Hellraiser VI - Hellseeker (2002)

What might have been?

Sometimes I think the whole HELLRAISER series is actually a series of metaphors about us, its fans. In the films, some fool goes out and obtains the box, brings it home with high hopes as to what it will do for him, and is brutally disappointed. Substitute "movie" for "box" and you have our collective history. We know in advance what fate awaits us when we rent a HELLRAISER film, but we do it anyway. People like us keep Pinhead - that is, the studio suits who grind these flicks out twice a year - in latex and chains.

Ne'er has a concept for a horror series been cooler, or offered a richer and more complex backstory, than did HR. And seldom has that concept been more badly and consistently bungled in execution, leading not merely to films which were weird, flawed and not what they should have been, but in some cases unwatchably bad and stupid. HELLSEEKER is somewhere between the two of these categories. It aspires to great heights, combining plot elements from films like MOMENTO and ANGEL HEART, but as it's carried out it's just a mess - confusing, disjointed, boring, and unpleasant to watch.

HELLSEEKER is the story of Trevor Gooden (Dean Winters, the best thing about HBO's prison opera, OZ), a seemingly ordinary suit-`n-tie office drone who nearly died in a car accident which may, or may not, have killed his wife Kirsty (Ashley Lawrence, reprising that role for the fourth time). Gooden, whose head was badly injured when his car went bye-bye into a river, can't remember what happened to her, and the cops can't find her body. Gooden is anxious to discover his wife's fate - especially since said cops don't believe his story - but he's plagued by chronic pain and an almost continuous series of hallucinations which make him seem guilty of something more than careless driving. When the people around him begin to turn up horribly murdered, Gooden begins to hallucinate about a puzzle box and a certain highly stylizied demon with nails in his mug and a penchant for torture. But who did what to whom, and why...and what really happened to Kirsty?

Like I said, the story aspires to be much more than the standard spatter-`n-splatter horrorthon. And on a few levels, it succeeds. For starters, Ashley Lawrence is not only one of those women who gets hotter as she gets older, but her acting skills have improved dramatically over the years, and while her screen time is limited she has more to do than scream and run away from demons. Stylistically, the movie is appropriately noirish - everything looks washed out, shadowy and run-down, precisely the way a HR film should look. And certain events in the movie's climax are pleasantly reminiscent of "Incident at Owl Creek Bridge" and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" in their mind-frakking, falling-into-place quality. But these things can't overcome the film's basic problems, a short list of which would include sluggish pacing, confusing, epilepsy-inducing editing, a completely confusing storyline, listless direction, a forgettable script, and needless departures from the HR series mythology (how, for example, can Pinhead lay claim to souls who did not ever use the Box and were murdered in an ordinary way?). The biggest mistake the editor made was the decision to keep the hallucinations going full-clip throughout the flick, rather than having them build slowly over its course: the end result is a disjointed, eye-glazing orgy of what Hollywood types call "frame-[expletive]ing", whose relatively satisfying and well-executed climax won't help the people who pressed "stop" on the remote after forty-five frustrating minutes.

I realize it's chump-ism to expect that HELLRAISER movies will be "good" in the classic sense of the word. The budgets are too low, and the talent levels of the people involved are too inconsistent to produce anything spectacular. But when a concept is this good, when you have a director with some aesthetic sense who clearly is trying hard, and when you can get solid, respectable actors like Winters to play your leads, the end result should be much better. The real "puzzle" here is why I keep coming back for more. I guess, like Pinhead, "I prefer pain."
July 4, 2008

Interesting idea

As many have said, this one has not got a hell of a lot to actually do with Pinhead, but he is in it. This one seems to be more a Freddy Kruger adventure, but none the less, I enjoyed this one when it was done.

A man drives his car into a lake, via a Duke boys style jump over the bridge. His wife is trapped inside the car and he can not get her out.

The man then wakes up in the hospital, and seems to be suffering from memory loss. As the movie progress' you discover what is actually happening to him. It takes a few twists and turns, and a few things that make you go, "huh?" but in the end it all ties up and explains itself and it has a very interesting ending that I did not see coming.

the overall plot and story of this is pretty well written and portrayed on screen. Even tho many Hellraiser fans are dismissing it as being a true Hellraiser film, I think they are more unhappy with the fact that Pinhead is not in the movie a heck of a lot.

