35 Years of Pumpkinhead

Given my fascination for the organic and my appreciation of Pumpkinrot, it will probably come as no surprise that one of my favorite monsters of all time is Pumpkinhead.

Lance Henriksen may be my all-time favorite character actor.  If he's in a movie, you can bet he's my favorite part of that movie.  Yes, that includes The Terminator and Aliens!  No one does more movies in a year than Lance Henriksen, and while I have definitely not seen them all, I am willing to be he is great in all of them. Yes, even Pumpkinhead II, which Mr. Henriksen was so embarrassed by that he snuck out of the premiere before people could ask him questions about it!

The plot of Pumpkinhead is fairly straightforward.  Decent country folk are living their lives when arrogant, irresponsible city kids show up and inflict pain.  Henriksen's character seeks the help of a local witch to get revenge.  That's where Pumpkinhead comes in.  The demon creature hunts down the kids and vengeance is served.

Palling around after slaughtering city-slickers!

Chilling between murders.

For those interested, here's some "behind the scenes" from Stan Winston Studios.  I admit, I LOVE the "making of" stuff, and I have since Mark Hamill did them for Star Wars!

Such a great monster in an really wonderful, atmospheric movie!