PIN was written by Andrew Neiderman, who has written forty-seven novels under his own name, but is perhaps better known for the sixty-eight -- and counting -- that's ghostwritten from V.C. Andrews and her Flowers in the Attic series.1988's Canadian movie adaption skips most of the incest, but trust me, it's no less strange.Directed by Sandor Stern (the writer of the original The Amityville Horror and writer/director of the Patty Duke starring Amityville: The Evil Escapes), PIN starts with Dr. Frank Linden (Terry O'Quinn, forever The Stepfather in our hearts), who keeps a human size, anatomically correct Slim Goodbody-esque medical model in his office that he's named Pin. He uses Pin -- throwing his voice to make him speak -- to explain how the body works without it being awkward. The doctor is a cold and distant man; only his interactions through the doll seem warm.Leon has problems. He probably has some mental illness, which isn't helped by his domineering mother, who doesn't allow him to play outside or bring friends home. Pin is his only friend in the entire world. Imagine his shock when he goes to visit Pin one day and a nurse is having sex with the doll. Isn't it delightful when a movie can just make your jaw hit the floor? Well, keep watching Pin.The doctor and his wife constantly feel like they could kill one another at any moment. And Leon may not ever want to think about sex, but his sister can't stop thinking about it. Jump cut ahead in time and she's literally having sex with most of the football team while her brother is scrubbing graffiti about her off a locker. After Leon angrily fights several boys who are lining up to have their way with her (remember what I said about the surprising strangeness of this one), she agrees to stop having sex. That said, she needs an abortion, an operation that her father coldly does in front of Leon, telling him that he needs to watch this procedure for when he does it himself. They'll just tell mother she had some cramps.One night, Dr. Linden and his wife are leaving for a speech. He forgets his notes and runs back to his office, where he finds Leon talking to Pin. Realizing his son has lost his mind, he takes Pin away. However, a car accident caused by his speeding (or is it Pin?) kills the parents off. As Leon investigates the crash, he takes Pin with him.Leon and Ursula enjoy their freedom from their mother's strict cleaning habits and menus, but as other people try and enter their lives, like Aunt Dorthy or Stan, Ursula's love interest, Leon and Pin take them out. At this point, Pin is now dressing in Dr. Linden's clothes and has latex skin and a wig so he can appear human.Oh! In the middle of all of this, Leon has a date with a redhead who is all over him. He panics and runs to Pin for help, then uses the frightening doll to chase the girl away from the house.Leon believes that Stan is only interested in Ursula's money and to put him away. To be fair, they did discuss how crazy he's been acting and what they should do. I've never had to meet the doll friend of a girlfriend's brother, somewhat amazingly. Pin tells Leon how to dispose of Stan, but he's interrupted by Ursula, who is on her way home from her library job.Upon finding blood on the carpet, Ursula starts to run. Leon blames Pin, who flips out on him, telling him that he has never lied for him or to him. His sister returns with an axe as the screen goes white.Fast forward: Stan is OK and still with Ursula. She comes home to see Pin, who asks whether or not she's seen Leon. She answers, "No." It's then revealed that Ursula destroyed the doll, but now Pin has become Leon's full personality. He is now the doll.Pin is unsettling. It's relatively bloodless, but that doesn't stop it's power to shock, whether you're reading it in book form or watching the movie. Read more at http://bit.ly/2Alliik

Great production values here! Looks sharp - not like a grainy, cheap 80s movie. Looks like it could have been made only a few years ago. This is is a really cool movie but I wanted it it go further. For example (spoiler coming here), in the scene in which child Leon hides behind the closet in the office and he watches the nurse put Pin on top of her...YES!! I wanted more of weird sh#t like that. I thought that ... this sounds weird and aggressive .... but I thought that there should have been a rape scene or something else twisted sexually involving Pin with Leon's sister. I thought the movie as is was a little bit "light". Do you agree? If not please don't roast me for it. Just my opinion. I also thought it was too slow. I wanted more action, more events, and more twisted, weird stuff to happen. But overall it was good. Maybe my 4/10 score lowballs it a little bit but I really did want more. Fantastic idea though! This one is ripe for a remake. Maybe John Carpenter can get to it before he passes away.

