A franchise that I have a rather complex relationship with, the ‘Hellraiser’ series, isnt my immediate ‘go to’ for a Horror movie fix. Its a bit too decedent and rich narratively and visually to scratch that itch in the same way your Freddys, Jasons or Michaels of the world can. No…this is a series that I only really tend to dip into when im looking for a very particular form of supernatural, intense horror, and as such, while I dont personally dislike the franchise, I find its a series I can only really take in short bursts every few years…Which is why, in my infinite wisdom, I’ve decided to watch all 11 of these over Halloween…starting with the original; 1987’s ‘Hellraiser’.
Loosely adapted from Clive Barkers ‘The Hellbound Heart’ the film is essentially treated as a bit of a ‘moment in history’ introducing audiences to the strange and unusual demons that inhabit an even MORE unusual magic puzzle box that promises the offer of ultimate pleasure…through the most anguish inducing of pains. We’re early in the game here, so no mentions of ‘Lament Configurations’ or ‘Cenobites’ here…its all very ethereal, and a lot of the narrative twists, we’re essentially just asked to roll with it.
So; in the opening we’re introduced to ‘Frank’, Frank’s just purchased the puzzlebox from a mysterious man in a cafe and, after taking it back to his dead mothers home and playing around with it for a bit, the box opens releasing interdimensional super beings of pain and pleasure, who promptly gut him with hooks, explode his body and drag him into the box into a place far worse than Hell…and its here that the main plot begins!
As Frank has a brother, ‘Larry’ who in turn has a wife and daughter Julia and Kirsty respectively. they’ve just upped sticks and moved (presumably) to the UK (its…its weird, theres more Americans in this film set in Britain than English people…again, just…roll with it) to start a new life in Larrys Mothers house, she passed away a few months ago, and other than a bit of damp and some light renovation work, Larry sees the house as a place for him and Julia to have a fresh start, while also trying to coax Kirsty to join them.
Kirsty however, isnt so keen on Julia, and has decided to get a place of her own, rather than having to put up with constant cold looks and being talked down to…so far so kitchen sink. But Julia has a secret, and that secret is about to be revealed very soon, when Larry, while helping the movers shift a matress upstairs, cuts his hand very badly and ends up bleeding all over one of the upper floors. While Julia rushes him to the hospital, its revealed that the room Larry bled in was the same room that Frank was ‘captured’ in, and the blood of his Brother manages to pull an almost entirely skeletal, and VERY gooey Frank back from the clutches of agony, and into a rather drafty upper floor room.
Later that night, Julia decides to leave their housewarming early to go to bed, and; on investigating a noise, she finds Frank in the upper floors, who demands help from her. At which point it’s revealed that shortly before Julias wedding to Larry, Frank stopped by the house and caught Julia alone. and after some…SMOLDERING moments, the pair entered into a steamy and VERY aggressive romp. In turn trapping Julia, as Frank threatened to spill the beans to Larry if she didnt remain loyal to him…Which wasnt exactly difficult, because Julia clearly fell HARD for Frank and essentially makes it clear that shes ended up trapped in a relationship with someone she doesnt really love.
Franks ask is simple, he wants Julia to go out, coax some random horny man back to the house with the promise of sex, and then when they get back, to knock him out with a hammer and let Frank ‘feast’ on the body to regrow his body back to a fully skinned form. Julia is reluctant…but Franks just…TOO alluring to resist…And eventually she gives in.
But Kirsty spots that Julias increasingly becoming distant, and one day she decides to randomly stop by the house, catching Julia and a bloody and muscle laiden Frank midway through the act of disposing of one of Julias ‘hunts’. Terrified and DEEPLY creeped out, Kirsty flees the house, taking the puzzle box with her, much to Franks terror. and after some messing around with it, Kirsty herself accidentally summons these ‘beings’ who demand her, but will settle if she can bring Frank back to them. Leading to a violent showdown.
And with this one? I feel like a lot of my thoughts on it simply boil down to personal opinion. Up front, i’ll say that the direction, cine, performances and scoring are all pretty faultless, Doug Bradley is only briefly here as ‘Pinhead’ but he essentially cements his legacy in the 8 or so minutes he’s on screen here. giving a chilling and wonderfully abstract performance that I really enjoyed. Clare Higgins as Julia is delightfully deranged, getting to work a very wide emotional range jumping from terrified, to enthralled, to disgusted, and eventually she seems to grow to love the bloodlust that comes with getting herself that bit closer to having Frank back.
Sean Chapman and Oliver Smith both play Frank here, and again a brillaint if not UTTERLY seedy performance that genuinely made my skin crawl multiple times across the runtime. and thats not to mention. Ashley Laurence, who’s simply fantastic also as Kirsty here.
No, the vast majority of my issue with this film comes with the scripting, and even then I cant fault it technically or thematically, its really more a matter of personal preference. I think the pacing is maybe just a little bit too slow boil, I feel like the scenes of Julia trying to trap men gets a little repetative and could have been shortened. I feel like, given the cenobites are front and center on ALL the promotional materials. they really dont appear all that much in the movie, they dont really get a whole lot to do, and there are absolute GULFS between them appearing and dissapearing. Im not saying that they should have been wall to wall or anything like that…But the films goal is to create mystery around these interdimensional torture beings…and I think, if anything they give us too little to really work with for me to wonder or care what they do and why.
These slower periods give way to long sections of characters not really doing all that much. and when combined with a particularly visceral gory streak that again lacks the proper context to really tie it all together. I just find it all a bit flat. Given how grand and gothic the films portrayed to be, i’ve seen this now at least 6 times, and I dont recall a single instance where I havent been bored or distracted by something else by the mid way point, and while it definitely does pick up again for the finale. theres still a lot of meandering to get there.
Add to that that, other than the ‘iconic’ lines featured in this film…the dialogue on the whole is a bit dry and uninteresting. The film tends to tell more than show, and when it does show, it shows in a disjointed way that makes it kind of hard to really get a judge of what exactly is happening.
This films been regularly sited as a great work of ‘queer cinema’ and i’ve read the reasonings for that, and while I can appreacite that angle, I just really dont see that myself here. I do see a film thats very heavily bedded into themes of processing trauma, toxic relationships and dealing with the horrors of twisting safety into nightmares. In some regards its a quality it shares with ‘Fire walk with me’. But to me? I see this film as having more homoerotic or gay coding in it than queer personally.
While the core characters are interesting, the supporting cast a bit overly dry and not particularly memorable, I always forget that Kirsty has a love interest in this film for all the actual impact he has to the plot.
Add to that a very abrupt ending, which I wont spoil here, but is kind of underwhelming considering we’re fighting interdimensional demigods capable of phasing between worlds and unleashing the worst pains and horrors known to man. Its basically a ‘magic button’ ending that just left me feeling cold, and an attempt at the very end to turn this into a semi-cyclical narrative fell flat for me.
Ultimatley; I can absolutely see and appreciate the craft that went into this movie. ‘Hellraiser’ is a very impressive film honestly, its just not really my tone or style, it has its moments which I totally get (hence the rating i’ve given) but it isnt my favourite entry in the franchise, and its not one I revisit all that often. If I were to take the objective technical ability out of my considerations for this movie, it’d probably be a 3 out fo 5…But It goes without saying really that you should probably catch this film once. But for my money, the sequel offers a much more well rounded and engaging experience.
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