From Goosebumps to Fear Street, R.L. Stine has been entertaining the masses with his tales of the macabre and horror for generations. Now, this month, Pumpkinheads, an adaption taken from the pages of Stine's short story collection, Nightmare Hour, is coming to Tubi as an original movie.
Pumpkinhead follows Sam as he and his family move to Redhaven, an idyllic, but mysterious town with a lot of secrets. Once he runs afoul of Mr. Palmer and his eerily strange pumpkins, Sam's brother, Finn, disappears and sets off a chain of events that dive into the town's cursed history of missing children. With the help of new friends and locals, Becca and Rusty, Sam has until the end of Halloween night to save his brother and the rest of the town.
The film will be helmed by director, Jem Garrard, who also wrote the screenplay. This will be Garrard's fifth Tubi original. Her other movies include Slay, a horror comedy with well-know drag queens who have to face off against a bar full of vampires, Takeout, about a group of co-workers who think they're onto a serial killer, and Invasive and Invasive 2. Garrard is stylistically colorful and campy, striking that fine line between comedy and horror. I think it makes her the perfect person to tackle this adaptation of Pumpkinhead. The trailer already looks saturated in Halloween colors and because it's young adult horror, it gives Garrard a lot more room to play with the campiness of it.
In an article from Bloody Disgusting, Tubi's chief content officer, Adam Lewinson, had this to say, "R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead is a playful blend of good fun, big scares with an element of adventure that taps into everything audiences love about Halloween and young-adult horror." And that's exactly what the trailer invokes. It feels like good, spooky fun. Perfect for a younger audience who might be getting into horror for the first time and nostalgic for an older audience who may have been introduced to the genre by R.L. Stine's work.
R.L Stine has been a prolific master of horror for decades. Writing everything between kids horror and adult horror. Personally, Goosebumps was my gateway into horror and got me into reading, but Fear Street was really the love of my young life. I even vaguely remember making my way through Nightmare Hour where Pumpkinhead is a featured short story. It might be time to dig out the anthology and give it a reread before the movie drops. I'm excited to see how the movie compares to the short story and its previous adaptation for The Haunting Hour tv show.
I'm excited, Pumpkinhead looks like it'll be the perfect movie to celebrate Halloween this month. It's coming to Tubi on October 17th, so be on the lookout!