** out of ****
In my time, I've seen hundreds of horror films and I think I have a pretty good firm grasp of what films in the genre are truly great, which is why I have to say that Clive Barker's Hellraiser is among the most overrated. It suffers from too many drawbacks in the story, as well as Barker's own direction, and never quite lives up to its ability to deliver consistent good scares.
The story of Hellraiser is fairly in simple in technical terms. A man, Frank Cotton, purchases a configuration shaped as a box and fiddles around with it, opening a dimension that lies between the depths of pleasure and pain. Years later, Frank's brother, Larry (Andrew Robinson), and his wife Julia (Claire Higgins) move into the same house. Larry gets a deep cut on his hand and the blood spills to the ground, which actually revives Frank (in a rather gruesome sequence). He and Julia shared a past together and he convinces her to bring men back to kill so he can use their blood to bring his flesh back.
When it comes to some shocks and jolting moments of suspense, Hellraiser has some well-done scenes. There are some scares in the film, and the gore effects, which are in a gratuitous abundance, are quite impressive. There are a few moments of startlingly effective imagery and some very suspenseful scenes, but Clive Barker does so many other things wrong I can hardly believe this movie is actually considered a classic by so many people.
This movie is essentially about pleasure and pain, or so I think Barker would try to lead us to believe that's what this is all about. Those ideas are given a ham-fisted presentation in flashback torture scenes. Yeah, I see all the pain, but where's all the enticement of pleasure? In the novella, Frank was tempted with the possibility of sex (but in the most repellant manner). The torture scenes are all Barker really cares to show us when it comes to these ideas, basically featuring some people get ripped apart by chains. I suppose I can't forget the fact that people also talk about it, too. The character Frank goes into these frank and quite dumb brief conversations about how he was bored and simply wanted to experience more and go to the limits, his words not mine. I'm sorry, but this hardly sounds like a decent reason to do anything like this. If he was close to death or something along those lines, I could almost believe it, but I could only scoff when he uttered those lines.
When it comes to horror films, logical lapses can be accepted. It's a lot easier to take such moments in fun-based horror films that are simply meant for escapism, but this movie's pretentiousness is overbearing. Thus, it's a little hard to believe that nobody in the house could smell the rotting, maggot-infested corpses of three men. It's also a little hard to accept the fact that Robinson's character never realizes just how repressed his wife is. Sure, he notices she's got problems, but she's a murderous psycopathic bitch.
Barker gives the movie a dark and grim look, not necessarily a bad choice, but he likes to conjure up a lot of dark themes and taboos for the sake of just trying to make the movie look...well, different, dark, and offbeat. The movie focuses on extramarital affairs, serial killings, and even incest and does all this just by simply tossing these odd moments on-screen without any care or background for it in the first place. These characters' motivations for such odd behavior is never explained and they're simply way too "evil" to be taken as real people.
The cenobites are only sparingly used in the movie, probably a good idea on Barker's behalf. They're a little scary at first, but I felt a little goofy after awhile when I realized I was getting scared by a creature that likes to look straight in the air and speak in a dull monotone. Yeah, I'm talking about Pinhead, the famed horror villain of the series. Played by Doug Bradley, he's a little enigmatic at first but after a few moments, you really don't care what he is. In the film, the cenobites appear to have the ability to transport around as is seen when they suddenly appear at the Cotton residence. (Spoiler) Yet, when they try to take Kirsty with them, they move towards her at a slug's pace and she simply uses the box to transport them back (speaking of which, I'm clearly certain the fat cenobite only fell through the floor). That doesn't sound like the all-powerful demons we were prior shown. Oh, and by the way, this visual lightshow in the finale is pretty embarrassing.
Ashley Laurence is the main character of this film, as well its first sequel. She's a little wooden here at times, but is relatively okay. Andrew Robinson is also not bad as the unwitting husband, but claire Higgins is absolutely horrendous. Trying to act like a repressed woman turned murderous fiend, she just comes off with a terrible impression. As for the rest of this franchise, I've only seen Hellbound, which is worse than this. I sure do sound like I'm bashing Hellraiser, but as I said before, it does have its scares and jolting moments. The only reason I give it as much a harsh criticism as it seems like I am is because of its beloved acclaim from horror fans everywhere, which it really doesn't deserve.
