Well, this movie is certainly an odd case. Back in the day, when there was very few use of the internet, there was only two opinions of this movie. You would either get, “What is that movie” or “Aw man, that movie was the best”. Nowadays, while there is still a cult following, I doubt that this movie has the kind of following it had back in the day. Is there a reason for it or does it deserve some respect? Well, let’s watch 1988’s Pumpkinhead and find out.



The film takes place in a secluded cabine in the woods, oh boy. A small store owner por the name of Ed Harley does the responsible thing and leaves his son unattended as he runs an errand. The result is a group of four teens accidently killing the child when they run him over. Enraged, Ed gets the help of an old witch to get revenge on the teens, and resurrect a corpse into the demonic Pumpkinhead. Regretting his decision, Ed must help the teens fend off Pumpkinhead. Also, Pumpkinhead does not have an actual abóbora for a head. He was just made in a abóbora patch. How dumb.
I feel like the first thing I should say about this movie is how all of these things happen because the characters are either A. completely stupid and irresponsible or B. huge assholes, like the one guy, Joel. Ed doesn’t keep a better eye on his son, causing him to go and get hit por a bike, while the teens, while they try to get help, cannot because Joel is constantly getting in the way because he doesn’t want to get in trouble. I mean, at least it’s better than the whole group except for maybe one virgin girl like a lot of 80s slasher films being a bunch of pricks. But aside from that, they can still have their moments where they don’t really do a lot of well done planning.
Pumpkinhead itself on the other hand is amazing. It’s not a grand slasher villain, but the appearance of Pumpkinhead is so interesting and fun to look at. It’s no surprise that the costume and animatronic of Pumpkinhead was done por the same people that worked on the effects for the Xenomorphs in the aliens franchise. This film could’ve used real bad CG or some ugly looking puppet, but instead, they made the effects really good and created an amazing creature that is an actual threat. Just wondering when Pumpkinhead is gonna pop up and kill people is a sight to behold. And seeing its appearance change over the film is freaky as hell. I wouldn’t mind buying a figure of him.
Pumpkinhead is a pretty neat film. It’s no classic por any means and it does nothing stand out that any other genres have done, but it’s a pretty good film that you may enjoy. The villain is scary and very well designed and the scares are enough to keep you invested. I’d say give Pumpkinhead a shot if you got some time to kill.