Hellraiser: 20th Anniversary Edition (1987)

Having made his reputation as one of the most prolific and gifted horror writers of his generation (prompting Stephen King to call him "the future of horror"), Clive Barker made a natural transition to movies with this audacious directorial debut from 1987. Not only did Barker serve up a chilling tale of devilish originality, he also introduced new icons of horror that since have become as popular among genre connoisseurs as Frankenstein's monster and the Wolfman. Foremost among these frightful visions is the sadomasochistic demon affectionately named Pinhead (so named because his pale, bald head is a geometric pincushion and a symbol of eternal pain). Pinhead is the leader of the Cenobites, agents of evil who appear only when someone successfully "solves" the exotic puzzle box called the Lamont Configuration--a mysterious device that opens the door to Hell. The puzzle's latest victim is Frank (Sean Chapman), who now lives in a gelatinous skeletal state in an upstairs room of the British home just purchased by his newlywed half-brother (Andrew Robinson, best known as the villain from Dirty Harry), who has married one of Frank's former lovers (Claire Higgins). The latter is recruited to supply the cannibalistic Frank with fresh victims, enabling him to reconstitute his own flesh--but will Frank succeed in restoring himself completely? Will Pinhead continue to demonstrate the flesh-ripping pleasures of absolute agony? Your reaction to this description should tell you if you've got the stomach for Barker's film, which has since spawned a number of interesting but inferior sequels. It's definitely not for everyone, but there's no denying that it's become a semiclassic of modern horror. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

[4.5] "We'll tear your soul apart"

While it is not my all-time favorite horror film, I must say that Hellraiser is very interesting in originality, and at the top of my list. It is a very creepy film, complete with eerie music and numerous characters with highly questionable natures. While Pinhead (leader of the Cenobites, or demons, if you will) may be the ultimate object of evil, it is Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman) and Julia Cotton (Clare Higgins) that have spotlights shining down on their evil intentions throughout this film.

Frank has opened Pandora's box, opening the gates of hell and releasing the cenobites, who take Frank into a place beyond pain and pleasure (if you ask me its just pain on top of pain). Larry Cotton (Andrew Robinson) and his second wife, Julia, move into Frank's old home - thinking Frank up and left, Julia has realized Frank's presence still remains. An acident of spilled blood slowly revives Frank, into a rather gruesome, skinless human (we see this skinless Frank throughout most of the film, so you'll have to get used to this particular visual). Julia can't keep the visions out of her head of the affairs she and Frank had in the past, and thus promises Frank she will help bring him back to life, by brining men into the home, seducing them and finally killing them. Frank has every desire to return to human form by taking these victims remains, no matter the cost, and Julia is right there in the middle of the gruesome action.

Ashley Laurence plays Kirtsy Cotton (Larry's daughter) who is suspicious of Julia from the start. It is Kirsty who ends up with Pandora's box and releases the cenobites, thus offering a bargain to give them Frank in exchange for her life, however the cenobites won't go so easily. In the chilling words of Pinhead (who is deliciously played by Doug Bradley (I wish the character had more screen time)) "We have such wonders to show you."

Pinhead is a visual that is hard to forget. He is named so because his head and face are literally lined with dozens of nails, representing eternal pain and suffering. His cenobite followers are rather creepy as well, especially "chatter box"

Hellraiser's greatest strength lies in originality. There is actually a story to this horror film, and is so much more than a basic slasher flick. Expect some of the unexpected here. Hellraiser is lined with evil characters, and that list does go beyond the cenobites. It's a chilling and eerie hour and half of interesting viewing "pleasure".

Acting - 3
Characters - 4.5
Horror - 4
Story - 4.5
Overall - 4.5 October 4, 2008

One of my horror classics

Hellraiser is a film that I recall seeing when I was seven years old. Clive Barker was a rising talent in Hollywood and made a great first film. Ashley Laurence( who early in her career looked like a low budget Heather Landekamp) gives a good performance as the films' heroine and Andrew Robinson is always good. The villains played by Sean Chapman and Claire Higgins give a shocking performance as the brother and wife of Robinson's charcter who had a tryst back in the day . But ther eal star of the film is Doug Bradley as Pinhead who used to haunt my dreams as a child and if I ever see the box I'll run.

September 14, 2008

The box...YOU opened it, WE came!!!

