Leon (David Hewlett) and Ursula Linden (Cynthia Preston) grow up in a cold household where their father Dr. Frank Linden (Terry O’Quinn) uses a life-size, anatomically correct medical dummy called Pin to teach the children about life and their bodies while using ventriloquism to give the doll a voice.
Their mother dislikes the children going outside and also discourages them from having friends. Leon ends up befriending Pin as a resulting, believing the dummy to be real.
When Leon turns 18 his father catches him talking to Pin, Leon having learned ventriloquism himself to give Pin a voice. Troubled Dr. Linden takes Pin with him to speech, realizing that his son is mentally disturbed and planning on leaving Pin at the medical school. While driving there Dr. Linden loses control of the car and dies in the crash along with his wife. Leon later retrieves Pin from the scene of the crime.
Soon an Aunt moves into the house with Leon and Ursula and encourages Ursula to get a job which Leon dislikes. After consulting Pin he uses Pin to scare the Aunt into having a heart attack. When Ursula gets a boyfriend Leon starts to plot.
This is an awesome quiet little psychological thriller. David Hewlett is excellent as the disturbed Leon and Pin is a pretty terrifying dummy. While the body count is pretty low for a horror movie it doesn’t stop it from being chilling at times. Writer/director Sandor Stern also wrote the screenplay for the 1979 The Amityville Horror. Pin is easily his best work.
