Still A Masterpiece In My Opinion...
I'm 36. I grew up in the 80s/90s, so I have a healthy appreciation for the "modern classics" like, An American Werewolf In London, Halloween, etc. And Pumpkinhead has always been one of my favorites. After watching it last night with my gf, I still think it's a masterpiece. Creepy atmosphere, compelling story, incredible performance by Lance Henriksen, and the monster itself is one of the last great creations of that pre-CGI era. This time around, I really noticed the color palette of the film; lots of deep reds and blues, very much like Argento's Suspiria...
My gf, on the other hand--who's 40, loves horror, but also likes newer movies way more than I--doesn't find Pumpkinhead all that great. She feels that the initial premise is hokey, that Ed Harley should've killed the kids himself if he was that upset.
On the contrary, one of the things I really like about this film is its depiction of backwoods hill people. The way they protect their own. Buck Flower's small role is especially poignant, along with his Tom Sawyer-like son. Therefore, I find the character of Ed Harley and the decisions that he makes to be very authentic. I buy it, fully. Not to mention, if he didn't go to Haggis, or tried to kill them himself, it wouldn't have been Pumpkinhead. And we would've been robbed of some of the best horror movie dialogue ever:
"Godd@mn you! Godd@mn you!"
"He already has, son. He already has..."
"That's some bad hat, Harry."--Chief Martin Brody, "Jaws"
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