Who's the puppet, who's the master? I just love this film, there's no other quite like it. I think it's a beautifully crafted and perfectly balanced tale of the tragedy of one young man as he gradually loses his grip on reality and eventually his whole mind. Although it's definitely on the extreme fringes of being one, it's no true horror movie, as there are no monsters, gore or torture in it. It's much more of a very dark and twisting psychologically-layered thriller which is based on strong performances by well-developed characters that you actually care about, and a simple & straightforward story that moves along at a smooth and engaging pace. So it's not really about spookiness, but there's certainly a strong unsettling vibe that runs through it. I think it's really up to the viewer's perspective if there's any supernatural elements involved in Pin, the story is as dark and fantastical as your own mind allows it to be. I love the haunting and bittersweet music score which I always remembered when I thought of this film. A lot of the music is very poignant and ethereal, and there are some extremely weird sound effects placed here and there at specific moments that sound almost like growling and thunder.. It all helps to give the film its eerie and gripping tone and distinct appeal. David Hewlett was so awesome in this, it's the best acting that I've ever personally seen from the guy. To me it's his fantastic performance that really drives this movie onward so brilliantly. You can tell he was working hard to make a strong impression with his character. He's very low-key about it, most actors who play schizophrenic/split-personality characters tend to overdo it, but what's interesting about the way Hewlett played it is that he portrays a slight neurosis that cracks and subtly grows more intense and manic as it goes on, rather than full-blown dementia right from the beginning, which I thought was a more interesting way to do it. And there is something very sad about the eventual disintegration of his character at the end, I do feel sorry for him because it shows the kind of upbringing he's had with the virtual isolation and cold unloving parents, especially the germ-obsessed shrunken hag of a mother who labels his few friends as "diseased." And while his dad may have been distant and woefully oblivious, he at least tried to remove Pin from his son's life once he found out what was happening. Cyndy Preston was so beautiful and her fragile yet strong character loved her brother and didn't want to see him put away, but neither was she willing to completely give up her own life for the sake of his jealous delusions. I just loved her voice, she sounded like an angelic princess! I love the whole sequence between Leon seemingly murdering Stan and when the ugly truth is finally revealed. It's tremendously suspenseful as Leon grows more edgy and nervous as his sins lie just outside buried in the woodpile and the tension just cranks up as you know that sooner or later something's gonna happen to make him slip up. There's such a great payoff to the scene as everything Leon's done - not just that night but over the years, comes crashing down on him in one night. And like practically everything else about this movie, it's done in a very subtle, yet strongly compelling and engrossing way, and that's one of the reasons that I love it. I really wish I still did feel like when I was a kid, but I don't find Pin himself creepy, just not at all! There's like a total mental blank there, I see him as a thing, an inanimate object. It doesn't spoil anything for me as I don't think the film requires one bit that you find Pin scary in order to enjoy it. What I do find disturbing is the depths of Leon's attachment to the thing, and how when he argues with it he's actually arguing with himself about the strange icky disturbing stuff that he can't bring himself to admit to, and the way his split personality existed as a totally separate entity as Pin, and how his bond with a simple anatomist's dummy ran so deep and powerful that when Ursula eventually chops it to bits it's actually Leon's sense of self that 'dies' as the Pin half of his personality consumes his own and he becomes the new Pin as revealed in the moving final scene. And I don't care what anyone says, until you see his face, you're wondering what the hell is going on in that moment! And it's an excellent way to end this sadly underrated and overlooked classic that, once seen, is one that you don't tend to forget in a hurry, and for good reason. Later.

I watched this movie expecting some kind of a horror/thriller from most of the comments here. Of course the basic story has quite some resemblances of the famous "Psycho" but I think that this movie is far more into the psychological level and less into thrills and chills. Thats why I now get some of the negative remarks because if you want to get a psycho axe wielding maniac and his rotten mom you sure will be disappointed by nice guy Leon and his pretty boring doll.If you just watch Pin for what it is and that to me is a kind of apsychological drama, then it makes much more sense and has some interesting insights. The story revolves around two kids Leon and his Sister Ursula who grow up in a very conservative upbringing. Their mother a 60s cliché of a cleaning obsessed house woman and their father a doctor whom his kids call "Sir" and who teaches them several things through an anatomical doll using ventriloquism. The doll named "Pin" becomes a part of their lives and especially Leon becomes attached to it also talking to him in his fathers absence. Years later their parents die in a car crash and Leon and his sister start living on their own. From here on Pin becomes Leons Alter Ego and kind of a family member ... the downward spiral picks up pace and troubled Leon who desperately tries to keep his "family" together by keeping Ursula from other peoples influences starts going over the edge.Ursula know about Leons mental state and plays along with his schizophrenic role play and the Pin doll which Leon gives his voice just like his father did. She doesn't want her brother to end in a sanitarium, realizing too late that her playing along just makes things worse.The movie is very slow and the deterioration of Leons mental state is not thrilling, everything is shown in kind of a normal way because thats what it is for Leon. People die in this movie but its not for thrills and especially the ending shows that "Pin" is rather a drama than anything else. If you are interested in a psychological study in a "Psycho"-like set watch this movie, if you want corpses, thrills and scary horror dolls this sure is the wrong movie for you.