@interstellar_isabellar: A little over a year ago, I watched Pumpkinhead, a folk horror b-movie from 1988 that was such a visual and emotional suckerpunch that, as my husband can attest, I did not stop talking about it for weeks. Only later did I find out that this movie with a monster who a) is basically a knockoff of the alien from Alien and b) does *not* have a pumpkin for a head only had a measly 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. But it turns out, I'm not alone. That 51%, however, contains scores of other superfans that have been waiting, I think, for years for this movie to truly be appreciated for the masterpiece that it is. It’s not just the superb creature design, the subtle dread to the aesthetic and atmosphere, or the kickass music. I truly believe that this movie plumbs the depths of the monstrousness that every person holds somewhere inside of them. For those that are faced with horrific tragedies in their lives, but are not given the basic human right to mourn their loss, their inner monster is much more likely to rear its ugly head. In a time of g*nocides, of pointless wars, of grief that beastly politicians deny our healing from in America and in Palestine, what separates us as human beings from monsters? When people are faced with unimaginable losses – the m*rders of their friends, their parents, their children – which they are simply not allowed to heal from, what is the “rational” thing for them to do? And who are we that watch from far away to say that, for those that react with violence themselves, that the frame of “rationality” even applies? Pumpkinhead discusses these things in a way I’ve never really seen another movie do. And it does this (likely unknowingly) through a new staging of the story of…the werewolf. My latest long form video is about Pumpkinhead, but it’s also about… - The ethics of shooting movies in poorer parts of rural America - Werewolf movies - Jewish werewolves - Yiddish author, playwright, and Bund member H. Lievick - Folk art - Grief, Palestine, and John Berger I can’t wait to hear what you all think <3 #pumpkinhead #horrormovie #arthistory #werewolf #bmovie

Isabella Segalovich

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Thursday 05 November 2026 16:31:48 GMT