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Over the past week, I was compelled to watch all nine of the Hellraiser movies. It was one of my favorite franchises in the late 80's and early 90's. Four films were release in the theater, and five more went directly to video. Once I found out they were all on Netflix, I had to see what I was missing. I had to see, I had to know, for good or for bad. The first two movies are classics. Hellraiser is the direct adaption of Clive Barker's story, it's pretty tame judged by today's movie standards, and there is a remake coming (written by Clive with Douglas Bradley resuming his role as Pinhead) which I am eagerly looking foward to. Hellraiser 2 was my favorite: I loved the back story of the Cenobites, Leviathan, and the exploration of the Hell dimension. Absolutely nothing made sense over there, but the scenes on their own were perfect, especially the ones with Julia and Dr. Chanard.
Hellraiser 3 was a pretty ridiculous film with lousy acting and poor effects, but Douglas Bradley made it all watchable. Every damn word that dropped from his lips was pure poetry. It's like the write spend three weeks perfecting all of his scenes, then threw the rest of the movie around it. Yes, it had the CD Cenobite, but Pinhead himself took time to make fun of him. Hellraiser 4 explored the history of the creation of the box, and the quest LeMarchand's ancestors to undo the evil the puzzle box caused. Better acted than 3, and it was the last movie with Clive Barker's involvement.
Hellraiser 5, 6, and 8 (Inferno, Hellseeker, and Hellwolrd) strayed away from the seeker of forbidden knowledge angle, and took a much more surreal approach. All the films dealt with psychological riddles, memory loss, hallucinations, questioning what was real or not. Pinhead's roll in all of them was much reduced. Of the three, Hellraiser: Inferno (the fifth film) kept me intrigued the most. Hellseeker was tiresome and Hellwolrd felt too much like a Nightmare on Elm Street clone; even Lance Henrickson couldn't save the movie.
Hellraiser 7: Deader dragged at times and was a bit muddy, but had a pretty interesting story about a suicide/resurrection cult, and had some potential. Hellraiser: Revelation was only made so the company that owned the rights for Hellraiser wouldn't lose them. It was super cheap and was the only film w/out Douglas Bradley as Pinhead. All of this sound like damning commentary, and Revelation was basically a retelling of the first movie with a few extra characters, and yet I surprisingly liked it. It veered back to the core of what Clive's story was about: unlocking dark desires, exploring the outer limits of sensation, and trying to cheat the Devil.
I had a sick feeling somewhere in the middle of the seventh film, that watching all these movies was my own LeMarchant Configuration. My own desire to follow things through, to know the pain of the bad acting and low grade CGI, was leading me down a path that would end with confronting Pinhead myself. Sara would come home one day and find nothing but a blood filled office, with the puzzle box spinning round and round on my monitor. Fortunately, that was not the case.
Hellraiser 3 was a pretty ridiculous film with lousy acting and poor effects, but Douglas Bradley made it all watchable. Every damn word that dropped from his lips was pure poetry. It's like the write spend three weeks perfecting all of his scenes, then threw the rest of the movie around it. Yes, it had the CD Cenobite, but Pinhead himself took time to make fun of him. Hellraiser 4 explored the history of the creation of the box, and the quest LeMarchand's ancestors to undo the evil the puzzle box caused. Better acted than 3, and it was the last movie with Clive Barker's involvement.
Hellraiser 5, 6, and 8 (Inferno, Hellseeker, and Hellwolrd) strayed away from the seeker of forbidden knowledge angle, and took a much more surreal approach. All the films dealt with psychological riddles, memory loss, hallucinations, questioning what was real or not. Pinhead's roll in all of them was much reduced. Of the three, Hellraiser: Inferno (the fifth film) kept me intrigued the most. Hellseeker was tiresome and Hellwolrd felt too much like a Nightmare on Elm Street clone; even Lance Henrickson couldn't save the movie.
Hellraiser 7: Deader dragged at times and was a bit muddy, but had a pretty interesting story about a suicide/resurrection cult, and had some potential. Hellraiser: Revelation was only made so the company that owned the rights for Hellraiser wouldn't lose them. It was super cheap and was the only film w/out Douglas Bradley as Pinhead. All of this sound like damning commentary, and Revelation was basically a retelling of the first movie with a few extra characters, and yet I surprisingly liked it. It veered back to the core of what Clive's story was about: unlocking dark desires, exploring the outer limits of sensation, and trying to cheat the Devil.
I had a sick feeling somewhere in the middle of the seventh film, that watching all these movies was my own LeMarchant Configuration. My own desire to follow things through, to know the pain of the bad acting and low grade CGI, was leading me down a path that would end with confronting Pinhead myself. Sara would come home one day and find nothing but a blood filled office, with the puzzle box spinning round and round on my monitor. Fortunately, that was not the case.
