Hellraiser 1987
The first and most classic Hellraiser film in the franchise. In his directorial debut Clive Barker who also wrote this film give us a glorious glimpse in to the dark recesses of his mind. This film is gory, sexy, dirty and dark. The whole film is shot with an overcast in the sky and low lighting which lends to the eerie feel. Hellraiser gives us horror fans everything we are looking for and starts off immediately with blood and carnage. You get a glimpse of Pinhead himself with in the first five minutes. I've probably seen this movie at least 20 or more times and every time I watch it I feel comforted in some twisted way. It was in constant rotation in my VHS player back in 1994 and still is an old standby. Samples from this movie were also featured on my favorite band Entombed's Wolverine Blues EP. The special effects in this movie are just fantastic and for 1987 were top notch! The "recreation" scene is one of the sickest and most amazing things I've ever watched! The soundtrack sets the mood and makes for a dark and hellish atmosphere. Pinhead spits out the best one liners one after another after another. This movie is essential, classic and Kvlt!!
Here is the trailer.
Hellraiser II: Hellbound 1988
Clive Barker unfortunately was not involved with any of the sequels to the original. But...This next one does do him justice and maintains much of the original feel, characters and pretty much picks up where the first left off. The soundtrack also continues in a consistent direction and theme. Again the lighting is low and dark with plenty of gore and special effects. Hellbound; like it's predecessor is sinister and ominous. The acting is cold and reserved and the characters create tension in tandem with the silent and whispery breaks between intense moments of sheer gruesome horror. Some of the scenes in this installment are as sick if not more so than the first. With out any spoilers I will have to say, even in all it's glory as a sequel there is a few inconsistencies that I suppose were written for sheer convenience. But as a stand alone movie it does a good job catching you up at the beginning so if this is the first of the Hellraisers that you have seen you won't even notice those inconsistent elements. The other great thing about this sequel is that it also gives you a little back story which is nice and keeps the tale moving along. Again this one has some sexuality to it then takes a dark twist that makes you cringe. This movie gives you a small "loyalty" reward at the end. You'll know what I'm saying if you watch the two of these back to back. Essential and Kvlt!
Here is the trailer.
Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth 1992
Another one of my favorites! This one like the first one stayed on constant rotation and I'm surprised I never had to buy another copy from the continuous play. This one picks up where Hellbound left off but stars a whole new cast. Gone is Kirsty and in is Terri, the overworked and under appreciated new reporter. The theme music makes a grand return and again it is dark and gritty. This one reeks of the 90's with night clubs, goth chicks, boobs, blasphemy, BDSM and an overall red/orange hue to the whole movie. I can't say enough about the coloring and lighting of this movie. Even though it's dark the colors just saturate the screen. At the ten minute mark there is a cameo performance from the legendary Armored Saint at the night club and the soundtrack features original songs made for the movie by Motorhead! As usual this movie is sexy and sinister. When Pinhead finally breaks free from his..err...umm...restraint; he looks down right menacing! There are some flash backs to wars, interesting connections to the characters and you find out where Pinhead came from and what this box and Hell are all about. When if comes to kills Hell On Earth begins a string of unique and entertaining kill scenes different from the usual death tactics in part 1 and 2. Essential, classic and Kvlt!
Here is the trailer.
Hellraiser IV: Bloodline 1996
By the time I saw this I was about to graduate High School and I thought I knew it all. I've seen this film once, and it was in 1996 when if first came out. That tells you how much I did not like it. So I'm treating this as a first response review. The old music is gone and in comes a new theme music but it is still as bombastic as the original. This is the last movie to use the bulk of the original production crew and from the get go I feel like they were trying to "wrap up" the franchise. I won't ruin this for you but I will say it does take you into the future and the deep past of the story line and reveals even more tid bits for you to digest. I haven't even gotten 10 minutes in and I'm remembering things about this film and wondering "why didn't I watch this more?". I think maybe at the time I was saturated with futuristic action films and just wasn't ready for the twist it was going to take. I think I longed for it to go deeper into the past and could care less about the future. Now that I'm a total Sci-Fi fanatic as well and Star Trek is in my regular rotation I am eating this up! I'm remembering why I liked this movie so much and I remember being very sad at the end. The theme music is mixed in here and there starting in the middle which I was happy about. Terri is gone and we see a whole new "family" of characters emerging to make this story have a rich history. Again the lighting is low with saturation's of red, orange and this time around some green and blue! I'm realizing this franchise shaped my little warped brain and if my parents knew what I was really watching in my bedroom back in the early 90's they probably would have thrown me into a psych ward or made me join a church. It seems we see the beginning and end of the tale wrapped into this one sexy and gruesome movie. But we will see...Essential and Kvlt!
