PUMPKINHEAD

Ed Harley lives a peaceful and carefree life with his young son Billy in a remote and deserted small town in rural America. The two manage a run-down gas station that can serve as a rest stop for all the travelers who occasionally pass by. One morning, shortly after opening hours, a group of young people arrive, intending to spend an unforgettable vacation indulging in motocross. The arrival of this small group of young people will mark the beginning of the end for poor Ed: the young Billy will indeed be involved in a fatal accident caused by a motorcycle. Ed Harley, blinded by rage and despair at the loss of his beloved son, turns to an old woman, said to be a witch in the village, to seek revenge. The old hag will awaken, at Ed's request, Pumpkinhead, a monstrous demon who will immediately set out to track down the young people to carry out a bloody revenge. Living in the States, and especially if you follow the horror film market, it is impossible not to know, even just by hearsay, Pumpkinhead, the demon who resides in the pumpkin fields and who only returns to walk among the living to satisfy the burning desire for revenge of the one who invoked him. In America, "Pumpkinhead" quickly became one of the icons of collective horror imagination to the point of even securing a small space among the most famous and bloodthirsty boogeymen of post-modern horror cinema. The success and fame achieved by "Pumpkinhead" was such that it led to the completion of a considerable number of sequels and the distribution of various gadgets dedicated to the pumpkin demon. Strangely enough, however, despite the considerable success achieved at home, the "Pumpkinhead" saga is almost completely unknown in our country and some chapters have not even been edited (further confirmation that in Italy there is no respect or attention for the horror genre). Made by Stan Winston in 1989, "Pumpkinhead" is a small gem in its genre that would undoubtedly have deserved the same success achieved at home in our country. With "Pumpkinhead" we are faced with a particular horror because, despite its extreme simplicity, it manages to put on a show capable of satisfying any type of palate: both the occasional viewer, who only wants a bloody spectacle capable of entertaining and amusing; and the more refined viewer who is looking for something more sophisticated than the usual horror film. The former will certainly be satisfied because the film in question offers extremely humorous elements for a horror fanatic and conveys, in a completely unique way, the charm of its time, the undisputed charm of the 1980s. The latter will also have the opportunity to find "interesting" material because the film manages to season, in the best way, a typical 1980s B-movie with deep and well-analyzed themes; this is the case of the intense, almost moving, father-son relationship that is presented in the first minutes of the film and that will consequently be the cornerstone of the entire narration as well as the engine that will lead to the ignition of the desire for revenge. The paternal love that Ed Harley has for his son is analyzed and treated in a very effective and incisive way, further supported by a masterful performance by the "legendary" Lance Henriksen (probably at his best performance). The film thus manages to draw the viewer into a perfect empathetic relationship with the characters (father and son), to the point that one will tend to "root" for poor Ed both in the moment when he plays the role of victim and when he becomes a perpetrator and will want to satisfy the irresistible desire for revenge by summoning Pumpkinhead. But the true strong point of the film lies, without a shadow of a doubt, in the masterful aesthetic representation of the pumpkin demon. Pumpkinhead, in fact, boasts makeup so carefully and detailed as to be extremely realistic and disturbing; perhaps such a stunning result was to be expected given that the director Stan Winston, more famous in the special effects department than in directing, is the one who took care of the special effects in films of the caliber of "Aliens - Scontro Finale" and "Terminator 2: Il giorno del giudizio". In conclusion, "Pumpkinhead" is a small gem for the horror genre; a delicious 1980s B-movie capable, thanks to the skill with which it was made, of satisfying any horror lover. It's a shame that in Italy it didn't receive the deserved fame to the point that, at the moment, it is even unavailable in our market. Let's hope for a future distribution and rediscovery of this film. Absolutely worth watching.