Review of Hellraiser: Hellseeker

The character Kirsty, the heroine from the first two classic films in this series, has been reduced to "the wife who was killed by her cheating husband." Yep, it seems like he might have done it to inherit her "secret fortune." If this sounds like a cheap, 'Lifetime' movie, it should because it looks and feels like one. "Hellseeker" is in no way a horror film, but rather a very poorly done cop thriller with violent erotic overtones. The central character is about as interesting as ear wax, and we basically get to watch this guy "wake up to find out it was all a dream," about one hundred times. Outrageously insulting to the intelligence, it was a chore to sit through this crap. If you think the presence of Ashley Laurence as "Kirsty" somehow legitimizes this film, think again; she is barely in the film and was obviously included in this shameful production to attract fans of the originals. "Hellseeker" does have an effectively dark look to it, but nothing special in that department either. It is amazing how the same idea can work, or fail, depending on the filmmakers. This similar approach worked beautifully in "Hellraiser: Inferno," a truly fine low-budget film noir piece. This one is sunk by boring camera work, a stupid, unsuspenseful tale involving people that we care nothing about, and drenched with really bad erotic scenes. In fact there is so much of that, I found myself waiting for Pinhead's nude scene.. Luckily it never happened, but that could have only added something to this total waste of film. For fans of intense and psychological horror, i do recommend "Hellraiser: Deader" which might be saddled with an unimaginative title, but is actually quite a disturbing and gritty mind bender, filmed in the dark and mysterious city of Bucharest. And for those who like some artistic quality to accompany the story, i can recommend "Inferno." Those are two worthy titles in this hit-or-miss series..