Pin... (1988)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Sandor Stern

Writers:

Andrew Neiderman (novel)
Sandor Stern (writer)

Release Date:

6 January 1990 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Is Pin alive? Leon knows... but nobody believes him!

Plot:

In this low-budget descendant of Psycho, Ursula and Leon are sister and brother, living alone, save...

Plot Keywords:

Pinocchio | Doctor | Ventriloquism | Murder | Nervous Breakdown

Cast

David Hewlett	...	Leon Linden
Cynthia Preston	...	Ursula Linden (as Cyndy Preston)
Terry O'Quinn	...	Dr. Linden
Bronwen Mantel	...	Mrs. Linden
John Pyper-Ferguson	...	Stan Fraker (as John Ferguson)
Helene Udy	...	Marcia Bateman
Patricia Collins	...	Aunt Dorothy
Steven Bednarski	...	Leon...Age 13
Katie Shingler	...	Ursula...Age 11
Jacob Tierney	...	Leon, age 7
Michelle Anderson	...	Ursula...Age 5
Joan Austen	...	Nurse Spalding
Jamie Stern	...	Eddie Morris (as James Stern)
David Gow	...	Officer Wilson
Terrence Labrosse	...	Dr. Bell

Also Known As:

Pin: A Plastic Nightmare (Canada: English title)

Runtime:

USA:103 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Belgium:16 (video rating) | UK:15 (video re-rating) | Netherlands:16 | Australia:M | Canada:R | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Iberville, Québec, Canada

Company:

Lance Entertainment

Trivia:

The film that Leon (David Hewlett) and Marcia see while on their date is Scanners (1981). David Hewlett would later star in Scanners II: The New Order (1991) (V).

Quotes:

PIN: Have you heard from Leon?
Ursula Linden: No.
PIN: I miss him a great deal.
Ursula Linden: [camera pans down to reveal Leon has become Pin and Ursula begins to cry] So do I.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Nightmare in Canada: Canadian Horror on Film (2004) (TV)

Nice! Where did this come from?

Seldom is this film spoken of and that's a shame. Impressively written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Sandor Stern (who is probably best known for scripting THE AMITYVILLE HORROR), this underrated psychological thriller comes as a rare and welcome surprise, especially at a time when Freddy, Michael Myers and Jason were hacking their way through theaters (and sadly, hogging most of the attention).

The prosperous Linden family live in tight household headed over by a very stern doctor father (Terry O'Quinn) and an obsessive-compulsive clean freak mother (Bronwen Mantel) so extreme she keeps plastic slip-covers over all the furniture. When their sheltered children, Leon and Ursula, begin to start inquiring about the birds and bees, O'Quinn uses his ventriloquist skills to bring a medical display dummy named Pin to life to answer their questions. The film then jumps ahead ten or so years when the parents are killed in a car crash and Leon (David Hewlett) begins to display schizophrenic tendencies. He still believes Pin is alive and is eventually reduced to using Pin to murder his "enemies" to keep his sister (Cyndy Preston) in his life.

A film as subtle and quiet as this one requires solid, serious dramatic performances to work and Hewlett, Preston and O'Quinn don't disappoint in this thoughtful and eerie film. A real sleeper. Don't miss it! Based on a novel by Andrew Niederman (who also wrote the novel the film THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE was based on).

Score: 8 out of 10.