Pin

Brother and Sister Leon and Ursula received fairly strict parenting, their father would use his medical dummy named pin to direct and instruct the children, using the medium of ventriloquism. When the parents die, Leon begins controlling his sister, through Pin.

What an unexpected gem of a movie this turned out to be, I thoroughly enjoyed it, there are so many quirky and unique horrors from the decade, this is one of the best I've seen for a while.

It's a story about control and obsession, Leon is very much a product of his strict and controlling father, he's clearly transferring his father's behaviours.

Full of suspense, it had me captivated til the very end, it really does manage to hold your attention.

What a creepy guy Pin is, I'm only surprised this film hasn't been remade, an audience is missing out on an updated version.

8/10.

This is a masterpiece ! Sadly neglected by the audience (probably because it lacked gore and fx) and by the critics (probably because it came from Canada: critics seems to have a habit of neglecting Canadian movies, unless they are directed by David Cronenberg). It's slow, haunting, unnerving and very well acted by all actors involved (mostly unknowns, except for Terry O'Quinn as the father and for David Hewlett as the son who acted also in Scanners II: The New Order (1991) and Cube (1997). It's directed with skill by Sandor Stern who was also responsible for the screenplay, based on a novel by Andrew Neiderman (who also wrote the novel The Devil's Advocate). The story: a young, lonely fragile-minded boy in need for parental love and guidance get's close-to-none from his too self-consumed parents and projects his needs into a medical display dummy which his father (a doctor) use as "a handyman" to help teaching his children. The only love and care the boy get's come from his kid-sister. The parents die in a horrible car-accident, leaving the children financially independent. They grow up to be teenagers and when the kid-sister starts to date, her brother's obsessive over-protectiveness results into chaos and murder. The final scenes are chilling and leave the audience (who has come to care for the characters) heartbroken.

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.

"Pin" has a strong, troubling, psycho-sexual undercurrent -- that's why I like it. I didn't mind the Andrew Neiderman novel, either, which presented the character of Pin from a totally realistic perspective. The atmosphere director Sandor Stern conjures here reminded me of the Virginia Andrews novel,"Flowers in the Attic", though not the ghastly film version. The children's world is enclosed and corruption of some kind is inevitable. In this, Pin is a life-size medical mannequin who is used as a parental surrogate for two children whose parents are too screwed up and occupied with their own affairs to see the folly of their decisions. The film is dark and moody, sexually loaded, and awfully grim in parts. The "voice" of Pin is disturbing in the extreme and his mere presence in each scene is fascinating but unnerving. Directed with enormous skill and beautifully acted. A treasure.

This film is certainly unique - nothing like you've ever seen before. That's not necessarily a good thing, but it does make it intriguing. Sure, it may remind you of "Psycho" or of "Magic" (the 1978 thriller with Hopkins), but its slow pacing, its MORBID atmosphere and its weirdness make it feel completely different from those movies. It's not particularly good or bad, just EXTREMELY weird . Pay attention to the opening sequence, or else the ending will seem inconclusive and you'll have to rewind the tape - like I did.