Pumpkinhead (1988)

What do you get when you cross folk horror with eighties teen slashers? Why, Pumpkinhead of course! It's the kind of title that causes your eyes to glaze over if you're anything like me. Sure, B-movies can be fun and all, but you never know which will be fun, which will be boring and which will be just plain bad, and at least in that regard, Pumpkinhead exceeded all expectations. The story of a man who wishes to get revenge on a pack of idiot teenagers who accidentally kill his son, this film has lots of visual charm and its simple premise is effective: don't make deals with ancient witches that live in the woods or bad things will happen. It's just the particulars, especially in the second half of the film that kind of drag the whole thing down.

Honestly, at this point I would normally harp on the story a little more, but what more is there to say? The teenagers feel plucked straight out of a Friday the 13th sequel, only with a bit more humanity to them. When the resident asshole runs over the protagonist's kid with his dirt bike, he seems genuinely devastated, though he wastes no time in attempting to cover up the accident. His friends, who witnessed everything, become his prisoners, and the group of them hole up in a remote cabin to wait it all out, intending to escape when his back is turned and inform the authorities of what happened. So they're not all bad, but the thrust of their involvement in the story is still simply to act as bowling pins for Pumpkinhead to knock down once summoned, and after the rudimentary but effective first half has come and gone, everything settles into slasher autopilot up until the final, admittedly creepy image.

The creature effects, cinematography, acting, hell even the premise all scream eighties horror, and the film makes effective use of everything. The presentation and its larger than life, fairy tale qualities are awesome and fairly unique. However, story-wise, things really don't develop much beyond the premise, and while I liked the ending a lot, I think there was a solid twenty-some minutes leading up to it that had me on the verge of daydreaming, where little happens that isn't predictable and the plot and characterization take a back seat to violence and special effects.

So overall, Pumpkinhead was a pleasant surprise, and an agreeable tale of Appalachian folk horror that makes for a fun time at the movies, but I can't help feeling that it may have been a bit too broad. Still, I can't say it didn't entertain me nor can I point out many actual mistakes or things I would personally change. As pointed out somewhere by Jay Bauman, he of Redlettermedia fame, there aren't enough gateway horror films for young viewers who want something scary, but not too scary, and definitely not gory and cruel, and if you ever find yourself in need of such a film: strong enough to entice kids, but not strong enough to traumatize them, then consider giving this one a whirl.