Movie Review - Hellraiser

Hellraiser

1987

The Cast

Before Fifty Shades of Grey, there was One Shade of Cenobite... and it was blood red... and it spilt out beautifully.

I have to say that besides Hitchcock's movies this is one decent story adaptation.  This could be that the writer and the director are one in the same - the great Clive Barker.  However, I think where this supercedes all the other writer cum director flicks out there is that each was a separate project.  He wrote the story to be a story, not as a concept to behind making a movie.  And, I think that is where most writer/directors fail... oh, I had a good idea for a film, quick write the script...

So if you don't know the story yet, it's about the Cotton family.  After being willed a house, Larry (Robinson) and Julia (Higgins) decide to check it out, with the possibility of moving in.  Kirsty (Laurence), their daughter, plays the independence card and rents out a room in the town, instead of moving in.  However, something isn't quite right in their new abode.  Julia is having daydreams about her affair with Larry's brother Frank (Chapman), who is the black sheep of the family - and a sexual sadomasochist to boot.  While moving in Larry cuts his hand.  He rushes to Julia for help as he's hemophobic.  His spilt blood soaks into the floor of the attic and starts Frank's rebirth... and hell will follow after...

Another bonus for the film and the audience is that Barker is an all-round artist.  He not only writes but paints and draws, and directs both movies and plays, which allows him to put his art and imagination into his work.  This being his first film you begin to get an inkling of what this guy is capable of.  In Hellraiser he plays with camera shots and angles, manipulates light to create atmosphere, he even gives us some realistic nightmare visions.

The special effects, especially the "wet-work" and Franks rebirth in particular, still look good today and will send a shiver down your spine and make your stomach twitch.  Though truthfully, the computer visuals are dated and now detract the viewer's attention from the film... I literally shook my head and cringed inwardly at how bad these now look.  The thing is, I didn't like them originally, I thought they were nasty and cheap.  They also appear to have been added after the fact as none of the actors even acknowledge the floating stars or the electric blue light (except for when it shocks them).  It would be nice if somebody could remaster this like Star Trek (the original series) and Star Wars, just to update these tired looking CGI.

The acting is okay, though at times the voices seem wrong.  It feels and looks like Franks American voice was overdubbed a millisecond or two out of time and at a different pitch and volume than the others.  There are a few scenes where this also happens with Kirsty and her boyfriend Steve (Hines).  Though, if you've watched plenty of dubbed martial arts movies, like myself, it's not too much of a distraction.

If you've not watched this film yet and you claim to be a horror or a dark fantasy fan then get yourselves a copy and enjoy... If you have a copy and not watched it for a while, dust it off and enjoy.  There's a reason this became an instant horror classic on its release, it was different, innovative, and walked the tightrope of wickedness.  Well worth a watch... again... and again... and again... until you hear the scratching in the walls and creak of timbers and the clunking of chains...

I give this Meaty Splatterpunk of a Love Story an Unchained 7 out of 10.

The Trailer

A Modern Trailer

Movie Review - The Lamp

The Lamp

1987

H I T Films / Skouras Pictures / TMS Pictures

Avid Home Entertainment / Braveworld / Midnite Movies / Scream Factory

7.5 / 10

This movie had me reminiscing about my youth and before we get onto the review I will admit I've added a point for the warm feeling the film left in my soul.  This is the type of movie we would walk miles for on a Friday night back in video's heydey.  I even know which of my friend's homes I originally watched this movie at because his mum loved horror films.  God bless you Mrs A.

This is not a great horror film and came at a time when the industry was asked to cut down on the graphic violence so most of the nasty stuff is done off-camera and your imagination has to do some "fill-in-the-blanks" work.  This isn't usually a bad thing as it can have the ability to bring the audience into the story more, however, here the director doesn't do such a great job and at these moments the film feels dislocated and disjointed.  Especially with the fan scene and the torn in half shot of a student, this is mainly due to not knowing how the halving exactly happened.  One shot and he's whole, the next and he's been halved... by what and how?

I am unsure if this is how the director, Tom Daley, filmed it or if the special effects ended up on the cutting-room floor, as the cuts are so sharp it feels as though there was more to the scenes.  Quite a few films of this period have this kind of feel and is one of the reasons Friday 13th VI wasn't as visceral as it's predecessors.

These cuts harm the film in a way which could have been fatal, had the story and the direction not been enough to keep it alive... though not kicking so hard.  That said there are quite a few interesting kills... the skeleton scene is pretty well done and the axe to the head is inventive.

The opening scenes on a steamboat and then at the estate of an heiress as she is murdered and robbed are nicely done and give the backstory of the how The Lamp finds it's way to the museum.  Most horror films just get on with it and fill the audience in vocally, should there be a history to be told.

The acting isn't too bad.  Most of the time it's wooden and the stereotypical baddies are portrayed in the usual style of the time - over-the-top, we're bad... but we're only having fun...  No Oscars were ever going to find themselves into any of the actor's homes on the basis of this film.  Though I have seen much worse.

On the whole, the special effects are good, though I do feel the better scenes may have been cut.  The worst effect it the computer program used to decipher the legend on The Lamp.  Why it had to be prettied up I have no idea, but in today's gadget and app tech-age, this looks dated and laughable... I think it was laughable even then. 

If you like 80's horror films then this could be for you, but if you like the Jinn mythos then do yourself a favour and watch the wonderful and brilliant Wishmaster.  If this film had that type of Jinn and half the humour then it would have been a much better movie.