10 Craziest Ways Horror Movie Characters Have Returned From The Dead

4. Pumpkinhead - Witchcraft

The Lazarus Effect
United Artists

Goddamn, 1988's Pumpkinhead is all kinds of fun.

Cheesy, a bit naff, and very much of its time? Sure. But still, the film manages to maintain a certain camp charm upon a present-day re-watch.

Lance Henriksen's Ed Harley is a desperate, desperate man in Pumpkinhead. After his son is killed, Ed seeks out assistance from a slightly ropey witch. For Ed, his aim is for the witch to use her powers to bring back his fallen son. Only the witch refuses to do this, and instead she puts a plan in motion for the vengeance-seeking demonic Pumpkinhead to rise once more.

As we see by the time that first movie concludes, Pumpkinhead is by all accounts and purposes a cyclical being who is used as a tool of revenge and bloodshed.

If we can all just agree to completely forget about the awful Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, the same premise of that original movie has since been seen in 2006's Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes and 2007's Pumpkinhad: Blood Feud - complete with Lance Henrisken reprising his role as the poor soul forever tied to Pumpkinhead and his twisted ways.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.