ATLRetro

By Tom Drake
Contributing Blogger

Splatter Cinema Presents PUMPKINHEAD (1988); Dir: Stan Winston; Screenplay by Ed Justin, Mark Patrick Carducci et al; Starring: Lance Henriksen, Jeff East, John D’Aquino, Kimberly Ross; Tues. Nov. 8; 9:30 PM; Plaza Theatre; Trailer here.

Short: “There is a Heavy Price.”

Medium: PUMPKINHEAD is about a father (Lance Henriksen) wronged, and the price paid by everyone around him for his vengeance. A dirt biking crew of college kids goes up into the mountains for some good publicity shots and in the process kills an innocent child accidentally. The grieving father (Ed) goes to an old woman who summons a powerful vengeance demon to kill them all. As the demon begins to kill those involved, Ed can feel it and tries to change his mind. The old woman laughs and tells him that once the process has begun, it can’t be stopped. Pumpkinhead begins to slaughter the folks one by one, and none of the locals will help them because they’re “marked.” That is until a teenager takes pity on them and tries to hide the last ones alive in a church. This doesn’t work out too well, but it does buy them some time until Ed finds them and tries to help them kill the demon. They finally find a link between Ed and Pumpkinhead, so one manages to live. Barely.

Maximum Verbosity: I think fictional universes are dreary places…primarily because a lot of the fiction that we enjoy as fairly common place doesn’t seem to exist in them. The laws of sympathetic magic are fairly clear, and the link between Ed and the demon is rather fascinatingly well done. But it takes several fairly obvious instances for anyone involved to figure out the link. Though to be fair, in the horror genre, figuring anything out at all when faced with blindingly terrifying otherworldly horror is an amazing feat. Being quick about your wits like Ash (EVIL DEAD) or Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a feat unto itself. And usually that level of moxie cannot happen until it has been earned by several harrowing experiences.

Lance Henriksen plays a grieving father who conjures a vengeance demon in PUMPKINHEAD (1988) Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

For a low budget horror movie of the late ‘80s, PUMPKINHEAD has very good production values. It also has a very complicated script. No one (well, almost no one, except Joel [John D’Aquino] who is just generically a dick) is really black or white. I personally found Ed’s axis to be the most fascinating. The movie could have worked JUST fine without Ed changing at all or having him die at the resurrection of Pumpkinhead. But it didn’t work like that. Ed felt and saw the pain that he had caused and, as a result, began to try to save those whose doom he had sealed. In the end, only this choice allows the innocents in the group, most of whom were actually trying to help his son, live.

PUMPKINHEAD is an excellent metaphor for the futility of vengeance and the axiom that no good deed goes unpunished. Aside from Joel (who is just generally a dick), no one wishes ill will or malice. And the rough hill justice is far from perfect. After all, what is done to the locals who all sit quietly by and ignore the demon hunting the innocent victims around it? And yet, it is a fascinating reflection of their locality. Without the presence of the local law, Pumpkinhead is a fiercely independent figure of vengeance which no one, knowing the price, would invoke lightly. Interfering with his administration of hellish vengeance carried an even heavier price, and Bunt (Brian Bremer), the teenage local, knew the laws of his land and chose to disobey them anyway. His mercy was not rewarded.

Be sure to keep an eye out for the use of a flamethrower. Also of particular note is Pumpkinhead himself, who has no lines, but obviously has quite a personality. I’d say he steals the show, but since the name of the movie is PUMPKINHEAD, he really just sort of keeps it. He not only kills, but he kills with skilled taunting cruelty that very few other horror villains really match. It is irony with cruel casual gore but it doesn’t drown us in it and doesn’t celebrate it. It just is, which is what Pumpkinhead should be. A force of nature.

By Mark Arson, Contributing Writer

Splatter Cinema Presents GHOULIES (1985); Dir: Luca Bercovici; Starring Peter Liapis, Lisa Pelikan, Michael Des Barres, Jack Nance; Tues. May 10;  9:30 pm; Plaza Theatre; $10. Trailer here.

GHOULIES (not to be confused with GOONIES) came out one year after GREMLINS. You could almost call it part of a wave of GREMLINS-sploitation; the following year there was CRITTERS, and later MUNCHIES. All these films revolve around tiny monsters, but GHOULIES is the only one where they are creatures summoned by a satanic ritual. The basic plotline involves a man named Jonathan Graves (Peter Liapis) who has just inherited a house with an evil history and his gradual discovery that he’s from a long line of, you guessed it, satanic cult leaders. Liapis gets more screen time than the titular creatures, and honestly, he deserves it. The thing that sets this film apart from the other GHOULIES films (as well as many of the aforementioned similar films) is his totally unhinged performance.

GHOULIES. Empire Pictures/MGM Home Entertainment

One might consider such a performance to be “overacting,” I’d say personally that there is no such thing as overacting in a movie where a man summons evil creatures and dwarves with satanic rituals. If there’s anyone who is a match for Liapis in this film, it would be Michael Des Barres as Jonathan’s late/undead/much more evil father Malcolm. The whole descent into madness/family destiny thing could easily be interpreted as a metaphor for alcoholism or abuse. I just think it’s great fun to watch actors see how far they can push their craft over the edge into something that resembles sheer madness. How loud can they scream during their unholy rituals? Pretty loud. Oh, and Jack Nance is in it too, but not for as long as you’d want him to be.

Peter Liapis and Lisa Pelikan in GHOULIES. Empire Pictures/MGM Home Entertainment

The other attraction here (the main attraction for most people, I’d think) is the ghoulies themselves. They were designed by the great Stan Winston (ALIENS, TERMINATOR), who gave them plenty of charisma. At times it even seems like they’re channeling the Muppets (that’s a good thing). They drool and squirm and their eyeballs roll back into their head. They also hide in toilets and other places, and kill people. Did I mention there were other people in this film? Well, they are mostly just there to do drugs, fall under Satan’s hypnotic trance, and get killed by ghoulies. It’s that kind of party, people. If you can’t enjoy a bunch of squirmy creatures running around attacking people and an angry satanic priest screaming with glowing green eyes, then you don’t know what fun is.