thought I had that may or may not have had something to do with a couple of Rusty…

Hoop-tober 3.0
Other reviews: #1 | #2 | #4

'What I really want to do is direct'.

The want and sentiment occupies every department and field of the motion picture industry. Some people luck into it, some 'come up through the ranks' and others achieve a level of success in their field that allows them to leverage that notoriety for a crack at directing. Stan Winston had ascended to the highest level of respect and adulation in his field when he began his Pumpkinhead chapter. An effects and makeup resume with Predator, Aliens, Starman, The Thing & The Terminator can do that for you.

P-head is a hillbilly parable dealing with revenge and the existence of that monster within us, as…

letterboxd.com/zombifan/list/horrorthon2019/

Mondo Cinema is the place to come for discussing films that were a staple of video store shelves.
So, let's discuss Pumpkinhead...1988, shall we?

A group of people on vacation in what's apparently hillbilly land. (Somebody please tell these folks, the dust bowl is over.) They fuck up royally by killing the only son of Lance Henriksen by accident.
Lance then does what any loving father would.....drive around with his sons corpse until he tracks down an ancient witch, so he can send a demon from hell after the people who killed his son.
Will they survive? Is the old witch an agent of Satan? Is the demon cousins with the creature from Alien?

Effects master Stan Winston, sits…

Pumpkinhead is a shitty 80's slasher flick and I happen to be a fan of this horror sub genre, so there is some stuff in this film which managed to amuse me. The effects and makeup were pretty good, Haggis and the Pumpkinhead himself looked really good, Haggis is a very entertaining and well acted character, I really liked the lore of the movie, there is some captivatingly bad acting, the „Jump scares“ in this film are fucking hysterical and there is some nice cinematography. However, even if you are a fanatic of a slasher genre, I wouldn't hurry to recommend this picture, because it has a shit ton of room for improvement. Except from Haggis, every character is abysmal.…

This falls into that realm of something that didn't strike me as frightening, but is still something I'd gladly revisit.

Pumpkinhead, for as ridiculous as its title might be, is elevated by a cast of genuine performances, most notably Lance Henriksen, who portrays a truly distraught father when his son is accidentally killed by a rowdy bunch of city college jerks.
Now, for once in these kinds of circumstances, the majority of the group tries to do the right thing when the accident occurs. There's the true asshole couple who mess it all up, but one goes into delirious shock out of sheer guilt.

Now, the teens at least had some excuse of being in the middle of an unfamiliar…