Here is the trailer.
Hellraiser V: Inferno 2000
Spoiler alert! As you will read I feel very strongly about this film so the spoilers are to spare you the misery that is Inferno. I saw Inferno when it came out with out any knowledge that it would be so much different from the first four. It's almost as if this was a side story as to things that might have happened with the box and Pinhead between the beginnings and endings wrapped up by the first four movies. When I saw this I absolutely hated it and didn't understand what they were trying to do. So with this viewing maybe I can have my mind changed or maybe I'll feel the same. Inferno starts off as a detective story. The intro credits are cool and it immediately kicks in with the gore as you enter a gruesome "crime" scene. I got big beef with this movie on the sound mix alone. The "background" music is so loud in comparison to the dialogue. Most of the characters talk in a whisper and the music is just so much louder its almost distracting. Also if you live with other people and you are trying to squeeze in scary movies after everyone has gone to bed this kind of sound mix just doesn't work. The main character is a corrupt cop and he picks up a prostitute that is just way too hot to be a prostitute. Then you see his bellybutton ring! What cop has a bellybutton ring?! The other thing I don't like is that all the cenobites look the same and are not personalized to the individual like the ones in the first four movies. They seem more like drones than demons. Inferno is a very dark and gritty movie but it just doesn't feel like a Hellraiser movie. The lighting is brighter and less artistic and dramatic. Overall this installment has more of a film noir vibe and there are some nice gore payoffs with some pretty sick death scenes. Compared to Hellraiser 4 this movie is so slow and absolutely grueling to get through. The CGI just sucks. All the cenobites have the same signature look and they are just absolutely boring. What a real disappointment when they pull up to that bar with the XXX neon signs just to find that there are nothing but cowboys in there! And by the way, who the fuck is the engineer? By the end of the movie you figure it out and it takes such a cerebral twist with almost no action sequences. I'm going to spare you and say no one should watch this movie. If you've never seen a Hellraiser movie make sure this is not the one to watch first, or second or third. This movie is shite!
Here is the trailer.
Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker 2001
I gave Hellseeker a chance when it came out just to get the bad taste out of my mouth from Inferno. But again this is only the second time I will have viewed this installment as I kind of just threw the towel out on Hellraiser after this. The intro credits are pretty cool with cool music featuring some distorted electric guitars. This movie starts off with an action sequence then you are immediately hit with gore and staring right into someones insides. I thought this was a pretty crazy way to start a movie. Again the music is loud as hell and the dialogue is just so low and it's so frustrating. I realize that the sound effects are for shock value with the abrupt volume but it's just not necessary in my opinion. It's just a trendy scare tactic that is annoying as hell. If you have a good film you shouldn't need to try to get your scares with volume alone. There is a blue color wash over everything which I liked a lot and the lighting is very much like Inferno. Spoiler Alert! The story revolves around Kirsty's husband! So she gets more than just a cameo and when I realized she was in it and the overall premise of the plot dawned on me my attitude about this movie totally turned around. There is a vicious acupuncture scene although I still think the first time Pinhead pulled a pin out of his skull was the best in comparison. This installment is highly sexual and has better sex scenes than any of the other movies. The boob knob gets dialed to 11 on this one. There is a suicide scene that I gotta call out. The guy puts the gun under his chin and the hole explodes out of the front of his head? I don't think so. You hardly see Pinhead in this movie and its just another crime mind trip like Inferno was. I wouldn't call this one essential or classic but possibly cult. Hellseeker is a mind bending, thriller, supernatural, crime type thing and if you've never seen any Hellraisers you won't understand anything that is going on. If you have seen them all you will probably like this film especially after the shame that was Inferno. Kvlt
Here's the trailer.
