A year after ‘Hellraiser’ carved its way onto screens, 1988 would see the all but inevitable sequel ‘Hellbound: Hellraiser 2’ a film that essentially boosts and amplifies everything I enjoyed about the first film, while largely trimming the fat on everything I didnt.

The plot pretty much picks up around 12-24 hours after the events of the first ‘Hellraiser’ and Kirsty and her boyfriend have been sent to a Mental health hospital after being picked up by the cops who found the grizzly remains of the events of the first film. Both Kirsty and her partner gave matching statements claiming that Kirsties stepmother had been bringing unknowing men to the house, for her recently revived lover Frank to consume in order to regain his humanity…and that Demons from another dimension (henceforth called ‘Cenobites’…despite the first film never really calling them that…just a note…) attacked the house looking to reclaim Frank and to take Kirsty with them. Killing Julia and Frank in the process.

The cops let her boyfriend go, and thus he exits the franchise permanently, but they decide to keep a hold of Kirsty for further questioning and psychiatric assessment (double standards much) at which point she’s released into the care of Doctors Channard and Macrae. Both Doctors hear Kirsty out and decide she needs further assesment and observation. Something Kirsty heavily protests.

Its around this time, we’re also soft introduced to ‘Tiffany’ a mute girl who LOVES to solves puzzles…Im sure she wont be involved in the rest of this movie AT ALL…

Anyway…its quite quickly revealed that Channard knows more than he’s letting on, and after doing some shady backroom dealings with an informant in the local police department, he’s able to secure the bloodied mattress that Julia died on in the last movie…this conversation however is overheard by Dr. Macrae, who decides to monitor Channard, eventually breaking into his house where the REAL truth becomes apparent.

Channard is FULLY aware of what Kirsty is on about, and has, for years, been studying the history of the Cenobites and the god ‘Leviathan’ with the hopes of discovering both the puzzle box, and the secret pleasures and lores it contains. Channing at this point also reveals that there are in fact MULTIPLE puzzle boxes, and; on recieving the mattress, he begins a ritual, sacrificing one of his own mentally ill patients to ressurect Julia who, much like Frank, requires flesh in order to regrow her body fully. Something Channard obliges in the hopes that Julia can act as a guide to the ‘hellworld’, the labarynthian dimension that the cenobites occupy.

Macrae reports this back to Kirsty, and the pair go to investigate further…Only to realise that Channard has already fully restored Julia and has brought Tiffany to the house in order to open the gates of hell fully, for an observational meeting with the Cenobites, and a terrifying exploration of the Labarynth, hoping for a chance to encounter the god Leviathan itself. Leading to Tiffany and Kirsty teaming up to attempt to close the gates, and fend off the Cenobites once more…

And, honestly; there isnt too much to say on this one. It does what all good sequels should do and esssentially takes the base of the original and expands, builds and enhances on it in almost every way. The subtle shift from a more horror/fantasy to a horror/etheral fairy tale vibe really works in this films favour, allowing it to pivot and flex more into the story it wants to tell than the first film was able to, and allowing it more scope to flesh out the Cenobites, there world and why they do what they do WITHOUT compromising the mystery. By the end of this film, you’ll feel as if you know SO much more about the Cenobites as beings, while still feeling like we’ve only really glanced a snapshot of what they REALLY are.

Obviously, the biggest and most notable enhancement between this film and the last is a seemingly HUGE cash injection into the sequel. a move that gives and takes in equal measure as it enables the film to tell a much grander story with much more striking visuals…at the cost of making the flashback footage to the first film (which this film does multiple times out of necessity) feel rickety and cheap by comparison. It also allows for additional footage to be shot, and for reshoots of scenes from the first film which land to mixed effect. When its done well, it looks amazing, when its done badly (as with one of the flashbacks to Julias wedding near the beginning) it looks laughably awful because the cast are all noticably older trying to play SIGNIFICANTLY younger versions of the characters.

The script, for me feels quite a bit tighter than the first film, bedding itself more firmly into more traditional horror settings allows for a more focussed vision which I feel is a lot more easily paletable to audiences. One of the big things I struggled with in the first film was long periods of inactivity, time where we were either having to experience repetative scenes of Julia bringing men to the house, or of the supporting cast just kind of…existing. Until we could get to another kill scene, or for the Cenobites to turn up, or for just…SOMETHING to progress the plot.

Here? its pretty much wall to wall action from start to finish, having established some base rules in the first film, it doesnt take NEARLY as long for this film to kick in with giving folks what they came to see. The cenobites are much more front and center here (they got around 8-10 minutes in the last film…Here, they’re pretty much on and off present for the bulk of the runtime). the gore is amped up even further, with moments so intense and uncomfortable that even I shy away and winced at times. and the enhanced budget allows the script to go much grander than the previous film, expanding beyond a primary house location and some ‘on location’ sequences, this film takes us to other dimensions, and multiple set spaces across the runtime.

The pacing is rock solid, with a clean 3 act structure that keeps the momentum going right up to the end, leading to a satisfying ‘jumping off’ point for audiences that finish off the story in…about as reasonable a way as it could have at this time.

The choice as well to implement a more ‘fairy tale’ oriented narrative into proceedings I think lends itself pretty well to this film. theres a definite heir of Grimms fairytales to this film, with the labarynth and more adventure based elements lending themselves nicely to the visceral gore and horror tropes.

The characters all are pretty solidly fleshed out, with our returning characters getting a nice boost in terms of further development, and the new characters, even the ones who are only on screen briefly, getting decent back stories and development pieces.

