Netflix’s “Pumpkinhead”: A Midwestern Folk-Horror Adaptation

“Pumpkinhead,” released on Netflix, adapts a 1999 short story by R.L. Stine, the author of the *Goosebumps* series.

The Guardian

The story follows Sam (Bean Reid), who moves with his mother Cassie (Kendra Anderson) and older brother Finn (Seth Isaac Johnson) to the farming outpost of Redhaven. At the local harvest festival they learn that Farmer Palmer (Kevin McNulty) is responsible for the town’s sudden agricultural bounty. Sam steals Palmer’s prized pumpkin; when Finn returns it, he becomes magically trapped inside, and the adults act as if he never existed. Sam, aided by new friend Becka (Adeline Lo), must break the curse before midnight on Halloween by infiltrating Palmer’s house and locating an ancient grimoire. The narrative culminates in a twist that unsettles without resorting to overt gore or gothic trappings.

The Guardian

Horror elements—such as a “pustulant, soul-sucking pumpkin” and a “chittering slasher scarecrow”—are described as “just scary enough,” with any lingering unease quickly dispelled by self-aware humor.

The Guardian

Director-writer Jem Garrard is credited with a “sunny Netflix-ese” visual style that supports the child performers. The review praises the young cast’s handling of the material while finding McNulty’s portrayal of the “pumpkin patriarch” “too anaemic.” Matty Finochio appears as a “forest hermit” who delivers exposition that the reviewer finds irritating.

The Guardian

Overall, the critique argues that the film feels “straightforward and amiable” until its final twist, which provides an unsettling payoff. While the movie offers a “nice line in pre-emptive self-awareness,” the reviewer cautions parents to consider their children’s tolerance for psychological violence. The assessment positions “Pumpkinhead” as an interesting, if not wholly original, entry in the family-oriented horror niche.

The Guardian