Hellraiser VII: Deader 2003
FIRST RESPONSE! Like I said I pretty much hung it up with Hellraiser after VI. So The last three movies will be a first response. Deader starts off in some sort of tweaker pad and you can instantly see a more modern tone to the set and the subject matter. So Deader comes from the fact that there is a group of kids called "deaders". There is a sequence of "found footage" that is really creepy and intense. I've never seen anything set up like this scene and I found it very unique and it actually scared me a little. This movie moves along to Romania where the blue wash is back and there is lots of hazy filtered window lighting, old buildings and cool architecture. This is the first movie in the whole franchise since the first one that has actually created some suspense for me with a serious claustrophobic scene and I just kept waiting for the girl in the bathroom to jump out at me. With out giving away anything there is a scene worth watching the whole movie for. Let's call this scene Boobs and Blood. There is a variation on the original theme music that I like a lot. I was really impressed with this movie. The storyline is good, the blood is good, there are lots of boobs. The acting in Deader is phenomenal where the acting in 5 and somewhat in 6 was a little flat. I'm finally starting to embrace the psychodrama and the head trips as well as the modern, gritty, city type of crime thriller. It's all coming together for me and even though Clive Barker wasn't involved in these later incarnations of Hellraiser I do feel like his vision is represented well in just the general overtone of his style. I don't really feel good about the way the movie ended even though I loved the film up until the very then. I feel like it wasn't wrapped up well and left you kind of hanging. There's no need for you to have seen all the movies before this one but it helps. Kvlt
Here's the trailer.
Hellraiser VIII: Hellworld 2005
FIRST RESPONSE! So far the franchise has been getting back to a good pace and this movie starts off again dark, sweaty, gross and dirty. The opening credits are nice with some red lettering and a new font and some ambient music. There is a new twist and basically this is based on a Hellraiser video game. The settings are nice and we are back in America in New York and the music is very "soundtracky", mostly ambient and alternative rock. The concept is cool where they seem to be going to this gaming party that is invite only and all themed on the ultra violent Hellraiser game. Hellworld plays out like a teen movie except they are more like collage age. Everyone who plays this game is obsessed with Hellraiser as well as the party host who has lots of Hellraiser relics making the scenes really dark with lots of eye candy and cool stuff to see. The lighting is consistent with the other films and looks nice. I wont say that this film is progressing the story at all and mainly is just borrowing ideas from the first four movies. There are great kill scenes and this film has great shock value but the strange thing is that Pinhead seems to be knocking off all the main characters one by one slasher style which really isn't the way it's done in Hellraiser. So the heroine ends up calling out the main bad guy that might be Pinhead about how all the kills are wrong. No one has opened the box, there's been no chains and it was pretty classic Scream style set up with her calling him out on that. There is a great twist at the end that is a damn good payoff. Is this a Hellraiser movie? No. Is it a great scary movie? Yes. It's not essential, classic and it cant even be called cult. The only things that make it a Hellraiser movie is that they have used the history of the box, a few cenobites and Pinhead every once in a while. It doesn't advance the story and it is basically a slasher flick. It's a good homage to Hellraiser but does nothing to add to the story.
Here's the trailer.
Hellraiser VIIII: Revelations 2011
FIRST RESPONSE! I started off knowing that this movie would not have any story line from any of the other Hellraiser movies. I also already knew that Doug Bradley would not be starring as Pinhead in this one because he turned down the role. Right off the bat we are seeing Pinhead who is not even remotely close to looking like Doug Bradley. You can't quite tell what's going on in the beginning of the movie it could go in numerous different directions. Personally I'd hoped for two kids making a film about Pinhead and as you read along you find that that would have been a better set up. The homeless guy makes an appearance and overall his presence just doesn't even make any sense. Both him and Pinhead are like caricatures of the original characters and I just don't like it. So the movie goes on and on and on in one direction with out any reference to the past movies other than pin head and the homeless guy and then all of a sudden there is a maybe 10 second sequence where the guy comes out of the bed and asks for more bodies to be brought back to life. That hasn't happened since the 2nd or 3rd movie and my gut reaction again is this cant be justified as a Hellraiser movie. The make up effects are really good in this movie so it does have that going on for it but it just seems to jump around and the typical Hellraiser moments just happen so fast. Its as if they had a script and it wasn't complete and they couldn't make a full movie out of it. Then they had the opportunity to make a Hellraiser movie so they filled in the missing parts with Hellraiser stuff and then squeezed it all into an hour and thirty minutes and called it a Hellraiser movie. The new Pinhead sucks and his look is just all wrong. I really don't know why it's called Revelations and overall I think it really sucks. If it wasn't a Hellraiser movie I would have still thought it sucks. The Hellraiser elements seemed like an aside or an afterthought. Even the sex scenes can't redeem this film. This movie is shite.
Here's the trailer.
I mean look at this dude...Douche bag.
My advice. Watch the first four and don't watch the others unless your bored. And if you are board watch Hellseeker, Deader, or Hellworld. No one ever, ever, ever really needs to watch Inferno or Revelations. Now jump on your Netflix account and take a step in the sick mind of Clive Barker.
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/,,/ Rawhead Rowan /,,/
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