I've heard this one referred to as an underrated horror classic for at least a decade now. Finally got to checking it out, thanks to the whole movie being available on YouTube. While I thoroughly enjoyed it, I can't say I quite agree with the level of accolade it typically receives these days.
The main thing it has going for it is a really great concept. Overall, the way the plot progresses has a solid cohesion to it, but the main problem is that all the beats it takes to run you through them feel SO immensely cliche, and, well, just obvious. Now, maybe I feel this way because I primarily grew up on movies, especially spooky movies, from the mid 80's to early 90's, but regardless, any great movie should hold up over time. I just found the majority of elements throughout this entire film to be fully predictable. I do kind of wish I saw it as a child - considering that nothing freaked me out harder than dolls & dummies at that age. I feel like this one would have stuck with me forever if that had been the case.
Main complaints aside, the committed dramatic performance of Cynthia Preston and the absolutely overblown performance of lead David Hewlett keep Pin very entertaining all the way through. The main thing I will walk away remembering after seeing this for the first time as a 37 year old adult is their intense character acting. Of course, the image of Pin himself (the anatomy dummy) will also remain pretty much entirely impossible to forget. If I ever see an anatomy dummy in the future, I will likely think of Pin, and that's worth something.
Though Pin is no masterpiece and feels just like watching 80% of 80's horror movies, it definitely has enough to make it worth seeing once, for horror completionists especially.
A movie I recently saw which is generally hated on but has a very similar tone and completely blew me away was William Friedkin's THE GUARDIAN from 1990 - now THAT is an underrated horror movie!
The main thing it has going for it is a really great concept. Overall, the way the plot progresses has a solid cohesion to it, but the main problem is that all the beats it takes to run you through them feel SO immensely cliche, and, well, just obvious. Now, maybe I feel this way because I primarily grew up on movies, especially spooky movies, from the mid 80's to early 90's, but regardless, any great movie should hold up over time. I just found the majority of elements throughout this entire film to be fully predictable. I do kind of wish I saw it as a child - considering that nothing freaked me out harder than dolls & dummies at that age. I feel like this one would have stuck with me forever if that had been the case.
Main complaints aside, the committed dramatic performance of Cynthia Preston and the absolutely overblown performance of lead David Hewlett keep Pin very entertaining all the way through. The main thing I will walk away remembering after seeing this for the first time as a 37 year old adult is their intense character acting. Of course, the image of Pin himself (the anatomy dummy) will also remain pretty much entirely impossible to forget. If I ever see an anatomy dummy in the future, I will likely think of Pin, and that's worth something.
Though Pin is no masterpiece and feels just like watching 80% of 80's horror movies, it definitely has enough to make it worth seeing once, for horror completionists especially.
A movie I recently saw which is generally hated on but has a very similar tone and completely blew me away was William Friedkin's THE GUARDIAN from 1990 - now THAT is an underrated horror movie!