Based on a short story by the Goosebumps author, this derivative but tautly plotted tale over-relies on Scooby-Doo-style sleuthery, and its truly unsettling turn comes too late
Adapted from a 1999 short story by Goosebumps’ RL Stine, this kid-proofed piece of midwestern folk horror borrows merrily from The Wicker Man, Stephen King and Tim Burton. Rattling those influences around in its horn of plenty, it rigs up a taut enough plotline about a New York family arriving in the suspiciously fecund farming outpost of Redhaven. But, even given the horror-lite nature of the enterprise, it doesn’t stake out sufficient fresh territory of its own – until it’s too late.
Snotty skate rat Sam (Bean Reid) moves to Redhaven with his mum, Cassie, (Kendra Anderson) and older brother Finn (Seth Isaac Johnson) where, hitting the local harvest festival, they learn that ornery Farmer Palmer (Kevin McNulty) is the one responsible for miraculously wringing out fresh bounty from the town’s once-blighted fields. Vexed at finding himself in the sticks, Sam decides to steal Palmer’s prize pumpkin – but when Finn returns it, he is magically trapped inside. All the adults seem to forget Finn ever existed, leaving Sam until midnight on Halloween to break the curse.
As Sam infiltrates Palmer’s house with new pal Becka (Adeline Lo) in search of an ancient grimoire, this is boilerplate Scooby-Dooish sleuthery. The horror elements (the pustulant, soul-sucking pumpkin, a chittering slasher scarecrow prowling the cornfields) are just scary enough, with any lingering unease quickly dispelled by a nice line in pre-emptive self-awareness. Matty Finochio chalks up points as the resident “forest hermit”, irate at the tween investigators for constantly interrupting his creepy exposition.
Shot by writer-director Jem Garrard in sunny Netflixese, it is peppily handled by the child performers, though McNulty is too anaemic as the pumpkin patriarch. It feels too straightforward and amiable – until, that is, a final twist that really is unsettling, without any direct threat, gore or gothic trappings involved. It’s an interesting comeuppance for the wannabe independent Sam – but you might want to check your kids’ tolerance for psychological violence.
RL Stine’s Pumpkinhead is available on digital platforms from 17 August.
