Popular reviews

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  Review by Ian West ★★★★½ 15

  American rural folk jam shrouded in an ominous atmosphere of thick fog and glimmering colors seeping through it—a backwoods nightmare that’s completely shut off from the rest of the world.

  So much to love about Pumpkinhead… the steeped in dust Harley homestead, the overgrown with plant life shanty house with skulls/owls/rodents owned by an old witch, George Buck Flower, the incredible animatronics and creature design of our dark magik vengeance beast who lays in wait in a pumpkin graveyard, and Lance as Ed Harley—giving it all he’s got in this 80’s video store staple story of revenge and it’s intertwined consequences. I wish Stan Winston directed more movies because seeing Pumpkinhead illuminated in red/blue lights walking through an abandoned church,…

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  Review by matt lynch ★★★½ 3

  If this is anything, it's gorgeous. What truly lovely photography...golden candlelit backwoods cabins, steel blue nighttime wilderness, captured either in long, fluid crane shots or backlit, smoky tableaux. Not to mention the really staggering creature effects (unsurprising given Stan Winston at the helm, but still). And unlike other supernatural revenge horror this strangely doesn't take glee in having a monster wipe out a bunch of teenagers. The deaths here have weight, and everyone is a victim of impulse and anger.

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  Review by Kat ★★★★ 17

  What better way to kick off October than by watching Pumpkinhead! I haven't seen this since I was a kid on cable, and its just as creepy and tragic as I remembered.

  Lance Hendriksen lives in the middle of nowhere with his son Bily and dog Gypsy, when a bunch of city kid hooligans show up on their motorbikes and F it all up. Obvi Lance needs revenge! And thankfully there is a baddy witch in town named Haggis to help summon a killer vengance demon Pumpkinhead.

  This is just so well done. Lance rocks this. The atmosphere is creepy, the folk horror always present and the fog and red and white lighting really adds to the creepiness. The towns…

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  Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★ 10

  Hoop-Tober 2.0, Film 30 of 31:

  guys are you proud of me I watched this movie when I was like nine at my grandparents house because I randomly turned on the SyFy channel and it was on and it literally haunted my dreams for at least four years afterward I kept having this reoccurring nightmare that Pumpkinhead was chasing me down my block and my legs felt like they were wading through tar and Pumpkinhead kept getting closer and closer and anyway I re-watched it tonight for the first time in over a decade and managed not to soil myself are you proud of me

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  Review by Lou (rhymes with wow!) ★★★ 12

  Man.. Bishop from Aliens can't seem to catch a break..

  After his disastrous encounter with the Xenomorph, he is reassembled and decides to retire. He even starts a family. It's pretty cute to be honest. Too bad a bunch of asshole teenagers need to ruin his quiet, little life.

  And what does Bishop do next?

  He summons the Xenomorph's hillbilly cousin, that's what!!

  I think we need to schedule a maintenance check on your logic circuits there, bud..

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  Review by Tony the 1313 Terror😼🏳️‍🌈 ★★★★ 4

  I was looking for something that had that wonderful fall/woods in the fall vibe to it and then I thought “oh what I really need to do is make a list of movies like that” and I haven’t gotten around to doing that yet because ugh thinking, but when I do this movie will definitely be on it. Anywho, this is pretty great stuff. Pumpkinhead is a total badass demon with a beautifully ridiculous name. The cast is good, the kills are great, and the dark atmosphere is so good you can almost feel that nip in the air.

  Also, totally random thought I had that may or may not have had something to do with a couple of Rusty…

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  Review by Rafael Jovine ★★★ 4

  Well, that was kind of disappointing. Due to the high-caliber talent behind the camera, and the numerous references by horror fans, I expected a much greater horror movie experience.

  That’s not to say it’s a total loss as the Alien-like demonic title character was a real treat. The cinematography of Bojan Bazelli really worked -though I missed his famous green-ish tone -, especially the scenes in the cemetery with the fog and the angles used made for some of the most spooky imagery in the picture. All things considered, the performances are okay with Lance being the standout as he does a great job conveying all these different emotions, especially of grief and anger.

  All in all, while its story…

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  Review by Biscoito18 ★★★★ 8

  *Part of HOOPT🎃BER 5.0: “You don’t believe in the Boogeyman? You should.” challenge.
  2/33
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  "PUMPKINHEAD" looks like a dark fairy tale, which, for my surprise, doesn't happen during Halloween.

  During most time, a thick atmosphere engulfs the characters either with constant gales, thunders, heavy fog or indirect lighting forming beautiful godrays in an endless twilight, creating a claustrophobic feeling, as if it were isolated from the rest of the world.

  I also liked Lance Henriksen's commitment to the character, Ed Harley, a simple, hard-working man who raised his young son by himself. This little boy and his dog called Gypsy (played by a dog actor called Mushroom, cited in the credits, that also played Barney in "Gremlins") are the…

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  Review by jjennings85 ★★★★

  Cross another one off my list of movies I should have seen already. Not going to lie it’s pretty pathetic it took me this long to watch this. 

  What a great character and the effects used for Pumpkinhead are just amazing. It was nice to see they didn’t keep the monster or the kills off screen, too many of these movies are scared to show you anything. 
  I also found the movie did a great job of really making you feel for the dad and son (obviously). 

  I really hope we don’t get a remake of this movie because they’ll just CGI the crap out of it and take away from what made this special.

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  Review by Slig001 ★★★★

  The directoral debut of special effects artist Stan Winston is this folk horror creature feature about a man who summons a demon to wreak vengeance on a bunch of kids that accidently killed his son. It's a simple concept but effectively brought to life. In many ways, the film feels like a fifties horror flick. The first act establishes the central characters - particularly the relationship between father and son and the inevitable accident that leads to summoning of the demon. The film really goes all out with this - we've got an old hag that lives out in the middle of nowhere and of course the titular demon itself, which is brought to life with some lovingly created practical effects.…

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  Review by Bob McCully ★★★★ 12

  Stan Winston's bombastic folklore horror flick is a bonafide classic, taking a "revenge gone too far" tale and buttering it up with pulpy melodrama and the juices of bog demon retribution.
  Lance Henriksen, a gentle Southerner overwhelmed with anguish after the accidental death of his little boy Billy. Only one thing will make things right and that's annihilating the city-slickin' scumbags that killed poor Billy. So away he skulks with determination to an old witch to help him pluck that evil creature from its cocooned state and bring the reckoning.

  Good on Stan Winston, a true master of FX, to tackle and completely nail a horror flick with a strong story that isn't just a showcase for his usual talents.…

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  Review by Cinemonster ★★½ 6

  Hoop-tober 3.0
  Other reviews: #1 | #2 | #4

  'What I really want to do is direct'.

  The want and sentiment occupies every department and field of the motion picture industry. Some people luck into it, some 'come up through the ranks' and others achieve a level of success in their field that allows them to leverage that notoriety for a crack at directing. Stan Winston had ascended to the highest level of respect and adulation in his field when he began his Pumpkinhead chapter. An effects and makeup resume with Predator, Aliens, Starman, The Thing & The Terminator can do that for you.

  P-head is a hillbilly parable dealing with revenge and the existence of that monster within us, as…