While the Pumpkinhead film franchise features a terrifying horror villain, not all the sequels are as interesting as their title character, making some of the movies stand out as better than others. Special effects legend Stan Winston made his directorial debut in 1988 with the supernatural horror movie Pumpkinhead. The original movie and the three sequels comprise this underrated horror movie franchise follow the story of the titular demon, a monstrous figure summoned by a grieving father. Pumpkinhead’s antihero wants revenge on teens who killed his son in a hit-and-run but regrets summoning the beast when he sees the bloody chaos that Pumpkinhead can wreak.
A possible Pumpkinhead remake has been rumored for years, but it still hasn’t happened. As a result, there are currently only four installments in the Pumpkinhead franchise that wavered in quality. The first movie was released in 1988 and proved a minor box office flop, grossing only $4.5 million on a budget of $3 million. Despite its lack of success in theaters plus some weak reviews, Pumpkinhead gained a sequel six years later in the form of Pumpkinhead 2: Blood Wings. Like its titular monster, the franchise then lay dormant. In 2006, the belated sequel Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes continued its story, while 2007’s Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud ended the series.
4 Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud (2007)
It is hard to fault the 2007 TV movie Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud for ambition. Rather than phoning it in and offering another simplistic revenge story that copies the beats of the original movie, this fourquel instead opted to incorporate the real-life Hatfield and McCoy feud into the Pumpkinhead series. However, like the later installments of the Alien franchise whose eponymous monsters Stan Winston also helped design, Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud fell apart as its sprawling story got too big for its own good. The battle between the families is engaging and Pumpkinhead looks great, but the connective tissue just isn’t there.
As a result, Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud is effectively two passable movies that only occasionally intersect and become something good. One is a grisly Western tragedy about star-crossed lovers from feuding families while the other is a gruesome supernatural horror movie that wants to showcase its famous monster. There are some memorable kills in Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud, which proves that even the weakest outings of the franchise have something to offer. Lance Henriksen’s Ed Harley also shows up for a cameo, although his role is far smaller than it was in 2006’s Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes. Thanks to a downbeat ending, this is the least essential of the series.
3 Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (1994)
Like the Child’s Play movies, another slasher franchise that survived from the late ‘80s into the ‘90s, the Pumpkinhead movies didn’t prioritize their villain’s backstory until the sequels started. In Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, Pumpkinhead gains a deformed son in the sweet Tommy, who is swiftly killed off by some of the most monstrous bullies in movie history. While it is undeniably satisfying to see these villains get torn to shreds when Tommy is revived in the form of Pumpkinhead, the unrelenting bleakness of Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings makes this sequel a tough watch.
The sequel’s antagonists are so inhumane that it is tough to care about their fates, making this a lesser entry in the series. Fortunately, some creative kills ensure this isn’t a complete waste of time. While other direct-to-video horror sequels feature innumerable sequels that fail to justify their existence, the trim runtime of Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings and its nasty gore make the movie worth a watch. However, the rest of the series has stronger character work.
2 Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes (2006)
By rights, Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes should have been a disaster. For one thing, it is a made-for-television sequel released around the same time as cheap, in-name-only cash-ins like Lake Placid 2. For another, its director, Jake West, was previously best known for low-budget British horror comedies. Despite these limitations, Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes is a gory joy. Not only does the original movie’s Lance Henriksen return as Ed Harley, but he is also joined by horror royalty Ed Bradley. The Hellraiser franchise villain plays a bizarre anti-villain in the form of Doc Fraser, an amoral mortician who is caught harvesting the organs of the dead.
Unfortunately for Fraser, he made the mistake of carrying out his crimes in the same small town where the original Pumpkinhead hero Ed Harley once lived. Soon enough, Harley is revived as Pumpkinhead and the original movie’s hero becomes the killer in this sequel. Since Fraser has to go on a bloody murder spree of his own to cover his tracks, this sequel is an unusually morally ambiguous spin on the franchise’s simple plotting. Fraser is no one’s hero, and Harley’s take on Pumpkinhead is comparatively morally justified in his actions, making the story of Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes a gory fun time that also plays with the franchise’s formula.
1 Pumpkinhead (1988)
The original Pumpkinhead is by no means perfect, but it is still the strongest horror movie in the series so far. Lance Henriksen gives a stellar central performance as a grieving father who will go to any lengths to avenge his son’s death, and the tragedy of his loss means that Pumpkinhead’s slow-burn revenge story feels earned. In many ways, the opening half of Pumpkinhead plays out like a more vengeful spin on Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, as a parent’s grief drives them to unimaginable extremes. However, once the kills start, the franchise’s real selling point becomes obvious.
While every sequel gives Pumpkinhead plenty of screen time, the monster is never more effective than he is in his big-screen debut. Pumpkinhead builds up to its big reveal slowly and, when Stan Winston’s creature is finally unveiled, the movie has the confidence to show off the beast in numerous lengthy set-pieces. Where many horror movies shy away from this approach, the original Pumpkinhead proves that a great monster can withstand plenty of time terrorizing viewers onscreen without diluting its scare factor. As a result, Pumpkinhead remains the best film in the franchise to date thanks to its unique combination of tragic horror drama and pure monster movie chills.
