Movie Review - Hellbound: Hellraiser II

Hellbound:  Hellraiser II

1988

The Cast

One of the best things about this film is its continuation from the first.  Dr Channard (Cranham) takes an interest in Kirsty (Laurence) after she's institutionalised after her family's slaughter.  However, Dr Channard has darker ulterior motives as he also has an interest in the L'Merchant Configuration.  Taking possession of the mattress where Julia (Higgins) was murdered, he begins to bring her back from her torture in hell.  He also has a genius puzzle solver in his asylum... a mute girl called Tiffany...

This is a horror film that verges on a dark fantasy, which is especially evident in the scene where Tiffany is opening the box.  What with the musical score and the atmospheric colours pulsing, it gave the film a much different feel to other horror flicks of the time.  There's more than a feel of Argento here.  I think it's this reason we didn't really enjoy or appreciate it at the time.  However, watching it again has been very enjoyable.  There's a lot to like about this film.  It's packed full of atmosphere, though it's not always horror or fear.  There are lots of iconic shots, such as a newly reborn and skinless  Julia in her white suit, smeared with blood...  Dr Channard undergoing his transformation... and the labyrinth itself.  Even the acting is stronger this time around, as Laurence, Higgins, and Chapman who resume their roles from the original film, appear more comfortable in their roles.  Then there's Cranham, who is a wonderful actor, he can do nothing but add strength to the cast.  Of course, there's Bradley who is Pinhead - there can be only one.  He was the strongest actor in the original, and thanks to his delivery of the best lines in the script and his skill to be ominous and scary... just by being there, he still stands out in the sequel.

There are some things that just don't work.  One of which is the guardian of the labyrinth, the Leviathan.  Which is just a revolving piece of metal that casts out a dark light over its dominion?  We then learn that the end transformation of the L'Merchant cube is a miniature Leviathan...  This may have worked better had the mini-L been able to create dark thoughts in peoples minds... or to create hellish scenes.  But this and the subsequent ending is a little weak.  It was nice though that they decided to reduce the number of light effects in this film, which made it a little stronger.  I didn't even mind the energy bolts shooting through the labyrinth at the end.  However, the stop-motion animation does look a little dated today, but what else were they supposed to do(?)  The new Cenobite has some special skills and there was no CGI at that time which would do it justice.

This is a big film with big ideas.  Unfortunately, at that time they were really restricted by budget, means, and running time.  This film should have been at least another half an hour longer... maybe an hour... to do the story justice and to help build up a couple of characters a little more, like Tiffany and Kyle (Hope), and to stretch out the ending as it feels rushed to fit the 90minute runtime, which most horror flicks of the '80's & '90's rigidly stuck too.

That said, this is a superior horror flick to the majority of the fodder being created today.  This kicks arse in imagination, story concept, scale, direction, and acting.  So if you are wanting a classic horror to watch then the Hellraiser movies are worth a viewing or three.

I would recommend this to all lovers of the dark and nasty.

I give this a Blood-soaked and Flesh Torn 7.25 out of 10.

The Trailer

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