1988 was such a great year for horror. Alongside the usual slashers, a cluster of imaginative, effects-driven titles were let loose and eventually found their way into the cult class. The Blob, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Waxwork, Phantasm II, Night of the Demons… and of course, Pumpkinhead.
Part urban legend, part Southern Gothic, Pumpkinhead was FX maestro Stan Winston’s directorial debut. He co-wrote the story and stayed close to what he already did better than anyone – creature effects. The result is a stripped-down revenge film set in rural futt-buck nowhere, with a big ol’ monster at its center.
Pumpkinhead wasn’t a huge success upon release, but the monster instantly became one of the decade’s most iconic. The design work has a deliberate slide into the uncanny valley with the head and shoulders tapering back unnaturally, and the limbs being uncomfortably too long. It never feels like a person in a rubber costume.
It’s a thing of terrifying beauty.
Like Pet Sematary, Pumpkinhead is a horror film that deals with blunt, harrowing loss. There’s nothing hidden behind a metaphor or allegory – just a parent outliving their child, and the kind of damage that sets loose.
It’s the sort of grief that hollows you out and invites in the monsters.
There’s a moment shortly after the movie’s events are set in motion where Lance Henriksen locks eyes with the film’s would-be victims. It’s a pure expression of grief, anger, and contempt. That look holds more power than any line of dialogue.
If there was ever a moment that should have earned Henriksen an Oscar, that was it. -Pop
Pumpkinhead was first summoned to Home Video this week in 1989, after a limited October 1988 theatrical release.