PUMPKINHEAD (1988) / COMPOSER: RICHARD STONE / LABEL: NOTEFORNOTE MUSIC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
In 2016, the Richard Stone score for Stan Winston’s 1988 ‘grim fairy tale’ Pumpkinhead, saw release for the first time as part of Varèse Sarabande’s Little Box of Horrors 12-disc CD box set. For those who didn’t want to shell out upwards of $100 to purchase one album, the wait for a solo release has been a long one. Thankfully, it’s not been nearly as long a wait, because Notefornote Music has released a limited-edition stand-alone edition of 666 copies.
With notes by composer Edwin Wendler, as well as a reversible artwork featuring both the theatrical release poster and home video covers, the Notefornote release of Pumpkinhead is really a wonderful release for fans of unique horror scores. As Wendler notes in his essay for the release, ‘the music maintains a rural feel while at the same time shifting from sweet to tragic to shocking’ thanks to ‘an ensemble comprised of harmonica, guitars, fiddle, percussion, and electronic instruments.’
It’s never clearer than on the first track, Pumpkinhead (End Credits), which features all of the instruments together to create a feeling of swampy Southern terror. The synths give a feeling of action and intensity, while the acoustic guitar and harmonica let the listener feel the closeness of the woods in which Winston’s film takes place.
What makes Stone’s score so astonishingly effective isn’t the glissandi specifically, which Wendler states ‘provides eeriness and a sense of dread when applied to choir patches on synth, guitar figures, and – very memorably – long notes played on the harmonica’, but the way in which the slide guitar or harmonica fades into the synth or choir. The seamless melding of traditional acoustic instrumentation with electronically-manipulated synths or voice perfectly reflects the film’s early central conflict of modern life intruding into rural peacefulness.
The only time Stone’s Pumpkinhead score gets into stereotypical horror scoring – big creepy choirs, squelchy synths, et al – is on A Witch in the Woods, which is likely the kind of track a director wants for a visit to an ominous figure whose main purpose is to unleash the titular monster into the world. It’s certainly effective, and although it’s the emotional mirror opposite of beautiful and melancholic tracks like Innocence Lost and Mr. Harley’s Remorse, one can see that Stone works best when not leaning into clichés.
While limited, and nearly sold out at the time of this writing, a standalone release of Richard Stone’s Pumpkinhead score makes for an excellent reason to cheer. While it’s not 100% effective, the blending of backwoods thriller with ’80s horror score makes for an intriguing and unique listen.
