Pumpkinhead - Parenting 101...

...don't leave your only child to mind a shop in the middle of nowhere while a load of selfish rich teenagers speed around on motorbikes outside.

However, if you happen to ignore this pretty simply advice, you may just find that you fall foul to `Pumpkinhead.'

And who is Pumpkinhead you ask. Well, he's kind of like the alien's Earth-dwelling cousin, who you can summon to reap vengeance on anyone who you think deserves it (for example: a load of selfish rich teenagers who just crushed your only child with a motorbike). And now we have our movie.

The big nasty monster (with his not-particularly scary-sounding name) now stalks and eliminates the teens, one by one. This is one of those film which you will either love or hate, due to it having as much going for it, as it does downsides. First, the positive... Lance Henrikson as leading man - an actor that doesn't often get top billing, but always turns in a decent performance no matter what the film. Plus the movie is directed by Stan Winston (better know for his special effects). Although there's nothing special in the direction, the creature itself is damn good and it's nice to see a monster on screen that's not computer-generated.

The downside is largely the teens. They're pretty dumb and you probably won't care much about even the nicest of them. Plus whoever wrote the dialogue for them can't write for young people - they tend to spout a load of clichés and banal sentences like they're reading from an autocue.

All in all, Pumpkinhead is pretty fun. It probably won't find much of an audience by today's standards, but if you have an appreciation for classic horror and general `monster-munching' movies, then you might enjoy this one. It's not overly long and the creature just about justifies a watch on its own.

A generous 7/10, based on the fact that I'm nostalgic about when I saw it back in the eighties. Probably more of a 6/10 though for everyone else.