Pumpkinhead (franchise)

The theatrical release poster of the first film.

Pumpkinhead is an American horror franchise that consists of four slasher films, comic books, a video game, and merchandise. The franchise mainly focuses on Pumpkinhead who is a gigantic vengeance demon, that destroys whomever it's summoned to destroy. It was released at a time when slasher movies were beginning to become less commercially successful. The original film received mixed reviews and was not a commercial success, but it has gained a cult following. The first film was the only one to have a theatrical release; the sequels, which weren't as well received as the original film, were released either direct to video or were made for television. Critics praised the design of Pumpkinhead and the effects of the original film. Pumpkinhead was the directorial debut of the late special effects wizard Stan Winston.

Pumpkinhead was not a major box office success when it was first released. Pumpkinhead was picked up by United Artists/MGM and given a barely-noticed theatrical release in late 1988 before it made its way onto home video in 1989. Pumpkinhead became a popular rental title during the VHS era and eventually managed to capture a cult following. This resulted in an inevitable, belated series of straight to video sequels, 1994's Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, 2006's Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes and 2007's Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud.

The films feature a common theme of revenge, which was praised by critics and audience alike for its originality. The sequels were met with a general negative reception; critics said that they lacked the quality of the original. A reboot for the franchise is currently in talks, though it is unknown whether this installment will have a theatrical release.^[1] The release date is unknown.

Films

Overview

In Pumpkinhead, Tom Harley waits inside his farm cabin with his wife and young son, Ed. A doomed man runs seeks sanctuary at Tom's cabin, but Tom refuses and threatens to shoot him if he does not leave. Watching through a window, Ed witnesses the man caught and killed by a grotesque creature.

In the present, Ed Harley owns a small store in the country. He briefly leaves his young son alone while he runs an errand. A group of teenage campers stop by Harley's, and, while riding their dirt bikes, they mortally injure Harley's son. One teen, Steve, stays with the boy until his father's return; the rest flee the scene. At their cabin, the campers fight about whether or not to call the police. Joel, who is responsible for the boy's injury and is on probation for a similar incident, knocks one of his friends unconscious and locks two others in the closet to stop them from contacting the authorities.

Harley, with his pet dog Gypsy, goes to see a supposed witch, who says she cannot bring his son back. Instead, Harley says that he wants revenge; the witch agrees to help Harley, but she warns him that vengeance comes with a terrible price. On her orders, Harley goes to an old graveyard in the mountains, digs up a disfigured corpse, and brings it back to the witch's home. The witch uses blood from father and son to resurrect the corpse, which rises as a giant, spindly demonic creature.

Back at the cabin, Joel begins to experience remorse for his actions and determines to turn himself in to the police. The monster, however, has already arrived. One of the girls, Maggie, hears a voice whispering her name. Seemingly hypnotized, she follows the voice outside the cabin. Steve brings her out of her trance, but the creature kills him. Harley experiences the murder through the creature's eyes. While the campers search for Steve, Pumpkinhead drags away Maggie, and Harley experiences her murder. He returns to the witch and begs her to stop the monster. The witch laughs mockingly and says that the monster cannot be stopped. She warns that Harley will also die if he interferes.

Joel confronts the monster with a knife, but the monster swats him aside and drags off another of the teens. The three remaining campers unsuccessfully beg the locals for help. Harley arrives and shoots the creature, but when Joel checks the creature, it kill him. A local boy, Bunt, helps the two remaining campers, Tracey and Chris, reach an abandoned church. Bunt relates the legend of the monster Pumpkinhead, explaining that the creature avenges one who was wronged. If anyone tries to stop Pumpkinhead, that person becomes marked, too. The creature attacks and throws Chris against a tree, then drags his body back to Harley's house, where Tracey, Bunt, and Harley have taken shelter.

Pumpkinhead captures Bunt, and as Harley experiences the murder, Tracey is terrified to see that Harley's face now resembles the monster's. She runs outside and finds Chris struggling to crawl away as Pumpkinhead prepares to kill Bunt. Harley stumbles out of the barn but is accidentally stabbed in the arm by a pitchfork. Both Harley and Pumpkinhead cry out in pain, and the creature releases Bunt. Harley notices that Pumpkinhead's face is turning more human, then realizes that he and Pumpkinhead are one: the only way to kill the creature is to die himself.

The creature grabs Tracey by the neck, but before it can kill her, Harley shoots it in the head. Pumpkinhead momentarily collapses to the ground, then grabs Bunt again. Tracey takes the gun, and Harley begs her to kill him. Harley, now fully changed, tries to attack Tracey. She shoots him until both he and Pumpkinhead fall to the ground dead. Tracey, Bunt, and Chris then watch as Pumpkinhead bursts into flames. Later that night, back in the pumpkin patch, the witch buries Harley's now-disfigured corpse in Pumpkinhead's grave, still wearing the necklace his son Billy made him.

In Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, Ferren Woods, a small backwater town, an old blind witch, Ms. Osie, feeds a deformed orphan named Tommy; he is the offspring of Pumpkinhead. As Tommy eats, a car of six teens pull up and notice him. Convinced that he is some demonic monster, they chase him with switchblade knives and baseball bats; eventually, they corner him at an old iron mine, where they bludgeon him and drop him down into the mine, killing him.

35 years later, Sheriff Sean Braddock, his wife, and his daughter Jenny have come into town. Sean grew up in Ferren Woods and returned when offered a job as the local sheriff. At school, Jenny meets a group of wild kids, one of whom is Daniel "Danny" Dixon, whose dad, (who was one of the teens who had taken part in Tommy's murder 35 years ago), is the town judge. The teens sneak off one night and pilfer Sean's car. Danny inadvertently hits Ms. Osie, and when they go to her cabin to check on her, they find a spellbook and vials of blood, which she is planning to resurrect Tommy. After Ms. Osie catches them, she orders them out. Danny knocks her down and escapes with a vial of blood.

Danny and his friends attempt to resurrect Tommy's corpse. Jenny notices Ms. Osie's cabin on fire and Danny and his friends flee. Ms. Osie is badly burnt and ends up in the hospital. Unbeknownst to Danny and his friends, the spell they'd attempted worked, resurrecting Tommy in the form of Pumpkinhead. Soon, Judge Dixon's friends begin to meet grisly deaths. Jenny's father investigates and begins to come to terms with the fact that Tommy is responsible for the murders. Ms. Osie dies, but not before revealing to Sean some clues. Sean discovers the connection between the victims and Pumpkinhead, realizing that the judge is next.

Judge Dixon calls his posse to assist him in killing whatever is murdering his friends. Before they can arrive however, Pumpkinhead brutally murders Judge Dixon. Now that Tommy has avenged his own death, he begins going after Danny and his friends (for fleeing instead of helping Ms. Osie). Sean and the town doctor go into the woods to find Jenny. By this time, Pumpkinhead (Tommy) has murdered Danny and his 3 friends. He then chases Jenny to the iron mine. Since Sean had saved his life years earlier as a boy, and because Jenny was innocent of hurting Ms. Osie, Tommy allows Jenny to step down to her father safe and sound. However, the judge's posse arrives and shoots Tommy back into the mine, where he had died 35 years earlier.

In Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes, the plotline follows more closely to the first film, with townspeople angered over the local mortician stealing and selling the organs of their loved ones and then dumping the corpses in a swamp, rather than cremating them. When the townspeople find out, they have the old witch Haggis summon Pumpkinhead through the mummified body of Ed Harley (played by Lance Henriksen, who reprises his role from the first film). Pumpkinhead then proceeds to go on his killing rampage murdering all those responsible for the desecration, while Doc Frasier (played by Hellraiser's Doug Bradley) hurries to murder those who summoned Pumpkinhead, which will effectively kill the demon in the process.

In Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud the film begins with two men on their motorcycles driving away from Pumpkinhead. One of the men hits a tree branch in their path, falling from his motorcycle and allowing Pumpkinhead to catch up to him. As the man is being killed, the film cuts to a man in a log cabin who seems to share the pain inflicted by Pumpkinhead on the fallen man. The surviving man, named Dallas, rides to the log cabin, and the man who conjured Pumpkinhead, begging him to call the demon off. Pumpkinhead smashes through the window and Dallas attempts to fend him off by shooting him with a small pistol with little effect, and is clawed in the chest by the demon. When Dallas realizes that his bullets have no effect on Pumpkinhead, he swears to take the summoner with him, shooting the man and killing him, causing Pumpkinhead to vanish. Ed Harley then appears telling Dallas that Pumpkinhead will return and there will be no place to hide.

Five years later we are shown the family of the Hatfields and McCoys ongoing feud started because of a car in the 30's. The Hatfields then trash the McCoy wedding. Jody Hatfield sneaks out to see her true love, Ricky McCoy. Ricky brings his sister, Sarah, to look out for him and Jody. The two then start to make out.

Jody's brothers find and kill Sarah by accident and try to kill Ricky. Ricky then finds his sister's body and goes to Haggis for help. Haggis tells him of the price it costs to summon Pumpkinhead and Haggis is shown talking to Ed Harley's spirit. Haggis states that her choice does not matter in the end; only the summoner may make the decision to kill Pumpkinhead. The two invoke Pumpkinhead to kill the Hatfields.

At the end of the film most of the Hatfields are killed, as well as some of the McCoy family. Ricky realizes what he has done and takes Pumpkinhead with him to fall down a well. This is the first film in the franchise that does not imply that Pumpkinhead is still alive.

Box office

References