Pin

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.

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.

In this low-budget descendant of "Psycho", Ursula and Leon are sister and brother, living alone, save for a large wooden puppet they call "Pin" (for Pinocchio). When Ursula starts hanging around with new boyfriend Stan, Leon and Pin take action.

What drew me to this film was Terry O'Quinn, who has never (so far as I'm aware) made a bad film. And although he is more of a secondary, supporting actor here, this film is no less good than anything else he has done.

What makes this film good is its relatively slow pace, building the suspense, waiting for the moment when all heck will break loose. And, for first time viewers, there is the mystery: is Leon crazy or is Pin truly alive and only willing to open up to specific people? (The answer was not what I expected.)

I will be brief. This movie, a fantastic piece of Canadiana, is one of the most underrated movies in the horror genre. This endorsement is purely for true horror fans. If you love the genre, you will want to see Pin. It's one of those rare movies that relys on someone's twisted perception of normal events to trigger a series of terrific scenes. It is also a true horror movie, for it depicts the real consequences of a dysfunctional family, and how one can be subsequently affected. Every one I have ever showed this movie too says the same thing. "That's not right." Suffice is to say, it's the kind of movies that keeps the lights on when you go to bed.

"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.