Pumpkinhead (1988)

Pumpkinhead is a 1988 American supernatural horror film. It was the directorial debut of special effects artist Stan Winston. While Pumpkinhead received mixed reviews, the film has built up a cult following in the years since its release.

Plot
In the prologue set in 1957, Tom Harley waits inside his farm cabin with his wife and young son, Ed. A doomed man runs through the night and seeks sanctuary at Tom's cabin. Tom refuses and threatens to shoot him if he does not leave. Watching through a window, Ed witnesses the man caught and killed by a grotesque creature.

In the present, Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen) owns a small store in the country. He briefly leaves his young son alone while he runs an errand. A group of teenage campers stop by Harley's. While riding their dirt bikes, they mortally injure Harley's son. One teen, Steve, stays with the boy until his father's return; the rest flee the scene.

At their cabin, the campers fight about whether or not to call the police. Joel, who is responsible for the boy's injury and is on probation for a similar incident, knocks one of his friends unconscious and locks two others in the closet to stop them from contacting the authorities.

Harley, with his pet dog Gypsy, goes to see a supposed witch, who says she cannot bring his son back. Instead Harley says that he wants revenge and as a boy, he saw the witch controlling a mysterious creature, the witch agrees to help Harley seek revenge, but she warns him that vengeance comes with a terrible price. On her orders, Harley goes to an old graveyard in the mountains, digs up a disfigured corpse, and brings it back to the witch's home. The witch uses blood from father and son to resurrect the corpse, which rises as a giant, spindly demonic creature.

Back at the cabin, Joel begins to experience remorse for his actions, and determines to turn himself in to the police. The monster, however, has already arrived. One of the girls, Maggie, hears a voice whispering her name. Seemingly hypnotized, she follows the voice outside the cabin. Steve brings her out of her trance, but he is then attacked by the creature and killed. Harley experiences the murder through the creature's eyes.

While the campers search for Steve, a clawed hand seizes Maggie, dragging her away. Harley has a vision of the creature killing Maggie and he returns to the witch, begging her to stop the monster. The witch laughs mockingly and

says that the monster cannot be stopped until its mission of vengeance is complete. She warns that Harley will die too if he interferes.

Joel confronts the monster with a knife, but the monster swats him aside and drags off another of the teens. The three remaining campers beg the locals for help, but the locals refuse, saying the three campers are "marked." Harley arrives and shoots the creature, but when Joel checks to see if it's dead, the creature impales Joel on his own rifle.

A local boy, Bunt, helps the two remaining campers, Tracey and Chris, reach an abandoned church. Bunt relates the legend of the monster Pumpkinhead, explaining that the creature avenges one who was wronged. If anyone tries to stop Pumpkinhead, that person becomes marked as another victim. The creature attacks and throws Chris against a tree, then drags his body back to Harley's house, where Tracey, Bunt, and Harley have taken shelter.

Bunt is caught when Pumpkinhead enters the house. While Harley experiences the murder, Tracey is terrified to see that his face has changed to resemble the monster's. She runs outside and finds Chris struggling to crawl away as Pumpkinhead prepares to kill Bunt. Harley stumbles out of the barn but is accidentally stabbed in the arm by a pitchfork. Both Harley and Pumpkinhead cry out in pain, and the creature releases Bunt. Harley notices that Pumpkinhead's face is turning more human, then realizes that he and Pumpkinhead are one: the only way to kill the creature is to die himself.

The creature grabs Tracey by the neck, but before it can kill her, Harley shoots it in the head. Pumpkinhead momentarily collapses to the ground. Pumpkinhead grabs Bunt again. Tracey grabs the gun, and Harley begs her to kill him. Harley, now fully changed, tries to attack Tracey. She shoots him several times until both he and Pumpkinhead fall to the ground, dead. Tracey, Bunt, and Chris then watch as Pumpkinhead bursts into flames. Later that night, back in the pumpkin patch, the witch buries Harley's now-disfigured corpse in Pumpkinhead's grave. The film ends showing his corpse still wearing the necklace his son Billy made him.

