(1989) ***1/2
A small town physician (Terry O’Quinn) teaches his children, Leon and Ursula, life lessons via ventriloquism using an adult-sized, skinless doctor dummy nicknamed “Pin” (presumably named after Pinocchio). As children they would often attempt to speak to Pin when their father was not present, but of course Pin never spoke back. As they go through their teenage years Ursula understands that Pin is simply a teaching tool for their father while Leon seems increasingly obsessed with him/it.
When their parents are killed in a car accident Leon takes Pin home where their aunt has taken over the parental role. Soon Leon begins using ventriloquism much like their father and Pin is reborn. In order to humanize Pin, Leon dresses him and uses flesh colored makeup. As Leon’s mental health begins to decompensate he begins to see Pin as his ally in protecting his sister from any interest from other men. Paranoia turns to murder as Leon insures that no one ever takes his sister away from him.
Pin is a completely engrossing, nifty find from the late 80s. The acting is better than you might expect from a low-budget horror film of this caliber. The real treat though is Pin himself. Pin is an inanimate object but you will swear that you see movement as shadows cross his plastic facade. His “voice” is effectively eerie, which begs the question, who would ever think that this would be an appropriate teaching tool for young children? Like a Santa in the mall this thing would scare the hell out of them! Leon’s descent into psychosis is presented pretty accurately, which always scores well with me.
Pin has been unavailable up until now – catch it on “Watch it instantly” on Netflix.
