R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead (2025) Review
This scary tale is sure to give you Goosebumps! 13-year-old Sam (Bean Reid) thinks moving to Redhaven is as bad as it gets – until his brother Finn (Seth Isaac Johnson) vanishes and no one, not even their mom, remembers he existed. As Halloween approaches, Sam must team up with an eccentric local and the Sheriff’s daughter to save Finn before he is lost forever to a harvest curse.
Starring Bean Reid, Adeline Lo, Kevin McNulty (Snakes on a Plane), Bob Frazer (Safehaven), Matty Finochio (Love Hard), Seth Isaac Johnson (My Old Ass), Kendra Anderson (Horns) Directed by Jem Garrard (Slay, Invasive).
Not to be confused with the excellent 1988 horror film simply titled Pumpkinhead, R. L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead is written and directed by Jem Garrard and offers up a decidedly more family-friendly take on supernatural horror. While it may never quite reach must-see status, this is nevertheless a cut above average when it comes to kid-friendly scares.
The film gets the balance of horror and accessibility about right for its intended audience. Younger viewers will find a few suitably creepy moments, but there is little here likely to keep them awake at night. That’s quite an achievement considering the story involves black magic, missing children and the rather unsettling prospect of children being sacrificed to a demon. For adults watching alongside their kids, there is enough going on beneath the surface to maintain interest, even if the film occasionally struggles with muddled execution and some decidedly weak dialogue.
The central premise provides the film with its strongest hook. Children are being forgotten by the adults around them, to the extent that it is almost as though they never existed in the first place. There is an intriguing mystery surrounding what is happening and why, which helps to paper over some of the film’s narrative shortcomings and keeps the story moving forward.
It is also refreshing to see the filmmakers embracing practical effects rather than relying entirely on CGI. The Scarecrow, in particular, is a suitably creepy creation and one of the film’s more memorable elements. There is a pleasing Nineties aesthetic running throughout the production, which gives the film a nostalgic quality that should appeal to viewers who grew up on that era of children’s horror.
Adapted from a short story from R. L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour anthology series, R. L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead perhaps inevitably feels as though its source material has been stretched to fill a feature-length running time. At around ninety minutes, the film isn’t exactly overlong, but the later stages begin to feel increasingly jumbled, as though the story is struggling to sustain the momentum established earlier.
There is plenty here to recommend for younger horror fans, and the filmmakers deserve credit for understanding that children’s horror doesn’t need to be completely sanitised to be effective. The scares are appropriately judged, the practical effects are welcome, and there is enough substance to keep accompanying adults reasonably entertained.
Ultimately, R. L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead lacks the charm and spark required to really dazzle, but as a piece of family-friendly Halloween entertainment, it does the job perfectly well. An adequate time-filler for younger horror fans, even if adults may find themselves wishing the material had been developed a little further.
R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead is available on Digital HD and DVD from 17 August. Distributed by Signature Entertainment
UK Trailer
