PUMPKINHEAD
Dumb rhyme, good movie

  "Doors are locked and windows barred, guard dogs patrolling in the yard,
Cannot save you in your bed, nothing will, from PUMPKINHEAD!"

So reads the amusingly unfrightening rhyme by Ed Justin upon which this film is based.  Don't let it put you off, though; Pumpkinhead is something you don't see much of these days - a no-nonsense monster movie.  Directed by creature-maker extraordinaire Stan Winston, it goes for straight-for-the-jugular horror that wants to be taken seriously, at least for the length of the viewing experience if not much beyond.  Never mind that its inspiration gets a place of honor on any list of bad horror movie poetry.

Lance Henriksen as a waaaaaay-out-in-the-country roadside-grocery owner with a little boy, his store, and, well, that's all he needs.  (plus of course the flamethrower we see him using in his first scene, a none-too-subtle hint of what's to come)  Enter some dirt-biking city teenagers, who tear it up in the hills around the store and then...aw, poor kid.  So Lance goes way into the super-foggy backwoods to find a witch (possibly a poker buddy of the Blair Witch) who will grant him vengeance with the rise of the monster Pumpkinhead! (no, its head doesn't actually look like a pumpkin)

This is Winston's first directorial effort, and while he certainly doesn't pull off everything all the time (he has a tendency to frame a LOT of shots that keep seasoned fans looking into the corners, though these never come to anything), it's a fine job.  Some excellent, frightening moments are where the monster moves across a window unexpectedly, and one near the end where it demonstrates a cruel sense of humor by pretending not to see one of its intended victims.

Winston, surprisingly, was not in charge of the creature effects as you might imagine, but the effects (courtesy of Tom Woodruff Jr.) are excellent.  Pumpkinhead, though obviously quite Alien-derived, benefits from one of the Alien's best attributes - even though it's a man in a suit, it doesn't LOOK like a man in a suit (until Pumpkinhead 2).

Acting's what you'd expect (the teens are all monster-fodder, not that you'd really want them to be anything else), although Henriksen is much better in his early scenes than later, when he realizes he, uh, has a psychic link with the monster.  (I'm willing to forgive this psychic link because there's a moral point to it)  The obvious love between this father and his son is one a lot of movies really don't bother to show, and if those early scenes with those two don't bring a tear to your eye, I don't know what will, you heartless monster!

Pumpkinhead gave rise to a sequel, which was hilariously bad, a review for which is forthcoming.  

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