everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I first saw this on a VHS in the early 90s. Revisited this recently on a blu ray. Plot - Lance Henriksen is a country man who owns a small grocery and is raising his small boy on his own. As a kid, he had witnessed Pumpkinhead (demon/monster) in action. City kids come into town with their motorbikes, and cause an accident killing Henriksen's small kid.... The movie is shot in the remote backwoods (myself a fan of backwoods, badlands n road movies). This film is the directorial debut of the FX genius Stan Winston. Pumpkinhead easily ranks among the best monster movie. It is one of my fav monster movie. The design of the demon/creature is astounding. The movie also features some good cinematography. The swamp scenes are bathed in an eerie blue light. The murky, foggy woods where the witch lives is just fantastic. The hill where the creature is dug up is spooky. The design of the witch's cottage is the true visual highlight. Its an old and dilapidated one, full of old relics and even some living animals. The flickering candle create heavy shadows n make the witch herself much scarier. Henriksens character and performance r excellent.

I am guessing that 65% of people reading this have never heard of this film before, which, in my opinion, is not a good thing. I first saw Pumpkinhead in 2008-2009 when I picked up a VHS copy of the film from a dealer at my hometown's local yard sale. The title got me interested. The first thing that I noticed was, obviously, that the creature on the VHS cover didn't actually have a pumpkin for a head. Regardless, it terrified me. Prior to watching the film, I was constantly worried that the creature would be lurking behind me, preparing to do something awful. I popped in the VHS. When the film was over, my opinion and POV of monster/horror films changed forever.Pumpkinhead was the directorial debut of special effects master Stan Winston, who was also responsible for the creature effects in Aliens, Terminator, Jurassic Park, etc. Of all of Stan Winston's works, Pumpkinhead is unfortunately his least popular. Not only did Pumpkinhead feature beyond fantastic creature effects, it also had a real story to it. Ed Harley (played by Lance Henriksen, who was also involved in Aliens) is the owner of a small grocery store in a rural southern town. When a group of city teenagers come to visit for a little dirt biking, Ed's son, Billy, is accidentally hit and killed by one of the bikers, named Joel. The portrayal of Joel's character seems to have inspired the run-of-the-mill drunk jerk-type character from I Know What You Did Last Summer. In addition, you can actually feel sorry for the character's in this film who are killed off, even the jerk who killed Ed's son. The characters in this film aren't portrayed as pure annoyances as they are in most modern horror garbage, they are portrayed as real characters.Another thing that makes the story of this film superior to what we see in a lot of 80's horror movies (and most movies before and after the 80's) is that it does not involve sex. Absolutely no sex at all. Why? Because the brilliant writers of this film, such as Gary Gerani, were actually thinking when they wrote this. Unlike the gratuitous summer camp consular sex scene in Friday the 13th (1980) that set a very low bar for entertainment, Pumpkinhead has a story motivated by the love between father and son, and the desire for vengeance that lurks within Ed Harley. I am truly grateful to Gary Gerani (as well as any other writers of this film) for putting together such a masterpiece. Now for the creature effects. You have no idea how much my blood begins to boil when I see or hear people saying that the design of the Pumpkinhead demon is a ripoff on H.R. Giger's xenomorph. These creature effects are coming from the same person responsible for the design of the xenomorph queen, so you have to expect some degree of inspiration and stop looking for excuses to make everything look un-original. In my opinion, Pumpkinhead has to be one of the greatest monster designs of all time, and should be featured on one of the covers of Famous Monsters of Filmland. The creature's large head with white unseeing eyes, pointed teeth, and the spongy brain of the creature being exposed on either side of the head really make this look like a demon that could actually come from Hell. The creature's tail also reminds you that this is a demon, and was not added to the design with the intention of being a ripoff on the xenomorph. The blowing wind and dead fall leaves that follow the creature wherever it goes in this film are pure creative genius, and they really remind you of when this film is taking place. The additional flashing lights are also a very atmospheric touch. I could go on forever with the creature design, so I'll stop here.The interior of the cabin belonging to Haggis, the old witch of the woods, in this film has to have taken hours to set up. There's so much going on inside the cabin, I won't even begin trying to describe it all here.My blood begins to boil on the verge of exploding whenever I read Empire's biased review of this film: "a Friday the 13th clone with very little atmosphere." Are you kidding me? Everyone who I have talked to that didn't like this film has never denied the power of its atmosphere, and how can you even compare it to Friday the 13th? That would be comparing an insane mother with a knife who's enraged about idiotic teenagers having sex to a huge monster who has set out to avenge the death of someone's son. Keep in mind that Empire's "review" of this film is probably coming from the same uneducated idiot who thought Jason X was "clever". Empire, you should hire real film reviewers or stop trashing masterpieces altogether!I will always consider the original Pumpkinhead to be an extremely atmospheric and underrated masterpiece. Stan Winston, a true legend, died in 2008, and I miss him every day. Normally I would say that Halloween III: Season of the Witch is the most underrated horror movie on my list, but being that H3 has been rediscovered recently and finally gotten the reception it deserves from (some of) the public, and this film really hasn't, I will say it: Pumpkinhead (1988) is the most underrated monster/horror film of all time. Ignore the sequels to Pumpkinhead, they are mostly an insult to it, but I do think the stories had potential.So you can have your Michael Myers stalking Laurie, you can have your Jason Voorhees cutting up naked women and drugged teens for no reason, you can have your Freddy Krueger murdering children. But give me a film with fantastic creature effects, atmosphere, likable characters, and a bond between father and son.