Of course, these ‘enhancements’ do come at a bit of a cost. Obviously, with the film exploring the Cenobites realm, its almost inevitable that the history of these beings would be explored a little bit more, and. A recurring issue that will plague most of the Hellraiser movies as we go on is a problem paradox, wherein, the more we learn about the Cenobites, the less interesting as beings and villains they become…But at the same time, NOT giving us any other information about them in a movie leaves audiences feeling like they’re just watching ‘more of the same’. Its a major Catch 22…

Here? I feel they get the balance about right, introducing more of a ‘lore’ and presence to the ‘Cenobites’ than they had in the first film, without telling us how Pinhead likes his eggs doing. But at the same time, I can absolutely appreciate that, even the information shared here, could be too much for some viewers, who may ultimately feel like these characters are now less interesting.

I also feel that, at times, while the fairytale tropes are welcome, they do overextend a little bit. Sometimes the film gets a little TOO heavy handed on the metaphores and symbolism, and at times it drags some of the narrative choices a little too close to a more mainstream generic horror/slasher vibe (again, something the sequels will REALLY struggle with) There are moments in this film that wouldnt have felt out of place in a ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ or ‘Halloween’ entry…and thats kind of a problem given these beings are supposed to be distinctly different from their slasher contemporaries.

Adding to that, that also; the script does seem to have a bit of trouble keeping track of exactly how much time has passed between the first film and this one. With Julia acting as if it’s been years if not DECADES, since she’s had wine and a cigarette…but in real terms her ressurection should have only happened a couple of days after her death. Kirst also gets some dialogue choices later on in the film that implies its been many days (7+), if not weeks since she entered the hospital. But on screen evidence would suggest its been only a few days (3-5) at most.

All these small elements, along side at least a couple of moments where the scenes ran for just a little bit longer than i’d have liked, ultimately keep me from truely and completely loving this film. Its a fine FINE movie, but the intensity of the script alongside the above tropes make it a film that I can only really watch infrequently.

As for the technical side of things? its pretty faultless. The direction is a HUGE upgrade on the first film, with a cool blue lighting aesthetic throughout and a slight redesign to the Cenobites. Tony Randel delivers an extreme and terrifying vision here that takes the concepts of the first film and more heavily applies a styalistic coat of paint to it. The film oozes unease and menace from start to finish and his work with the cast to craft the perfect line deliveries and physicalities here absolutely nails the brief for me. When I think of Hellraiser, I think of Hellbound.

Same goes for the cine, shots are masterfully crafted, cleanly planned, fantastic lighting work with some solid chiascurio and its an absolute playground of experimentation. Plenty of B-roll, and a rock solid edit bring together some cutting edge work that I sincerely may have made this the nicest looking horror film of 1988. Barring ONE small problem.

The practical effects. Now, for the most part, the practical effects here look amazing for the time, they’re gory, graphic and hyperrealistic. But theres about a handful of moments, largely relegated to the back half of the film, where the practical effects have aged TERRIBLY, and ESPECIALLY in 4k. Shots of twitching severed limbs look like they were crafted out of playdough, severed heads look overly sculpted and hollow, and one Cenobite in particular (which I wont spoil here) glides around the set spaces looking absolutely rediculous in their prosthetics. When this film hits, it hits HARD. but when it misses, it makes some low budget movies look above competent.

Performance wise, we have a packed cast, Doug Bradley builds and really hones in on Pinhead as a character here, and while his speaking appearences here are brief. It feels like he’s already more fully nailed the character than his first appearence. Ashley Laurence and Clare Higgins as Kirsty and Julia also get to build on their characters a bit more, though I do feel the process of ‘Flanderisation’ has set in a bit here, with these two characters being fully fleshed out and developed people in the first film. But here? Julias essentially just playing a villain. Any aspect of her regretting her decisions or having any kind of character depth have been greatly sanded down. And Kirsty, who was supposed to be just an ordinary 20 something girl, here gets a much more action packed makeover. a couple of hours before this film begins, she was a terrified girl fleeing demons from another dimension that she’d collectively met twice. When this film opens, shes a no nonsense hardcore badass who knows the Cenobites by name and is seemingly an authority figure on them…which is a bit odd.

Kenneth Cranham as Dr. Channard is a delightfully malevolent presence throughout the film, and is really kind of the glue that holds the film together, he’s so clearly and irredeemably evil from pretty much his first scene on screen, that watching him fall down the Cenobite rabbit hole is a delightful experience. and while there are plenty of ‘Well; What did you THINK was gonna happen?!?’ moments for his character, the film doesnt sign post these too heavily and as a result, it makes those moments all the more enjoyable.

Tying this all together, the soundtrack is also used quite powerfully, while I do miss the moments from the first film where silence in and of itself was used to tremendous effect. I cant deny that this films score is rock solid and grows out of the first films orchestral work. Its really quite superb and really makes the film what it is.

Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 is a superb horror film that I believe actually surpasses the original, the enhanced budget really allows the film to breath easy and it takes that cash and runs with it, delivering a genuinely unsettling work that, while I cant watch all that often, I appreciate tremendously. The film itself is fairly self contained, so you can watch this one pretty much standalone if you like. and I’d honestly recommend checking this one out, whether you’ve seen the first film or not. Its very likely the peak of this franchise, and if you only get the chance to check one of them out, this one, in my opinion, would be the one.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hellbound-hellraiser-ii/