Who’s Up for a Pumpkinhead Prequel?

credit: Pumpkinhead

I’ve said it a couple of times over the past few years, and it’s for certain that others have said it as well, but Pumpkinhead still stands out as one of the more underappreciated movie monsters that could do a lot more if it was given to the right director and had a screenwriter that could make the script pop in a decisive way. The original movie with Lance Henriksen was the absolute best of the bunch, but it still comes off in a way that didn’t exactly tell the whole story. Fans are aware of how the legend went in the first movie, and it didn’t exactly go past the main character and his issues, but it did leave people enticed and ready for more. Opinions vary on whether the sequels were worth much of anything, but what can be said is that Pumpkinhead did become a cult classic that people still enjoy today since the rampaging demon is one of the scariest things that Hollywood still has on hand from decades earlier. 

credit: Pumpkinhead

A prequel might be able to go far enough back to tell of how the witch became the keeper of the demon. 

The witch sounded pretty self-assured no matter how old and crusty she was, didn’t she? It would be great to go back far enough to see how the witch was placed in a seat that would allow her to be the keeper of the demon and a maker of deals such as the one that Ed Harley made. At one point, the witch had to have been a young woman, especially since she is human. Of course, figuring out how old she really is could be kind of difficult unless it’s a part of the original script. It’s not a matter of explaining away the entire mystery of the characters. It’s more about showing that the demon and the witch have been around for a very long time and that the deals made for the demon’s service have gone wrong more than once. 

The story could benefit from an explanation of how the demon came to exist, a legend or a myth of some sort. 

It’s fair to say that there is literature on the demon that has more to do with the movie than anything that might have actually been researched. The fact is that the movie was inspired by a poem written by a poet named Ed Justin, and everything that goes into the lore has been built up since. It’s not a bad way to go, really, since it did create a story that has a lot of merit to it ad could be picked up again if someone happened to be interested in taking it on. The Pumpkinhead legend could be something quite interesting, but it’s tough to try and think of where its origin might stem from since there are a few cultures that might not work quite as well. Seeing the region settled and explaining, in a little detail, how the demon came to be could go a long way to making Pumpkinhead even more popular since it might go into the explanation of the region and how it contributed to the demon’s rise. 

credit: Pumpkinhead

The likelihood of this happening doesn’t feel that high, but it’s still possible. 

There are a lot of horror movies out there today, and a good number of them are being given the praise that they don’t really deserve, or at least that’s one opinion. Pumpkinhead is one of those that might never see the light of day, but if it was able to happen, it does feel that under the right filmmaker, it could possibly make a comeback in a big way. That might just be wishful thinking, but at the very least, it’s the type of thinking that could give rise to something that could take its rightful place along with some of the greatest movie monsters in history. It might just be another horror fan talking, but it would be fun to see this come to pass just to see if the legend could be expanded upon and given a new breath of life that could help it to move forward. 

One thing about this is there’s no need for a crossover, hopefully. 

It would likely enter a lot of minds who would win in a battle, some other movie monster or Pumpkinhead. I know I’ve written at least one article out there trying to figure it out, but the idea of a crossover doesn’t necessarily feel like a great idea since it would take quite the effort to make it happen, and it might be a wasted effort simply because the resulting movie might be a little too goofy. But at the end of the day, a lot of people might find a reason to say no to this movie coming back. 

It’s still a good idea.