Part of Critical-Film's 2009 September Screams
Few horror movies to come out of the 1980s are as underrated as Pumpkinhead. Pumpkinhead was as bad-ass a villain as any others that dominated 1980s video shelves; however, the villain never really had the following it deserved. Obviously the films have a certain cult fan base as a number of DTV sequels would suggest, but if you ask the average person who Freddy Kruger, Jason Vorhees, and even Chucky are… they'll know. Chances are they've never heard of Pumpkinhead.
When a young boy is accidentally killed by a group of city kids on their way to a remote cabin, his enraged father, Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen) seeks revenge. With the help of a backwoods witch, he conjures up Pumpkinhead – a demon of vengeance – to exact his revenge. - Trust me… my lack of skill when it comes to writing a synopsis really can't do this film justice. It's a terribly underrated gem that oozes atmosphere and also serves as one of the more relevant vengeance analogies put to film.
Horror movies have always sort of been cautionary tales. If you recall the film Scream laying the so-called rules of horror movies out for everyone to (not) follow. – No sex (pre-marital in particular); no drinking and/or drugs, etc… because in a horror movie, these things will generally result in death. These rules are direct translations from real life… our real lives. When we were younger, children or teens, most of us were taught that these were things that we shouldn't do, hence we face the consequences. A more literal translation may be the increase in STDs over the years, and the number of deaths related to drug-related issues. Any way you want to look at it, horror movies were often a not-so cleverly disguised way of guiding us into doing the right thing. “We'll scare them into saving themselves for marriage” I can picture some of the more fanatical church-going movie producers saying. “You have sex before marriage, and you WILL die. If not by some hook-handed slasher, than by some other means… but it WILL happen.”
That may be an extreme example, and I'm sure it's not how it went down, but I do have a point. Pumpkinhead forgoes those traditional warnings in place of a more relevant analogy. Pumpkinhead is a vengeance demon, and as it is called upon to avenge the loss of one man, it is essentially the embodiment of that man's grief and anger. As the film progresses, we discover that the Ed Harley is in fact closer to the demon than he realizes. as he begins to see what the demon sees, and feel his own resultant emotional pain as the kids are killed. It's a very well-realized metaphor for the all encompassing emotion that is a man's desire for vengeance.
Pumpkinhead is enjoyable without the moralistic subtext however, as the demon is incredibly well designed and fun to watch. The film marked the directorial debut of the late Stan Winston, and it's clear he had talent outside of just the make-up & special effect world. He fills every frame with a unique atmosphere, through good use of lighting and smoke effects, and even has the prowess to strike an emotional cue or two. The relationship between Harley and his son seems genuine, and it's a heartbreaking scene to watch when Harley realizes his son is dead. This is as much a testament to the great Lance Henriksen, but in a lesser director's hands it most certainly wouldn't have been as effective.
Pumpkinhead is, as I mentioned, terribly underrated and one of the better original efforts to come out of the horror-thon that was the 1980s. It's a great, fun horror movie, and if you choose to delve into the underlying subtext you'll find a terrific metaphor for man destroying himself in his ultimately unfulfilling quest for revenge.
