Pin (1988)

A hidden gem

This movie was a very haunting movie to watch. You really didn't know if Leon was hearing voices or the "dummy" was really talking. It was a psychological horror that took you on a trip and didn't let you down right down to the credits in the end. For anyone that has a fear of dolls, I do recommend this movie to scare you for sure. February 27, 2007

1.75 STARS: "Pin's the best friend you've ever had!!!" -Leon

"Pin" is a nice psychological thriller although not a true horror film in the strict sense of the term. Basically, "Pin" is about a very strange family, much like my ex-wife's family and that is no lie. At any rate, the father (a physician) of this strange family seems to have some difficulty communicating with his children in the conventional way. Therefore, he creates an alternate entity or person named "Pin" who is really nothing more than a model in a doctor's office. However, Pin, the person, takes care of unenviable tasks like talking to the kids about sex and other sensitive issues. The problem here is the psychological development of the children.

While Ursula develops rather nicely except for maybe an all too active libido, Leon fails to progress in his development. In fact, Leon becomes attached to and obsessed with Pin, and refuses to allow the idea that Pin does not really exist to enter his head. So, instead of dealing with reality as it is, Leon remains in this imaginary world of Pin. In a sense, what we have here is a deviation from the movie "Psycho" where Leon ends up giving half of his life to Pin much the same way Norman Bates gave half of his life to his dead mother. Obviously, Leon suffers from severe emotional and mental distress. Ultimately, Leon becomes a classic paranoid schizophrenic, and after his parents' death, Leon becomes determined to make Pin into part of the family as he moves Pin in with him and his sister. In Leon's mind, Pin is as much a part of the family as Mom, Dad, Ursula or himself. As adults, Ursula has developed well, but Leon has serious mental problems, and has degenerated in his emotional and psychological development.

When things begin to threaten Leon's and Pin's little world, Leon would always go to Pin for advice, much the same way a son would go to his father for advice. After the death of his parents, Leon actually gives Pin even more of an identity by dressing him in clothes, giving him a wig and so on and so forth. While Leon is unable to deal with reality, Ursula wishes to lead a normal life, and when she begins to date Stan, Leon and Pin take action, but not enough action to make this movie into a "horror movie" in my opinion! In other words, "Pin", while somewhat stylish and imaginative, lacks in substance what "Psycho" clearly possesses.

That being said, "Pin" is a nice little suspense flick that examines the darkness inside the unconscious mind. In "Pin", there are some scary moments I guess you could say as Pin is somewhat creepy in his own right by his very existence and for what he represents in Leon's mind. Leon is a very sick boy, and he seems to have a rather sick sense of poetry that is rather dark and depraved. The plot in "Pin" is pretty good for a suspense movie, and the mainframe of a potential horror movie is present. However, "Pin" fails to develop into the horror movie that it could have become. There is clearly not enough violence and horror in "Pin" to call it a pure horror movie. Leon, while somewhat creepy in all his craziness, is not a good nor a pure horror movie villain. Unlike Norman Bates, Leon's prowess as a horror movie is insecure whereas Norman Bates proves his prowess as a horror movie several times in "Psycho". While "Pin" seems to borrow some of psychological elements from "Psycho" and there are some parallels between Leon and Norman, Norman Bates is clearly much more dangerous than Leon as "Psycho" is clearly a horror movie in ever sense of the word whereas "Pin" seems to stall at the fork in the road at the point where it could go the horror movie route or play the suspense chiller.

The acting in "Pin" is average to slightly above average, and this movie will keep you interested until the very end because you want to know what's going to happen to Leon and Pin. However, "Pin" is the kind of movie that you probably want to watch just one time and does not hold up well to repeated viewings mainly because the action, horror and violence, which as a general rule and at least to some degree is necessary to the makings of a good horror movie, is simply not prevalent enough in this movie to make it into a good horror movie...while there are some exceptions to this general rule, "Pin" does not have enough atmosphere, style or substance to be considered one of them.

