After the abortion that was "Deader" I really wanted to enjoy this. It opened interestingly enough. And it was set in a reality where Hellraiser is acknowledged and it powers a super hip video game. The movie tries to borrow from Wes Craven's New Nightmare by putting the reality in the fiction. The set up was rad too. Nods to the old films, and characters who knew their Cenobites from overbites.
Maybe if the film depended on their knowledge of how a Hellraiser film or myth plays out it could have been clever.
It did not. Once they hit the house, the whole thing starts a downward spiral and doesn't stop until the end credits. Rick Bota turns up his same movie-making cheap tricks. It's there, it's not there, Oh wait! You're dreaming! You might know this trick from Oh...Hellseeker on..and on..and, MAN I HATED DEADER! BUT I DESPISE HELLWORLD! Lance Henriksen lends the outfit a modicum of class by being..well Lance Henriksen.
And it seems like the sex scenes are completely gratuitous now, they no longer serve the plot, they just move a character from one room to the other. Not like Hellraiser I where Frank and Julia's sex meant something. It's pathetic in parts V-VIII.
The film had a nifty concept with the cell phones and the masks but it never follows through.
A couple of nifty moments involving an impostor cenobite, a cop who radios for help one last time, and a house I would love to party in.
And this is perhaps the greatest insult of it all. Pinhead has MAYBE a total of 2 minutes screen time. And he's not the same. He's not the amazing host of hell who imparts the tales of suffering anymore. Instead he's an unleashed boring as all get out serial killer who keep saying the same inane lines! Here I'll give you his entire film dialogue. "Adam was right." "Do you believe him yet Jake?" "Do you see?" "This is just the beginning." "Welcome to Hell." and the one that made Freddy Krueger scream WTF!? "How's that for a wakeup call?" Lame ending, terrible music, and basically just an excuse for Dougie and Lance to earn a paycheck. Clive must be shaking his head in wonderment at this horrible exercise in sub par craft.
The only reason I'm keeping the disc is because the incredibly hot female lead runs around in pleather pants for the duration of the film. I can mute it if I want to. And I want to!! Send these Hellraisers to Hell please! It ended with Bloodline if you ask me!
Maybe if the film depended on their knowledge of how a Hellraiser film or myth plays out it could have been clever.
It did not. Once they hit the house, the whole thing starts a downward spiral and doesn't stop until the end credits. Rick Bota turns up his same movie-making cheap tricks. It's there, it's not there, Oh wait! You're dreaming! You might know this trick from Oh...Hellseeker on..and on..and, MAN I HATED DEADER! BUT I DESPISE HELLWORLD! Lance Henriksen lends the outfit a modicum of class by being..well Lance Henriksen.
And it seems like the sex scenes are completely gratuitous now, they no longer serve the plot, they just move a character from one room to the other. Not like Hellraiser I where Frank and Julia's sex meant something. It's pathetic in parts V-VIII.
The film had a nifty concept with the cell phones and the masks but it never follows through.
A couple of nifty moments involving an impostor cenobite, a cop who radios for help one last time, and a house I would love to party in.
And this is perhaps the greatest insult of it all. Pinhead has MAYBE a total of 2 minutes screen time. And he's not the same. He's not the amazing host of hell who imparts the tales of suffering anymore. Instead he's an unleashed boring as all get out serial killer who keep saying the same inane lines! Here I'll give you his entire film dialogue. "Adam was right." "Do you believe him yet Jake?" "Do you see?" "This is just the beginning." "Welcome to Hell." and the one that made Freddy Krueger scream WTF!? "How's that for a wakeup call?" Lame ending, terrible music, and basically just an excuse for Dougie and Lance to earn a paycheck. Clive must be shaking his head in wonderment at this horrible exercise in sub par craft.
The only reason I'm keeping the disc is because the incredibly hot female lead runs around in pleather pants for the duration of the film. I can mute it if I want to. And I want to!! Send these Hellraisers to Hell please! It ended with Bloodline if you ask me!