Rawhead Rex vs Pumpkinhead

For absolutely no reason other than that I love movie monsters, I am going to ask you, dear readers, to choose your favorite of the "Head" demons, Rawhead Rex and Pumpkinhead. I am assuming everyone has seen and loves these epic monster movies (Darsh, I'm looking at you), but for the uninformed, let us begin the "Two-Headed" debate by first reviewing the trailers:

As you can plainly see, both of these movies rule even from just the trailers alone. I love both for very different reasons, but now, let's review what both have going for them and where they may edge out the other. Both are created by masters in their respective arts. Rawhead Rex comes from a Clive Barker short story (though he has disowned this film) and Pumpkinhead comes from effects genius Stan Winston. Plus for both. With Winston on its side, Pumpkinhead looks way more...finished I guess, but Rawhead seriously rules in a campy way, see below:




Hm, for sheer effects, this one goes to the ole' Pump. Winston, although his handiwork was limited in this film, really does have the more creepy monster. Rawhead is more of a pissed off drinking buddy, the high school jock to Pumpkinhead's goth kid. Don't underestimate the power of a pissed off jock though, because I'm giving extra credit to Rawhead for sheer bad assness. Watch an edited version of his trailer park devastation and then witness the baptism of his disciple Declan O'Brien:

You see?! I would say both have left lasting impressions on horror fans, but Pumpkinhead definitely has left the greater of the two with three sequels, a spot in McFarlane's Movie Monsters toy line and a failed attempt at a comic mini series (only 2 out 4 issues were published). A comic adaptation of Rawhead Rex was also done, but it's based directly on the short story and didn't really come about because of the movie. The movie itself follows the original story almost exactly, but it just loses the terror in favor of wrecking shit up, while we get a bit more creepiness here. The visual representation of Rawhead Rex is vastly different in the comic adaptation, see below, followed by the covers for all 3 pieces we're talking about here. Click further below to get the whole comic.

Rawhead Rex Graphic Novel

But hard economic times are upon us all, and even Pumpkinhead (from the 2006 Ashes to Ashes sequel) has been seen taking a second job promoting Raisin Bran Crunch over in the UK. Ah marketing. Anyways, we could do week long posts on both monsters I'm sure, but I'll cut it short here with some extra visual goodness after the Raisin Bran video plus the promotional score to Pumpkinhead by Richard Stone. Thanks to the original person who made that available! And just to prove the rabid fanbase both these films have, we found both Rawhead Rex and Pumpkinhead tattoos!

Pumpkinhead Promotional Score