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Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II (2015)
Extraordinary Comprehensive documentary
Documentary: 'Leviathan – The Story of Hellraiser'. This is an excellent, thorough documentary about Hellraiser that reflects on the pictures' production, its difference from the 'slasher' movies that proliferated during the 1980s, and its lasting legacy. Narrated by Oliver Smith, it features input in terms of both newly-recorded interviews and archival interviews from Doug Bradley, Clare Higgins, Simon Bamford (who played Butterball), Ashley Laurence, Geoff Portass, Oliver Parker (one of the removal men in the film), Bob Keen, Peter Atkins (the writer of the second film), Robin Vidgeon (the director of photography on Hellraiser), producer Christopher Figg, Kenneth Cranham, Andy Robinson, camera operator David Worley, Barbie Wilde (the female Cenobite from Hellbound) and Nicholas Vince (the Chatterer). 'Comprehensive' is the first word that springs to mind. There are some great anecdotes, such as Bob Keen recounting his visit to an autopsy with Clive Barker in preparation for the creation of 'skinless' Frank; Keen was repulsed to the point of vomiting, whilst Barker found the experience disappointing and considered the corpse to look simply like someone on whom strips of bacon had been placed.
Hell on Earth: The Story of Hellraiser III (2015)
The interviews here are fascinating, and there's a strong sense of criticism of the third film.
The Story of Hellraiser III' This retrospective feature focusing on the genesis, production and reception of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is from the same team who produced the Leviathan documentaries. It features input from Ken Carpenter, who plays 'Doc'; Doug Bradley; Kenneth Cranham; publicist Stephen Jones; Christopher Figg, the producer of the first two films; Tony Randel; composer Christopher Young; and writer Peter Atkins. The interviews focus on the centrality of the image of Pinhead for the franchise, and the relationship between the Hellraiser franchise and Nightbreed. Stephen Jones says he was alienated from Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth as 'at that point it was an American film, being filmed in America, by a whole completely different production company'. The collapse of New World and the ways in which the rights for the Hellraiser pictures changed hands owing to this. The interviews here are fascinating, and there's a strong sense of criticism of the third film. Tony Randel says he refused to direct the film because he thought the producers were 'cheapening' the franchise.
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
Hellbound: Hellraiser II feels as much a fantasy picture as a horror film
Hellbound: Hellraiser II feels as much a fantasy picture as a horror film, and as such it works quite nicely. In terms of its representation of the practice of psychiatric medicine, the film has also got a strong anti-authoritarian stance, and it's certainly a very nicely photographed film. Through the character of Channard, and his reign over the mental hospital, Hellbound: Hellraiser II seems to offer an anti-psychiatry perspective to rival that of R D Laing. (This seems compounded in Barker's Nightbreed, 1990, the film that Barker loosened his grip on the reins of the Hellraiser sequel in order to direct.) The film's depiction of the mental hospital as a place of repression – where Kirsty is confined owing to the perception that her version of events cannot possibly be true and therefore must be suppressed – depicts psychiatry as having progressed little, if at all, since the Victorian era. This sense of psychiatry being stunted is partly communicated through the film's mise-en-scène and the depiction of Channard's psychiatric institution as existing within an old Nineteenth Century building. It's a depiction of a mental hospital that differs little from that of Mark Robson's Bedlam (1946).
Channard is introduced performing invasive brain surgery on one of the patients at the hospital. He lords over the room, delivering a monologue as he drills into the patient's skull – an action which is mirrored later in the film when Leviathan, choosing to make a Cenobite of Channard, opts to have a device drill into Channard's skull and carry his body, thus allowing the Channard Cenobite to float above the ground. During the moment of brain surgery, Channard declares that 'The mind is a labyrinth, ladies and gentlemen; a puzzle. While the paths of the brain are plainly visible [
] its destinations are unknown, its secrets still secret. And, if we are honest, it is the lure of the labyrinth that draws us to our chosen field, to unlock these secrets'. Channard's monologue ends by drawing fairly explicit comparisons between his rhetoric and that of the Nazis: Channard concludes by asserting that he and his colleagues must go further than their predecessors in the hope of finding 'ultimately, the final solution'. Channard's suggestion that the 'mind is a labyrinth' also implies that the journey into Leviathan's labyrinth later in the picture is, for the characters, also a journey into themselves. Another Classic horror film from the 80s.
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is an entertaining picture
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth takes place in the city streets, which are filled with apocalyptic imagery: crashed cars, fire, explosions. With this moment, the series has transitioned from the small-scale, intimate horror of Barker's original film to a more expansive, apocalyptic vision of Hell on Earth (as the title of this second sequel suggests). The new Cenobites come complete with catchphrases ('That's a wrap', Doc/the cameraman Cenobite asserts after killing a number of police officers), and in retrospect it's easy to see why Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth alienated some of the fans of the first two films, but it doesn't deserve the negative attention it deserves to be re evaluated and Hellraiser:Bloodline.The climax of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth leads to a battle of wills between Spencer and Pinhead which employs some ugly-looking CGI morphing effects and might make the viewer think of the climactic 'mind battle' between telepathic brothers Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside) and Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack) in David Cronenberg's Scanners (1981). The film's final scenes contain what perhaps are some of its strongest ideas. After the threat represented by Pinhead and his Cenobites has been quashed, Joey wanders through the devastated city landscape and buries the Lament Configuration in some wet cement on a building site. Via a montage, we are shown a new building being constructed around the site where the puzzle box is buried – and outside this new building is a strange, esoteric statue, whilst inside the architectural style of the building has taken on the aesthetic of the puzzle box itself. There's a hint here of an exploration of the relationships between occultism and architecture – of the kind highlighted in the myths surrounding the architecture of Nicholas Hawksmoor. A classic film with an intriguing story ans good acting, it is well above the usual standards of the genre.
Hellraiser (1987)
Clive Barker's Cult Classic Horror Masterpiece
It's interesting to watch the Hellraiser films evolve, from the human monsters (Julia and Frank) of the first film to the Pinhead-centric narrative of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. Clive Barker's Hellraiser is still an incredibly potent horror picture: an intimate study of a nightmarish scenario, with much to say about family and sexuality. The box, when solved, opens a doorway to the world of the Cenobites – a world which will be fleshed out more thoroughly in the secrets, but within the context of Hellraiser remains largely mysterious.Kirsty's opening of the box summons the Cenobites. 'The box. You opened it. We came', Pinhead tells Kirsty upon their first meeting in the hotel room. 'It's just a puzzle box!', Kirsty protests. 'Oh, no', Pinhead tells her, 'It is a means to summon us'. 'Who are you?', Kirsty asks. 'Explorers in the further regions of experience', Pinhead answers, 'Demons tot some; angels to others. You solved the box; we came. Now you must come with us; taste our pleasures'. Recognising Kirsty's fear, Pinhead tells her, 'Oh, no tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering'. A Classic Film series Open The Boxes if you dare to a world of pain and pleasure.