Blu-ray Review – Pumpkinhead (Scream Factory)

Sometimes, I’ll revisit a film that I loved when I was younger, and find that it has not held up at all. On the flip side, often times I’ll find myself enjoying films much more, that I thought were a little overrated in my younger years. Pumpkinhead is one such film. It’s not that I hated it, I liked it for what it was. I can’t even really put into words what kept me from loving it as much as everybody else. I think maybe it was the Appalachian setting. It felt to me – young me – that it added a layer of cheese to an otherwise serious film. Knowing that, I didn’t revisit Pumpkinhead all that often. I had a couple of different DVD releases, but I’d say I’ve seen it five times total, and most of those were instances of sharing the VHS or DVD with a friend. This time around, I found myself fully immersed in this little monster/revenge film. I wasn’t at all bothered by the setting, or the set design/wardrobe. I actually found myself paying attention to the details, which are displayed in a clear enough way to make them out now, thanks to Scream Factory’s new Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of the film. 

From Shoutfactory.com:

Synopsis

“Vivid, stylish, atmospheric” – The Hollywood Reporter

When a group of teenagers inadvertently kill his only son, Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen, Aliens) seeks the powers of a backwoods witch to bring the child back to life. But instead, she invokes “the pumpkinhead” – a monstrously clawed demon which, once reborn, answers only to Ed’s bloodlust. But as the creature wreaks its slow, unspeakable tortures on the teens, Ed confronts a horrifying secret about his connection to the beast – and realizes that he must find a way to stop its deadly mission before he becomes one with the creature forever. Also starring Jeff East (Deadly Blessing), Joel Hoffman (Slumber Party Massacre II) and Kerry Remsen (A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge), this “atmospheric, moralistic tale” (TV Guide) delivers demonic horror at its blood-drenched best.

Obviously the story is an important component to the film, but Pumpkinhead’s most important feature is the spectacular practical monster effects, done by Stan Winston and his crew. There is a lot about the creative process within the special features on the disc. So, if you’re interested in learning more about that, Scream Factory has you covered. Obviously it’s not as fun as seeing these slimy bad boys on nearly-perfect display on the very film-like Blu-ray presentation. Monster movies have devolved into self-aware parodies, most of which are unwatchable. Pumpkinhead is a strong representative of the “good old days”, back before CGI was even an option for lower-budgeted films. For those of you familiar with the work of Stan Winston, he incorporates spectacular, and gore-drenched models of the things that nightmares are made of, with puppeteer work, as well as the tried and true “guy in a rubber suit”. Watch any big budget monster movie today, and what you’ll see is shots of the fully-CGI monster from the waist up, and movement blurred with shaky-cam. There are several scenes within Pumpkinhead, where the monster is shown in full frame, even when in motion. They don’t make them like this anymore, that’s for certain.

Now that I can appreciate the film for the solid piece of monster movie making that it is, I pilfered through the bonus features on Scream’s new Collector’s Edition, of which there are many. Seriously, though, this may be one of their best releases of the year. I can think of at least 3 other titles that I said that same thing about, so they must be doing something right. Not only is the title bursting at the seems with bonus content – some new, some ported, and some recut and remastered – but the video quality is very impressive, as is the audio presentation. This – until the inevitable super-mega-4K-whatever version is released, will stand as the definitive edition of Pumpkinhead. The video presentation is as close as your’e going to get to seeing a 35mm print of this film without actually doing so. And the audio presentation, actually presents you with two different options. You may watch the new, beautiful transfer of the film, with a new 5.1 mix of the original track, or if you’re a purist – like I know some of you are – you may watch the film with the original, uncompressed 2.0 track, in DTS-HD Master Audio. I flipped back and forth between the two tracks as I was watching the film and both of them are wholly viable options. I feel as if the 5.1 track, offered a little more by way of special sound effects delivery, but you can’t go wrong with either track.

If you are a horror fan that owns a Blu-ray player, and you enjoy celebrating Halloween by taking in as many great horror films as you can, Scream Factory’s Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of Pumpkinhead is mandatory. It features a video and audio presentation like you’ve never seen, and is loaded with extras, both new and old. The title is now available, and you can purchase a copy of your own, by either clicking here to buy directly from the Shout! Factory website, or click the “BUY!” link below, to pick it up from Amazon.