I first found out about this movie in my local blockbuster. It was on the end of the horror movies section, full of dust and its cover was really messed up. When i saw the cover art, i was completely compelled to rent that creepy movie! So i came home, made some popcorn, got some beers and baaam...started watching Pumpkinhead. When i saw the setting, that is, a desert surrounded by some creepy woods, i knew the film would be good. I'm not going to spoil it, but a man who lusts for vengeance can do crazy things, just like Ed Harley did. This movie had a quite huge budget for a horror movie from the 80s, and that is well shown in the special effects and the devil's costume. The designers really spent a lot of time perfecting Pumpkinhead, and that deed will definitely leave you impressed. Ethical and moral issues are also debated throughout the movie : The characters start thinking about what is the right thing to do, and they all build a sense of community in times of danger. Horror movies are definitely lacking this nowadays. There's a group on facebook ''Pumpkinhead Fans'' full of horror maniacs, so you should check it out once you are done watching this flick! I'd also recommend Pumpkinhead two.

After accidentally killing his son, a group of teens find themselves subject to a series of attacks by a demonic creature summoned to take revenge on their actions by the father and must try to stop it from completing its rampage.This here is one of the more impressive and enjoyable creature features out there. One of the biggest pluses here is the fact that this one manages to introduce a rather novel and intriguing storyline for its monster that comes off very well. The idea of letting loose a horrible creature of revenge to right perceived wrongs is a fairly new twist to the typical monster-on-the-loose style films and the way this element is woven into the story makes for some pretty exciting times. It needs a plausible scenario to set events in motion which is done here with the fine scene early on that kills of the son in what looks genuinely like a true accident so there's a logical reason for the demon conjuring, a fine set-up that gives the kids something resembling a conscience and finally brings the actual point home with a practically-chilling exhumation sequence in the appropriately long-dead cemetery that not only meets the functions of the story but also gives off the feeling of appropriate unease required for such scenes. The other big part about the novel story here is the physical connection between the two, as he manages to meld together with the creature during the attack scenes which is quite an inventive feeling here. There's also some good times here with this one featuring some really enjoyable stalking here with this one featuring some rather intense chases here with the creature going after the gang through the woods which results in great moments at the cabin and the abandoned church which provide this one with some thrilling action, nice suspense and a series of chilling encounters all packed with great gore and bloody kills. Combined here with the spectacular special effects for the creature and it's enough to overcome the one flaw present which is the nonsensical action that occurs in the later half. Many of the scenes here make no sense and come at a complete reversal from what was told before. This is really the only part here that doesn't really work.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and intense violent themes toward children.