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As far as monster movies go, this is the one to beat. It's the only film directed by the late Stan Winston, the special effects wizard who brought so many creatures and otherworldly characters to life in movies like Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and Edward Scissorhands.  I always wished he'd directed another movie, because Pumpkinhead is creepy as hell, a superb dark fairy tale that's drenched in atmosphere. 

Lance Henriksen (TV’s Millennium, Aliens) commits to the lead role with his usual gusto, playing a single father raising a young son in the backwoods of a world time forgot. When a group of vacationing city kids accidentally kill the boy, Henriksen’s character turns to an old witch who lives in a swamp to help him summon a legendary demon of vengeance to exact some hellish payback. The story is pretty simple, like most revenge tales, but Winston keeps the ‘ten little indians’ scenario fresh and engaging. Neither the city kids nor our hero are purely good or evil. Shades of regret and redemption color a final act that could easily have been paint-by-numbers. The remote rural setting and backwoods characters are almost as scary as the monster itself.

Almost. Pumpkinhead is one of the finest movie monsters ever created. It looks, moves, and sounds fantastic — achieved entirely through makeup and practical effects. In one of my favorite moments, you even get inside the creature’s head a little bit. After he’s killed a teenager by impaling him on a rifle, he kneels beside the corpse and plays with the boy’s limp head. Whether its playfulness or morbid curiosity, I don’t know. It reminds me of another horror flick grace note — when the Shape cocks his head while looking at one of his fresh kills in Halloween.

Pumpkinhead rises above its B-movie limitations with style and genuine spookiness. Despite the warnings, I dig him up every year or so.