I am writing this as I have binge watched the entire Hellraiser franchise front to back. This film being the only one I had never seen before. Having only heard terrible things, I prepared myself for the worst. Honestly... while I can't say I truly liked it, it was definitely my favorite since Inferno. The big complaint seems to be "no Doug Bradley", but who cares? Did anyone of you even watch Hellworld?!
To backtrack a little, Inferno, Hellseeker, Deader and Hellworld, were all non-Pinhead related scripts originally. You can absolutely notice this when you watch them. I am a fan of Inferno, I think it was cleverly re-written to feature the Cenobites, but you can definitely tell it was something else before that.
Hellseeker and Deader, seem to suffer from the leads constantly waking up from nothing but "bad dreams" (*cue stinger sound*!). It gets rather repetitive and annoying. These two also suffer from some glaringly bad CGI, something the earlier films shied away from.
Now Hellworld... Where do I begin on Hellworld? This was some awful post-2000 slasher script that was rewritten into a Hellraiser movie. The Cenobites are treated as jokes and nothing but an online game (like a bad mixture of New Nightmare and Halloween Resurrection almost). The dialogue is some of the most frustrating stuff I've ever had to sit through. They even pull out the cliché, "this is like something out of a bad horror movie". The characters suck, the acting sucks, the story sucks, the writing sucks, the pop-rock soundtrack sucks. It is a painful experience. I can't believe Doug Bradley agreed to this garbage, yet turned down Revelations.
Now finally, Revelations. I prepared myself for the worst. I will say that the guy playing Pinhead is nowhere near as good, but oh well. I'd rather rate based on content of the film.
A script written actually intended to be a Hellraiser film? Yes, finally! And it shows! This is honestly much more closer in nature to the first two Hellraiser films than any other in the series (with maybe the exception of the newest Judgment).
CGI? Practically none! All the delightful blood and gore (and chains) are back to being practical. Thank you!
There were honestly a couple scenes that made me slightly uncomfortable and shocked me a tiny bit. Something that hadn't happened in this franchise for a very long time. I basically rolled my eyes through the last three before this.
The downside is you can definitely tell this production is rushed, and the acting isn't all that great. But you know what? They tried. It's dark, the subject matter is disturbing, and the Cenobites act as close as they did to their source material since Hellbound.
I rated this film a 4/10, though I feel it will rise upon a future rewatch.
Just because Doug Bradley isn't in this movie doesn't mean it's total garbage. If you truly think that way, I urge you to rewatch this and Hellworld back to back. If that doesn't change your mind, I don't know what else to say. Maybe you just enjoy CGI gore and Pinhead being reduced to a slasher who spouts one-liners. But I sure don't.
To backtrack a little, Inferno, Hellseeker, Deader and Hellworld, were all non-Pinhead related scripts originally. You can absolutely notice this when you watch them. I am a fan of Inferno, I think it was cleverly re-written to feature the Cenobites, but you can definitely tell it was something else before that.
Hellseeker and Deader, seem to suffer from the leads constantly waking up from nothing but "bad dreams" (*cue stinger sound*!). It gets rather repetitive and annoying. These two also suffer from some glaringly bad CGI, something the earlier films shied away from.
Now Hellworld... Where do I begin on Hellworld? This was some awful post-2000 slasher script that was rewritten into a Hellraiser movie. The Cenobites are treated as jokes and nothing but an online game (like a bad mixture of New Nightmare and Halloween Resurrection almost). The dialogue is some of the most frustrating stuff I've ever had to sit through. They even pull out the cliché, "this is like something out of a bad horror movie". The characters suck, the acting sucks, the story sucks, the writing sucks, the pop-rock soundtrack sucks. It is a painful experience. I can't believe Doug Bradley agreed to this garbage, yet turned down Revelations.
Now finally, Revelations. I prepared myself for the worst. I will say that the guy playing Pinhead is nowhere near as good, but oh well. I'd rather rate based on content of the film.
A script written actually intended to be a Hellraiser film? Yes, finally! And it shows! This is honestly much more closer in nature to the first two Hellraiser films than any other in the series (with maybe the exception of the newest Judgment).
CGI? Practically none! All the delightful blood and gore (and chains) are back to being practical. Thank you!
There were honestly a couple scenes that made me slightly uncomfortable and shocked me a tiny bit. Something that hadn't happened in this franchise for a very long time. I basically rolled my eyes through the last three before this.
The downside is you can definitely tell this production is rushed, and the acting isn't all that great. But you know what? They tried. It's dark, the subject matter is disturbing, and the Cenobites act as close as they did to their source material since Hellbound.
I rated this film a 4/10, though I feel it will rise upon a future rewatch.
Just because Doug Bradley isn't in this movie doesn't mean it's total garbage. If you truly think that way, I urge you to rewatch this and Hellworld back to back. If that doesn't change your mind, I don't know what else to say. Maybe you just enjoy CGI gore and Pinhead being reduced to a slasher who spouts one-liners. But I sure don't.