pumpkinhead

“What I really want to do is direct!”

It’s a quote attributed to pretty much everyone in the film industry, from screenwriters to extras to craft services employees. But after creating the visual effects for Aliens and Predator back to back, Stan Winston actually earned his shot in director’s chair with Pumpkinhead (1988). Truth be told, Winston had nothing to prove and a lot to lose, especially considering he was working in C-movie territory with no stars and a low budget. But his little under-the-radar horror movie shows he had skills that went beyond the latex workshop that made him an industry legend.

Somewhere in the deep South (which looks conspicuously like California), Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen) is a humble country grocer who ekes out a living with his young son running a roadside stand. Their peace is interrupted by a noisy group of vacationers on their way to a family cabin. As fate would have it, Harley’s son winds up dead and he begins a quest for vengeance that results in the creation of “Pumpkinhead,” a demon unleashed by a local swamp witch. Now the guilty and innocent alike are marked for death as the creature stalks them one by one.

Pumpkinhead has all the makings of a by-the-number ‘80s monster movie, right down to the jump scares and synthesizer music score. But Winston approaches the material with a sort of fairy-tale logic, shaping his characters with quick flourishes in key moments that give them more emotional weight than a typical slasher. Truth be told, we know little to nothing about anyone in the film, yet their deaths have meaning all the same.

And Henriksen provides the tragic emotional anchor. The actor was on a real role at this point in his career, having played the heroic android in Aliens and a nasty vampire soldier in Near Dark; his face a mysterious roadmap that could take you places you may or may not want to go. Without him, Pumpkinhead would be nothing but special effects.

Speaking of which, Winston’s team creates a uniquely memorable monster in the form of this Alien-inspired demon dug up from a backwater pumpkin patch. With gnarled arms, spindly legs and a bulbous head, the film isn’t afraid to put its face front and center. It’s obvious Winston wants to show off everything that was possible during the pinnacle of the practical effects era, most of which still hold up very well today.

Drenched in expressionistic lighting with imaginative sets and a better-than-average cast (see if you can spot a young Mayim Bialik amongst the raggedy mountain kids), Pumpkinhead is a show-stopping creature feature that might just be the last of its kind. And if that’s the case, Scream Factory has blessed it with a worthy digital tombstone. The new blu-ray collector’s edition is stuffed with two commentaries, six featurettes, behind-the-scenes footage and a tribute to Winston, who passed away in 2008.