In my time, I've seen hundreds of horror films and I think I have a pretty good firm grasp of what films in the genre are truly great, which is why I have to say that Clive Barker's Hellraiser is among the most overrated. It suffers from too many drawbacks in the story, as well as Barker's own direction, and never quite lives up to its ability to deliver consistent good scares.
The story of Hellraiser is fairly in simple in technical terms. A man, Frank Cotton, purchases a configuration shaped as a box and fiddles around with it, opening a dimension that lies between the depths of pleasure and pain. Years later, Frank's brother, Larry (Andrew Robinson), and his wife Julia (Claire Higgins) move into the same house. Larry gets a deep cut on his hand and the blood spills to the ground, which actually revives Frank (in a rather gruesome sequence). He and Julia shared a past together and he convinces her to bring men back to kill so he can use their blood to bring his flesh back.
When it comes to some shocks and jolting moments of suspense, Hellraiser has some well-done scenes. There are some scares in the film, and the gore effects, which are in a gratuitous abundance, are quite impressive. There are a few moments of startlingly effective imagery and some very suspenseful scenes, but Clive Barker does so many other things wrong I can hardly believe this movie is actually considered a classic by so many people.
This movie is essentially about pleasure and pain, or so I think Barker would try to lead us to believe that's what this is all about. Those ideas are given a ham-fisted presentation in flashback torture scenes. Yeah, I see all the pain, but where's all the enticement of pleasure? In the novella, Frank was tempted with the possibility of sex (but in the most repellant manner). The torture scenes are all Barker really cares to show us when it comes to these ideas, basically featuring some people get ripped apart by chains. I suppose I can't forget the fact that people also talk about it, too. The character Frank goes into these frank and quite dumb brief conversations about how he was bored and simply wanted to experience more and go to the limits, his words not mine. I'm sorry, but this hardly sounds like a decent reason to do anything like this. If he was close to death or something along those lines, I could almost believe it, but I could only scoff when he uttered those lines.
When it comes to horror films, logical lapses can be accepted. It's a lot easier to take such moments in fun-based horror films that are simply meant for escapism, but this movie's pretentiousness is overbearing. Thus, it's a little hard to believe that nobody in the house could smell the rotting, maggot-infested corpses of three men. It's also a little hard to accept the fact that Robinson's character never realizes just how repressed his wife is. Sure, he notices she's got problems, but she's a murderous psycopathic bitch.
Barker gives the movie a dark and grim look, not necessarily a bad choice, but he likes to conjure up a lot of dark themes and taboos for the sake of just trying to make the movie look...well, different, dark, and offbeat. The movie focuses on extramarital affairs, serial killings, and even incest and does all this just by simply tossing these odd moments on-screen without any care or background for it in the first place. These characters' motivations for such odd behavior is never explained and they're simply way too "evil" to be taken as real people.
The cenobites are only sparingly used in the movie, probably a good idea on Barker's behalf. They're a little scary at first, but I felt a little goofy after awhile when I realized I was getting scared by a creature that likes to look straight in the air and speak in a dull monotone. Yeah, I'm talking about Pinhead, the famed horror villain of the series. Played by Doug Bradley, he's a little enigmatic at first but after a few moments, you really don't care what he is. In the film, the cenobites appear to have the ability to transport around as is seen when they suddenly appear at the Cotton residence. (Spoiler) Yet, when they try to take Kirsty with them, they move towards her at a slug's pace and she simply uses the box to transport them back (speaking of which, I'm clearly certain the fat cenobite only fell through the floor). That doesn't sound like the all-powerful demons we were prior shown. Oh, and by the way, this visual lightshow in the finale is pretty embarrassing.
Ashley Laurence is the main character of this film, as well its first sequel. She's a little wooden here at times, but is relatively okay. Andrew Robinson is also not bad as the unwitting husband, but claire Higgins is absolutely horrendous. Trying to act like a repressed woman turned murderous fiend, she just comes off with a terrible impression. As for the rest of this franchise, I've only seen Hellbound, which is worse than this. I sure do sound like I'm bashing Hellraiser, but as I said before, it does have its scares and jolting moments. The only reason I give it as much a harsh criticism as it seems like I am is because of its beloved acclaim from horror fans everywhere, which it really doesn't deserve.