I’ve been systematically going through the Hellraiser movies lately, mostly for some inspiration for Abaddon. I had seen the first five of them before already, but I watched them anyway.
The first three, of course, were done and released in the late 80′s, early 80′s (I think ’86, ’88, and ’91 respectively), and I think it’s fairly expected that they would be crap. Still, if you look beyond the shitty special effects, and the hokey acting, they’re pretty good. Certainly not oscarworthy material, but pretty good nonetheless. Pinhead is an iconic horror movie character, and you gotta admit that he is pretty fuckin’ awesome. I especially enjoyed the terribly blasphemous parts of number three (Hell On Earth), particularly in the church where he pulls a couple of the nails out of his head and pierces his palms and poses as Jesus on the altar.
Hellraiser IV: Bloodline is where the series really starts to take off. The movie itself is still fairly campy, but it starts introducing the more cerebral world of Hellraiser more than just the gratuitous gore (which isn’t a bad thing, of course). It introduces the idea that “hell” is more than just physical pain and torture, but mental anguish as well. They storyline is a bit banal, though, and from what I understand about the extra-movie Hellraiser universe, it completely contradicts a lot of things; for example, it has Philip LeMarchand constructing the Lament Configuration (the classic “Hellraiser box”) on a commission from some snobby satanic duke or something. Typically, it’s said that LeMarchand was a creator of singing birds and toys, who turned into a multiple murderer (not to be confused with serial killer or mass murderer, of course) who used human fat and bone in the construction of his boxes. Note the plural boxes. The Lament Configuration is not the only box, as can be seen in the second movie.
Despite the raping of Hellraiser lore, it was still a decent film.
Hellraiser V: Inferno and Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker, in my opinion, are the shining stars of the series. Inferno is still a little bit campy, but it truly gives you the impression that opening the box WILL FUCK WITH YOUR MIND. Most of the movie you along with the main character do not know what is reality and what is fiction created by his mind by opening the box. He loses everything he once took for granted and finds out that it was his own subconscious desires driving the entire experience.
Hellseeker is even better in this aspect, and has a really great twist that I didn’t expect at all. The main character is plagued by amnesia most of the movie and only until the end finds out that he really got his just deserts. Number six is by far my favorite of the series.
Number seven, Deader, is also pretty good, but not as good as the last two. It has some pretty intense moments, and a fair amount of psychological play. I’m not sure what about it doesn’t put it on the same level as V and VI, but I think it’s still worth a viewing.
The (currently) last one, Hellworld, is frankly crap. Despite the fancy year 2005 editing and effects, it fails to become more than I Know What Box You Solved Last Summer. I admit the plot twist itself was fairly clever, but the acting and the premise were all very reminiscent of Wes Craven, and not even his good movies. I felt like I was watching a massively inferior version of the Saw movies where the characters are systematically taken out “as if by fate.” The plot is incredibly simple: It starts out as “LOL HELRAZER GAME IS KEWL BUT IT KILD R FRAND BUT WE KEP PLAYIN NEWAY” then turns into “O NOEZ HELRAZER IS NUT GAME IS 4 RAELZ NOW WERE GONA DIE” and then finally “O LOL JK IT WAS JUS DRUGZ NUT RLY HELRAZER CUZ THERS NO BOX”. Horribly, horribly, horribly contrived. Even Pinhead seems like some lamer version of himself.
So that’s what I have to say about that.