"Hellraiser", directed by Clive Barker, is an amazing sort of fantasy/monster-horror crossover movie that has the creativity and professionally written touch to both:
A: Make its own set of rules, and B: Not only abide by them, but still prove to be a twisted movie!
So, if you probably know the plot by now but haven't seen the movie, I'll convince you as to why this movie is so incredibly awesome:
First off, "Hellraiser" is a movie that is able to pull off having quite a few characters. There's Julia and Frank, who, although are deemed the "protagonists" are in the end, obviously the villains. We have Kirsti, played by the gorgeous Ashley Laurence, the type of jailbait only Motorhead would sing about (I can't believe I just said that!), and Kirsti is also a protagonist, though, we can tell that she stays good and doesn't cross over to being an actual villian.
And then we have the Cenobites! Pinhead, the sadomaschocistic (sp?) leader, Butterball as I call the heavy-set one, the Chatterer, one bad fella who proves it when he sticks his fingers down Kirsti's throat, and Fembot, as I call the Cenobite that's female with the pale face and shadowed eyes.

OK, so obviously all the characters are dazzling, but what makes this movie even better is how there's so many twists! When Frank opens the puzzle box, he is supposedly dead, but when a mover cuts his hand on a nail and spills blood on the floor, Frank gets resurrected as a deformed corpse...hey, that's the supernatural for ya.
Frank and Julia used to be lovers, and the only way for Julia to restore Frank to his fully human form is to bring people to their attic and kill 'em, then their blood will spill so Frank can absorb it and become fully human.
This is also all the responsibility of the puzzle box that contains Pinhead and the Gang, and that comes into play about an hour in. Kirsti, now the only protagonist that's still good, opens the box, and, yes, does set Pinhead and the Wild Ones free. If there's another thing to know about "Hellraiser", is that it's a movie with GREAT monsters! Pinhead can even control chains all with his head, baby!

But the ingenious factor of "Hellraiser" is how sadistic it becomes. How far Julia is willing to go to give Frank rebirth? How many people must she kill to have her lover return from being but a bloody corpse? What's gonna happen to Kirsti, the innocent heroine, throughout all of this? And what are Pinhead and the Cenobites gonna do?
The answers lie within the movie. Within these 90 minutes of sex and violence lie true intellect, so many props go to Clive Barker. The good guys, the bad guys, the monsters, the sublime sort of pain each character seems to be in (as Robert Englund said on the 100 Scariest Movie Moments countdown), the gore, the plot, EVERYTHING about Hellraiser that I thought was good, was GOOD! This is a movie that, if you rent it for the weekend, you WILL watch it twice!
And since that was the case with me, "Hellraiser" now holds a high and mighty spot on my "Horror Movies To Buy" list. WATCH THIS! If you like fantasy horror, if you like scary movies with good monsters, if you wanna watch a movie with lots of depth, twists and style, "Hellraiser" will make your night! Thanks for the time, and peace. August 21, 2008

it's like we'd been asleep the previous 50 years...

I swear, new ground is so seldom broke in horror, but I guess the same can be said in any genre. The thing is that the horror genre NEEDS new ground CONSTANTLY - especially these days, we've gone with but - what? TWO groundbreaking horror films (THE EXORCIST and this film...) within 30 years? And it's so easy to get jaded when you're sane enough to keep from killing people 'cause you DON'T know it's not just a film...horror requires something groundbreaking AT LEAST once every decade, but I haven't seen or even heard of anything all that inventive since this film came out. Sure, there's been GOOD horror films, films of very high caliber, but nothing groundbreaking.
Why am I saying all of this? I say all of this because this film deserves to be projected onto the masses by the biggest advertising firms hired by a much bigger company than Anchor Bay. I say this 'cause it's hard to imagine how the world came out of comas from watching the original FRANKENSTEIN (with Boris Karloff) and the world only paid mild attention to this gem.
Sure this film's reputation has grown to mythic proportions (after all, it's almost a sort of mythical film in itself, right?), and the DVD has made a lot of profit since its release, but...I still feel this film has been shortchanged.
What I like most about this film is how it manages to provide very convincing and very effective special effects along with a very complex system of character involvement. It seems like most everyone would say the bad guys are the "cenobites" (see front box cover art for an idea of what that term means if you haven't seen this film;), but the real bad guy in this film is the male leads' brother Frank. I actually thought he really loved Julia...hard to believe he even HAD a soul to tear apart...
The plot itself is intriguing, yet a little bit simplistic. The last two scenes are quite interesting, but the scene prior to those two where Kirsty (sp?), the daughter of the male leads' character, gets rid of the cenobites was a little too tidy and went on for a tad bit longer than it should have, but I think the film would have been unsatisfying somehow had EVERYBODY died at the hands of the strange twist of events depicted in this film. The writer (Clive Barker) really had no other choice, IMO. June 21, 2008

Great Movie

Being new to the Hellraiser movies I recently watched this. Being a huge fan of Horror movies I have to say, this movie is in the top 3 of my favorite horror movies of all time. I highly recommend it. June 14, 2008

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