By Chris Summerfield
This movie was the directorial debut for the Oscar winning, Stan Winston, who is sadly no longer with us. He was a creative master when it came to visual effects and makeup winning Oscars for his creative work in major movies such as, Aliens, Predator and Jurassic Park.
The movie starts with a flashback to 1957, a young, Ed Harley, with his parents are locked in their house, his father, Tom, (Lee DeBroux) having locked them in. Then appears a man at their door, beating upon it, begging, Tom, to show mercy and let him in, but, Tom, refuses to open the door. Young Ed Harley then witnesses from the window a monster killing the man.
The movie then goes to present day
Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen) runs a small store and while out on a errand his young son, Billy Harley, (Mathew Hurley) remains within the store with their dog, nearby a group of teenagers are scrambling upon their bikes; the boys dog gets excited and races towards them with, Billy Harley, racing after it, tragedy strikes when the young boy is killed by one of the motorcyclist.
The teenagers return to the cabin they are staying at and one of them, Joel, (John D’ Aquino) decides they will not go to the police, as he had been drinking and therefore makes a group decision regardless of what the others feel.
Ed, in the meantime goes to seek out a woman by the name of, Haggis, believes to have special powers that could bring the dead back to life, though, Ed, is warned of her, told to stay away, however his judgement clouded with his grief and the urge for revenge leads him on.
Haggis, tells, Ed, she cannot bring the dead back, though she could summon, Pumpkinhead, to revenge the death of his son. Ed, recalls the monster from his childhood, though, Haggis, warns him of the terrible price involved. Ed is undeterred and wants the monster, he as to first recover the body of, Pumpkinhead, then along with his blood, Haggis, brings it alive.
Pumpkinhead, goes out for vengeance for, Ed Harley, though, Ed, as to witness the murders in his mind’s eye, having to witness the terror those teenagers feel.
One by one the teenagers are murdered by the monster and little by little, Ed, is tormented with the visions, slowly but surely going insane. With two of the teenagers remaining, Ed, as to make a decision… The monster must be stopped, but only, Ed, can do that, leading to an ultimate climax
This is a clever movie, as, Pumpkinhead, portrays how anger and revenge can spiral out of control and nothing positive can be gain from such actions.
Rating: 7/10
