A young boy witnessed a
demonic creature Pumpkinhead (Tom
Woodruff Jr.) who killed a man
Clayton Heller (Dick Warlock) for doing a
bad deed decades ago as a child
experienced this murder locked in his
cabin with his family.
It is now present day and this child is a
full grown single father Ed Harley
(Lance Henriksen) with his son Billy
(Matthew Hurley) who owns a little
grocery store in the middle of nowhere as
some teenagers are on a country holiday
dirtbike racing.
Tragedy strikes when one of them
Joel (John DiAquino) runs over Billy as
he was drunk and kills him while this
poor child was trying to chase after his
dog from running away.
Joel's younger brother Steve (Joel
Hoffman) tries to tell Ed that what
happened was an accident but Ed shows
total rage against these kids as he tries
to find out where a backwoods witch
Haggis (Florence Shauffler) is residing
but one of the locals Mr. Wallace
(George 'Buck' Flower) only tells him
that she will raise hell than to help
resurrect his son.
He doesn't listen and digs up
Pumpkinheads corpse requested by Haggis
as she then uses both Ed's and Billy's
blood to revive this demonic creature.
Ed doesn't realise what he has done as
he feels pain whenever Pumpkinhead roams
the woods with him around as this beast
plans to do away all these teens one by
one for the death of poor Billy as Ed
tries to stop this monster before anyone
else gets killed.
A great prologue that involved
a supporting character Clayton Heller by running away in the woods on a stormy
night and banging on a cabin door and
screaming for help which looked good as
well as his body being pulled away and
dragged by Pumpkinhead himself which
looked very creepy as well as a good shot
on a child staring at the
window during the terrifying moment.
We
then have a nice look with Ed Harley working outside on a dusty
day as the camera looking good focusing
on him.
There is a good conversation between Ed and his son Billy going
in their vehicle to the corner store
which looked like a nice father and child
act.
There's also a good chanting on a group of children circling
around one of their siblings and
taunting him about Pumpkinhead which will
always be well remembered along with a
good shot on Tracy staring at them with creeped out features.
Good shots on Joel and Steve riding their dirtbikes around doing stunt
driving and jumping around.
A good shot on Billy running in
the dirt field for his dog with Tracy and Maggie screaming after him in fear and suddenly
a good shot on Steve in the air with his bike and a terrifying shot
on Joel hitting him as well
with Billy looking good on the
ground dead as a doornail.
Everyone does well by crying and freaking
out.
A good upsetting look on Ed running towards his dead son and then
carrying him away.
There's a good discussion with Ed towards Mr. Wallace about
finding Haggis to resurrect his son in which things turn effective and interesting when this fellow suggests to him that it's not a good idea and knowing
nothing on where she is. This scene was well put into the story drawing your attention by wondering on what could unravel here.
There is a nice dark and creepy setting
with Ed approaching the
old creepy cabin with Haggis by sitting in her chair by
the fireplace. Good angle shots between Ed and Haggis by having a wicked
conversation.
Perfect dark shots on Ed digging up Pumpkinhead's corpse on a hill
with the mist floating around.
A perfect shot on Pumpkinhead rising
up in the cabin with Ed lying on the floor trembling in pain.
There's a good scene between Steve and Maggie out in the dark woods
together with him showing her a
crucifix necklace.
Many good shots on Steve being dragged around with a clawlike hand
on his head throwing him around too.
Good chasing scenes involving Tracy, Joel and Chris running away from Pumpkinhead as we see many dark
shots on him standing with lightning
flashing and ready to attack.
Good shots on Ed with a
rifle or flametorch trying to do away
with Pumpkinhead.
A perfect shot on Joel standing
there next to Pumpkinhead on
the ground and then grabbing his leg and
holding him upside down.
We spot a perfect discussion between Bunt walking into the woods
with Tracy and Chris to a
torn down church explaining to them what
the creature is as it was strongly
done.
A nice shot with the blue light shining
on Pumpkinhead standing in the
broken down church.
Bottom line is that I must say that
this film was truly original by having
some sort of a demon rising out of a
pumpkin patch grave with good effects and
a nice b-film look to it adding that
right spooky monster movie touch to it. I enjoyed the lightning effects and
having a backwoods witch involved too
with locals not wanting anything to do
with her as well as the legend of
Pumpkinhead. It's really disturbing when you see a
father and son relationship that is
wrecked after his son gets killed which
makes you feel sorry for the old guy.
Pumpkinhead looked like one of the
creatures from Aliens and of course was
made by the same special effects guy too. This one is for sure a great one to watch
on Halloween.
The acting is
fairly good as we have a nice performance
by cult veteran Lance Henriksen
(Ed Harley) as a basket case store owner who shows
nice upsetting emotions and great energy
as he always does with his work in a
film. does well turning around with an evil look
on his face after someone explained by telling him it was an accident after what happened to hius onscreen son.
Jeff East (Chris) has that nice boy next
door looks to him for a horror film like
this as he suits the role and brings his
character failry clear to the screen.
John DiAquino (Joel) plays a nice bad ass
drunk in the film as he knew how to act
paranoid and aggressive. Great menacing reactions by him towards his fellow castmates in
their cabin.
Joel Hoffman (Steve) who plays his younger
brother is okay with his part but nothing
really too special as I found his only
great performance was his small role in
the 1987 slasher flick Slaughterhouse.
Yet, this film marks to be his most
successful one to date. In a part of the story does
well with upsetting words explaining it
was an accident to someone else after a tragic moment on what he did.
Kerry Remsen (Maggie) who played his
girlfriend stood out well with her
paranoid attitude and screaming behavior. She does well trying to pray at a
table and going ballistic.
Cynthia Bain (Tracy) plays a nice leading
actress in the film with her scared
emotions with pumped up energy and knew
how to act emotional quite well too. A nice reaction on her telling her onscreen siblings
to stop it. Nice emotions on her when she confronts her fellow cast member that what
happened to his onscreen son was an accident. She
had the right looks to be a victim in a
horror film too.
Florence Shauffler (Haggis) looked believably
creepy playing the backwoods witch in the
film along with her creepy tones too.
Brian Bremmer (Bunt) really brought a great
performance as a son to a redneck family
really bringing his lines across
superbly.
But I had to admit I really enjoyed George
'Buck' Flower (Mr. Wallace) bringing a perfect
redneck charm to his part in the film and
good stern expressions too. He does well with his intimidated reactions
not to do such a thing towards someone else in a part of a story on a suggested resurrection. A good blunt attitude on him by telling two people to get away from his property in another scene. Bless his
soul.
There's even a small part by Dick
Warlock (Clayton Heller) who seemed to bring a great
creeped out character in the beginning of
the film as he can wear other hats than
just Michael Myers.
There's the odd blood here
and there but nothing too gruesome.
We have some great
bluesy accoustic country like guitar
playing along with some harmonica music.
There's also terrific creepy dark
synthesizer playing during the terrors
with Pumpkinhead. All of this was put together by Richard Stone.
Clayton
Heller: What kind of a Christian
are you for God sakes???
Kim: [talking
about Joel and Chris looking for Steve]
They should be okay, right? I mean, they
took the guns and everything.
Maggie: God is the only thing that
can stop what's out there, Kim.
Tracy: [walks over to the
drawer and pulls out a large kitchen
knife] Just in case God doesn't show.
Tracy: Can't you
stop this? Can't you call it off?
Ed Harley: Nothin' can call it
off...
[lights flamethrower]
Ed Harley: ...but I'm gonna send
it back to whatever the Hell it come
from! |