Pumpkinhead (1987)
Starring: Lance Henriksen, John DiAquino, Kerry Remsen
Director: Stan Winston
Synopsis: bereaved father resurrects monstrous Demon of Vengeance for justice
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

Stan Winston, better known for his exploits as a special effects maestro turns his attention to direction with admirable results. This is an atmospheric and stylishly put together tale about vengeance that spirals out of control in the most horrific way. The nightmarish proceedings begin with a flashback to 1957 - we see a hapless fellow fleeing from a monstrous, salivating Demon-thing. A child watches in horror from his window as the beast begins to slice up its prey.

Years later we see that the child has become Lance Henriksen - a loner with a bright young son of his own. A son who is just about the only thing in his life. One ill-fated day, the child is struck accidentally by a rashly driven motorbike and dies slowly in his devastated fathers arms. Henriksen, driven by burning rage and hatred seeks out the help of a wrinkled old hag living out in the woods who tells him what to do in order to resurrect the monstrous creature known in local legend as the Pumpkinhead. The young bikers start meeting increasingly gruesome deaths in rapid succession, even those who had no direct hand in the boy's death. Henriksen unleashes an evil that he didn't realize would run amok and totally out of control and now the race is on to try to control the creature before it ravages everyone in sight!

The film doesn't offer much in terms of originality but makes up for that with loads of eerie atmosphere. Winston's film appears inspired by the fine tradition of EC horror comic books where each tale usually has a moral. The Pumpkinhead is apparently created by the same folks who designed the Alien as well as the Predator - and indeed Pumpkinhead is a fairly impressive creature, though clearly a poor cousin of both Geiger's Alien as well as the Predator. The films strength is its no nonsense approach and its creepy atmosphere as well as a fine performance by Lance Henriksen. It's no classic but in 1987 the entire genre was in serious decline and this represents a decent if fairly unremarkable effort.