Cast

 * Lance Henriksen as Ed Harley
 * Jeff East as Chris
 * John D'Aquino as Joel
 * Kimberly Ross as Kim
 * Joel Hoffman as Steve
 * Cynthia Bain as Tracy
 * Kerry Remsen as Maggie
 * Brian Bremer as Bunt
 * Buck Flower as Mr. Wallace
 * Mayim Bialik as Christine Wallace
 * Matthew Hurley as Billy Harley
 * Lee DeBroux as Tom Harley
 * Tom Woodruff Jr. as Pumpkinhead

Release
The film was given a limited release theatrically in the United States by United Artists in October 1988 and again in January 1989. In total, it grossed $4,385,516 total at the domestic box office.

The film was released on VHS in the U.S. by MGM/UA Home Entertainment in May 1989. MGM released the film on DVD twice; once in 2000 as a standard edition and again in 2008 in a 20th Anniversary Edition featuring an audio commentary and over an hour of featurettes.

Reception
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 68% of 22 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 5.3/10. Dave Kehr of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "As a technician, Winston clearly knows how to make a monster, but as a director he`s yet to learn how to bring one to life." Richard Harrington of The Washington Post wrote that the film has poor writing and acting, but it is surprisingly polished for a B movie. Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times wrote that, despite its poor writing, the premise is interesting, but it's not executed as well as Forbidden Planet.

Bloody Disgusting rated the film 4/5 stars and called it "a gothic story of love, loss, vengeance, and redemption." Joshua Siebalt of Dread Central rated the film 4/5 stars and wrote that film "stands as a timeless, dark fairy tale." Reviewing the 2000 DVD release, G. Noel Gross of DVD Talk rated it 3.5/5 stars and wrote that the film is "too good to pass over", despite its lackluster presentation. Nick Nunziata also criticized the 2000 DVD release and wrote that the film does not hold up. Nick Schager of The A.V. Club called it an endearing, pulp film that lacks subtlety.

Legacy
Despite its poor box office results, Pumpkinhead has become a cult film.

Sequels
A sequel, entitled Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, went straight to video in 1994 directed by Jeff Burr.

Two additional sequels, titled Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes and Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud, were filmed in 2006 as made for television movies and aired on Syfy. Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes aired in October 2006, and Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud aired on February 10, 2007.

Reboot
A Reboot is currently in the works.

Comic
In 1993, Dark Horse Comics published a Pumpkinhead comic book series called "Pumpkinhead: The Rites of Exorcism". The comic was supposed to be a four-part mini-series but only two issues were published. The second one ended in a cliffhanger leaving readers with the prospect of a winged Pumpkinhead that would have appeared in the third issue.

Computer Game
In 1995, Electronic Arts published a first-person shooter computer game for Microsoft Windows called Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead's Revenge. The game was poorly received.

Model kits
In 1991, GEOmetric Design, Inc. produced and marketed the first licensed Pumpkinhead model kit. It featured the demon on a display base depicting a portion of a burned out church. The model kit was sculpted by American artist Randy Bowen. The kit was discontinued when GEOmetric Design released its Pumpkinhead: The Metamorphosis kit.

In 1994, GEOmetric Design, Inc. produced and marketed a vinyl Pumpkinhead model kit called "Pumpkinhead: The Metamorphosis". This version of Pumpkinhead has wings and the model kit depicts the demon perched on an aging stone staircase. The model stands about 17 inches tall, was licensed by MGM/UA, Inc. and endorsed by Stan Winston Studios, and Carducci and Gerani, the writers of the original film. Sculpted by Japanese artist Takayuki Takeya (竹谷 隆之), the kit was based on the Pumpkinhead sequel story written by Carducci and Gerani and published in the Dark Horse Comics series. The kit included a glossy, full-color booklet that concluded the cancelled Dark Horse comic.

In 2005, Sideshow Collectibles released a Pumpkinhead maquette.

Music
The horror punk band The Misfits released a song entitled "Pumpkin Head," which was featured on their album Famous Monsters, released in 1999. The lyrics are basically a re-telling of the plot of the film, with the first lines being: "Now this is a story, of a good man named Ed, left his son for a moment, returned found him dead". The song ends with the first four lines of the poem that inspired the film "Keep away from the Pumpkinhead, unless you're tired of living, his enemies are mostly dead, he's mean and unforgiving." Boondox, a horrorcore country rapper with Psychopathic Records released an EP entitled 'Punkinhead' May 1, 2007. It features a song of the same name.