I think this is a decent sequel, it's different, it's fresh, and it is in no way ever boring during any of the movie like some scenes of the original Hellraisers. It gives the series a new perspective, and if you can just accept that, and see the movie for what it is, you may just enjoy it.

Also, I think anyone who has never seen a Hellraiser film, but enjoys a good suspence/horror movie, then you may just find this one to be pretty good. It's not going to please hardcore fans who would praise a film of Pinhead jumping rope for 2 hours and singing, "i'm a little teapot" nor will it appeal to the fans who care blood & gore in the movies, but I say just give this one a go, you may like it, you may hate it, but keep in mind, it's because it's different and Pinheads not around much, that you see so many Hellraiser fans bash it.

It's in no way a bad movie, and it deserves more credit then fans give it. June 19, 2008

Underrated

I've never quite understood the negativity thrown at this movie and the other later Hellraiser films. I've seen all of them and this one is my third favorite Hellraiser film behind the first two. I think the main source of criticism comes from the idea that it is not a true Hellraiser film. Well, the Hellraiser series is now about variety. Seriously, who gets excited when a new just-like-the-others "Friday the 13th" movie comes out?

Well, not pure variety. If you've seen both films, it's easy to see the similarities between this film and its predecessor, "Inferno". This is little more than a remake of "Inferno", but this one is much better done. This film emphasizes psychological horror and personal torment over gore and most of the scenes are very creative and memorable. The creepiest scene for me was the one involving the video camera. The images from that scene are forever burned in my mind and many of the other scenes are close to matching its effectiveness. The entire film is genuinely scary and they even mix some nice eroticism into the mix (though little nudity). The costumes and special effects are also well-done (except for the gunshot).

Complaints? Well, some mention that the movie is kind of confusing. It can seem so at first, but all is cleared up at the end. It's not really a movie you have to rewatch to fully understand, although the movie is good enough to inspire you to rewatch it. Also, some complain about Ashley's character (the heroine from the first two films) being turned into a villian. Yeah, I was a little disappointed too, but it's nothing that killed the movie for me.

Check this one out if you're interested in a heady, scary, and unique (ignoring "Inferno") horror movie. June 25, 2007

Gotta love the Pinster

Very good entry in the Hellraiser series. This franchise and the Freddy franchise are the two best horror series ever made, in my humble opinion. Although Pinhead could use a little sense of humor. Freddy has so much personality he could run for President and win! I'd vote for him. And I almost forgot the "Chucky" franchise, love the direction they went in, it revived the whole concept. Keep em' coming! November 27, 2006

Continuing The Downward Spiral Of What Was Once A Good Franchise.

Dean Winters, doing his best impression of Ben Affleck, stars in this, the sixth installment in the constantly withering "Hellraiser" franchise. In "Hellraiser: Hellseeker," his character, Trevor Gooden is married to good ol' Kirsty Cotton, who we remember from the first three films. Trouble is, she seemingly dies in a car wreck less than ten minutes into the movie and Trevor has one massive headache trying to figure out what happened.

Let it be known that history does repeat itself. Just like "Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth" and "Hellraiser: Bloodline," this one takes the series further into shame and embarassment. It's a direct-to-video sequel, but c'mon, we expect better than this. Maybe "Hellseeker" was a good script at some point, but when they decided to throw Pinhead and Kirsty into the mix, it got lost. See, these characters serve little to no purpose in the plot. They are just gimmicks, placed within a story to draw in viewers and feed off a legendary title. This is not a "Hellraiser" movie. A healthy chunk of it just adds up to a sub-standard psychological thriller, nothing else. In fact, Pinhead and Kirsty hardly come into play until the final 15 minutes, which feel like a remake of the original movie.

I like to think I have an open mind when it comes to movies, and horror in particular. But this movie is a joke. The producers obviously masked an incomplete script to pass it off as a "Hellraiser" movie (ala "American Psycho 2") and shouldn't think for one second that we can't tell the difference. The end result is full of plot-holes, loose ends, inconsistencies, etc. etc. If you can make any sense out what you saw or if you can even call it a movie at the very end, you're a better person than me. November 14, 2006

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