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OVERALL
BEASTS
BREASTS
Aka: Vengeance: The Demon
Director: Stan Winston
Writers: Ed Justin (poem)
Mark Patrick Carducci (story)
Cast---
Lance Henriksen ...  Ed Harley
Jeff East ...  Chris
John D'Aquino ...  Joel
Kimberly Ross ...  Kim
Joel Hoffman ...  Steve
Cynthia Bain ...  Tracy
Kerry Remsen ...  Maggie
Florence Schauffler ...  Haggis

Runtime: 86 min  
PUMPKINHEAD (1988)

I have a little story for you regarding this film. Around my 14th birthday I was really excited and planning
to watch a bunch of scary movies with my friends at my house. My parents took me to Blockbuster Video
to pick some stuff out. After half an hour of deliberation I settled on three Pumpkinhead films. When my
mom saw the VHS covers she said no way and I had to settle for something else. I have never forgotten
that day and vowed to watch these films as soon as I was older and able to do as I wish.

  This is a simple story with a linear plotline. You pretty much know everything that is going to happen
and there are no real shocks or true moments of interest, surprise, or even fear. Ed Harley (played by
the amazing Lance Henriksen) lives in the country with his only son Billy; a youngster. When Ed was
about Billy’s age he witnessed Pumpkinhead in action. He knows that this thing is real and not just a
story to scare kids. One afternoon Ed leaves his son alone at the grocery store he runs. A  group of
teens start frolicking on dirt bikes and Billy gets run over accidentally and killed.

  It’s fun to see the setup. As soon as we see these young teens approaching we know they are going
to be trouble. They stop at Ed’s grocery and decide to unload their dirt bikes and start eating shit right
there. Ed leaves his son unattended to go fetch something and tells him to stay put. But we all know he
won’t because the film establishes from an early point the warm father son relationship and if Billy doesn’
t get killed somehow there won’t be no need for vengeance in the form of the Pumpkinhead demon. Billy’
s dog runs out and Billy follows him right into the path of a motor bike. The accident doesn’t look lethal
enough and if this was any other film Billy would get up and walk away with a few scratches. It looks like
the bike just gently knocked him over. But oh my gosh, the filmmakers couldn’t afford a good stunt so
Billy stays on the ground never to wake, dead as a log. If we only could have seen some gushing blood,
broken bones or snapping of some body parts, we don’t even get decent sound effects. The whole idea
of Pumpkinhead is the best part of the movie… the idea. It goes like this. When folks around here do
something bad, real bad like killing somebody, they may have other folks summon the demon of
vengeance on their ass. By the way he is called Pumpkinhead because his body is buried in a pumpkin
patch cemetery. So Ed goes to the local witch and she tells him how to summon the demon. This part is
actually cool. He has to go to the pumpkin patch and exhume the corpse of Pumpkinhead to bring back
to the witch. She mixes Ed’s blood with Billy’s  and pours it on the corpse and bam, he comes to life. He
hunts down and starts killing all the reckless teens. They aren’t all reckless actually but who cares now
that they have all been marked. Ed starts feeling weird each time Pumpkinhead kills and regrets his
decision to summon a bloodthirsty fiend. He tries to help some of the kids survive but we soon start to
realize that something awful is happening to him as well.

  Somehow the souls of Ed and Pumpkinhead are linked. Ed’s eyes start changing into scary colors and
he pokes his chest by mistake with a pitchfork. When he hurts Pumpkinhead is also injured. Realizing
this he shoots himself and urges the last surviving teen to shoot him too and make sure he’s dead.
When he is finally dead Pumpkinhead’s body burns up. The local witch gathers Ed’s body and buries it
in the pumpkin patch for perhaps another revenge seeking fool to summon the demon of vengeance
which takes you down with him to hell. Lesson learned Vengeance is a dish best skipped.

  I really thought this was going to be a better film. Considering it was directed by Stan Winston I
expected a better, more impressive creature. The revealing of the demon was all wrong. They showed
too much of him where they should have shown less and vice versa. Pumpkinhead only comes out at
night and for the full fear effect the lighting had to be flawless. It was fair. We got a mediocre monster
movie here. I honestly believe that the star was Henriksen. He left the monster in the dust. I would have
liked to see better monster characterization. Yes folks even monsters need to be richly developed in
order to be effective. Henriksen was great, the monster was decent but sadly the idea, which had so
much potential, was left to wither and choke.

                                                                                              - Jorge Antonio Lopez
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Pumpkinhead (1988)
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