September 24, 2006

Pin....A Plastic Nightmare

Don't let the cool cover and misleading reviews fool you. This movie is quite bad.

Plot- An upper-middle class family, all of them, mom & dad, brother and sister are VERY strange. The whole situation is weird- The way they act with eachother. The movie starts off with the kids, ''Leon the brother and Ursula the sister'' when they were little. The father uses an anatomical dummy named ''Pin'' to teach the children about life and sex. He pretends Pin is talking when its just him using ventriloquism but the children actually believe Pin's talking to them. Let me remind you , this dummy isnt scary at all but everyone in the neighborhood and everyone who meets ''Pin'' is scared of it.

One night Leon's parents get into an accident and the sister and brother are now alone with eachother. Leon is now in his late teens and has started talking to Pin and pretending hes a real human. He took over Daddys place. Obviously, it seems schizophrenia runs in the family. Leon talks to Pin nightly, has conversations with him, brings him to the dinner table, etc. The sister sits there and takes Leons crazy actions and strange behavior with Pin and never asserts herself hardly. She seems scared of Leon, which is a joke because the guy is a wimp. I guess his ''mental illness'' scares her. But at the end you wonder why would she be? it turns out she obviously has some demons of her own.

Leon is very over protective of Ursula and theres definitely some incestuous undertones going on in that house. He gets jealous when she starts dating a guy and when the guy comes over he starts reading his ''poetry''. I cant say whats its about on this site, but you can only guess. Hint- its about his sister and some deviant fantasy.

Everyone that comes over or comes in contact with 'Pin' seems terrified of it. Not of Leon, i can see them being a little weirded out by Leon, but not Pin. For example, Leon gives his Aunt a heart attack just by her seeing Pin. When Pin appears she has a heart attack. Give me a break, if you were to see this dummy in real life it would never scare you. It looks like a regular manican from a doctors office.

You can guess what happens at the end, its not that hard to predict. Leon gets so jealous of the girlfriends new boyfriend, what do you think happens?

This really could have been a good movie. The whole story if done well it could have succeeded.. but.. The acting, the plot holes, the very NOT scary dummy, it just didnt work. This movie isnt scary its more of a look at some kind of mental illness but it just didnt convince me. I couldnt take this movie seriously. Was it the mediocre/bad acting? Was it the unscary manican named 'Pin'' or just not a good movie, maybe a mixture.

This movie played out like a soap opera. It was soap opera acting, it didnt even cut it as TV movie of the week material. It had promise but it was done in the wrong way.

I wonder about the reviewers who gave this movie 4 or 5 stars, havent they ever seen a good movie before? This is 3 at best, just for the concept. Factor in the acting and everything else , 2 and a half stars.

If youre looking for a horror movie, this isnt it. If youre looking for a weird pyschological drama, this is it, but its not a good one. You decide if you want to purchase this after reading this honest review. July 7, 2006

Quality Movie

Anchor Bay did justice to this gem. The DVD is an excellent reproduction. I like "well done" horror movies, yet I wouldn't necessarily call this a horror film. The movie delves more into human relationships and feelings, with a psychological twist.

The movie was well made, the cinematography, score and acting were excellent. An excellent addition to my collection.

Keep it up Anchor Bay. I enjoy horror films and I have some DVDs that I wish had been done by you. September 27, 2005

Captures A Truly Disturbing Ailment

Most all of the so-called horror movies made today are just simple, formulatic nonsense that offer only jolts but nothing withstanding. Whatever happened to the genuinely scary like Psycho or The Exorcist? What we're most afraid of is not monsters or faceless madmen, but elements of our own psyche. This film is one not perfect, but it does succeed in striking a chord with those who desire a REAL reason to stay up at night.

David Hewlitt is fantastic as Leon, a schizophrenic boy with an unnatural obsession with medical dummy Pin. The movie doesn't go soft or stereotypical and deserves more attention than the likes of pointless trash like Urban Legends or Valentine. If you wish to be truly mind-...... by a good psychological thriller, you owe it to yourself to see this flick.
September 26, 2005

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