This review may contain spoilers.

The final film in the ‘original’ run of the ‘Hellraiser’ films is something of a bittersweet affair. We are FAR from the dizzying highs that were the first 2-4 entries in the series. But after essentially remaking the same movie with slight variences for 3 entries. ‘Hellworld’ decides to try and strike out with something very different. And if you ever wondered ‘What if ‘Hellraiser’ but ACTUALLY ‘Halloween Ressurection’ by way of ‘Thir13en Ghosts’ and just a dash of ‘Saw’? then you’ve found the right place.

This film was shot back to back with ‘Deader’ in Romania, and is the last (to date) on screen appearence of Doug Bradley as Pinhead. And its clear when they were filming this that the divorce of assets was kind of brutal. Deader got the higher end physical effects, TONS of ‘on location’ filming and better lighting. Hellworld got the better script, significantly more Pinhead screentime and the lions share of the digital effects budget.

The plot? is weird…theres, theres no other way to say it really. So the film is based outside of the previous continuities, in this world ‘Hellraiser: Hellworld’ is some kind of augmented world MMORPG in which players explore the worlds of Hellraiser together to unlock real rewards in the real world.

The game is half based in fiction, but also kind of…half weirdly based in fact? Like…the toy maker and all of his history are real world canon in this movie, they claim his descendents went on to build real world Cathedrals and there are portraits and books on the families history mentioned throughout the film. But the Cenobites seem are discussed much more as folk lore figures? Like; the way they discuss the Cenobites makes it sound like they’re a weird blip in the toymakers history that are liklely just metaphorical or representational of a traumatic period…But then at the same time the game itself features the Lament configuration, which is exactly how its appeared in previous films, they reference Leviathan…but in this film its the name of a manor rather than the name of the god from ‘Hellbound’

Its…odd. it’s like someone half binge watched all the Hellraiser movies up to ‘Hellseeker’ only really skimming key words and then remixed them into some attempt at significant meaning without their initial context…

Anyway; in this universe, Hellworld is in the middle of a major competition, the prize of which is tickets to a secret ‘Hellworld’ shindig in a recluse manor called ‘Leviathan’. and we’re introduced to some of the most painfully early 2000s early 20 year olds you’ll see this side of ‘I know what you did last summer’. They’re all playing the games with varying levels of enthusiasm, and they all manage to secure secret tickets to the event.

The gang are thrilled, as it comes off the back of a recent tragedy as one of their friends died in mysterious circumstances, and this has caused a bit of a rift in the friendship circle.

The gang all arrive at the manor and are greeted by a ‘Host’, who gives them a history of the manor, something to drink, lets them explore an archive of ‘hellraiser’ related materials, before letting them get back to the party.

But somethings…off, theres an unnerving elements to the party, and when the gang stumble on a secret experimental lab in the basement filled with Feotuses, torture devices and pickled limbs. it sets in motion a series of events that will see our ‘teens’ fighting to stay alive from a serial killer with intention, and a meeting with Pinhead and the Cenobites himself.

This was another instance of the folks at Miramax/Dimension films rooting through there rejected script drawer, pulling one of the less stinky offerings out and gussying it up with the Hellraiser name and Cenobites. and that leads to an interesting quandry for me really. Is this a good ‘Hellraiser’ movie? NO. its a TERRIBLE Hellraiser movie, the Cenobites do almost nothing and are largely present for aesthetic purposes only…But is this a good slasher/horror film? well…kind of yeah!

The script itself is a fine enough slasher/haunted house movie romp. the Thir13en Ghosts and Halloween ressurection vibes are really strong here with overly charismatic and sarcastic leading cast members meeting dark and grizzly fates and heavy HEAVY reference to that whole new fangled ‘WWW.’ business. This is a script that really wants to sell its connection to the ‘online’ world, but has clearly been written by someone who had NO idea, at that point in time, what the internet even really was. So they keep things kind of low key in the film itself, and let the marketing do the heavy lifting.

Theres also a weird emphasis on the Nokia 3310 in this film, Im assuming the rampant product placement was what helped pay for the movie, that and mobile phones were ‘NEW WAVE MY DUDE!’ but every scene has a Nokia mobile phone crammed into it somewhere, which I thought was pretty funny.

The pacings a little on the slow side, but nowhere near as slow as the films that have come before it, the characters are all typical horror archtypes and the act structuring is that of a generic late 90s slasher film.

To be blunt, if you are tuning into this expecting serious and straight cut horror, then you are going to be bitterly BITTERLY dissapointed. But if your here for the bizarre site of an overtly campy hellraiser movie oozing with early 2000s aesthetic. then I think you’ll really love the scripting on this one.

Me? I think i’d have rated this one higher had it NOT been tied to a hellraiser movie. the plot on its own is a fine enough little romp, and had it had its own identity I could have maybe even seen myself picking this one up sooner than I did and having a real nostalgia for it. Instead, with it being tied to Hellraiser, I overlooked it massively and the Hellraiser elements are fun in their own way, but a bit weird and forced in here.

Direction wise, I think this is probably the sturdiest offering the series has had since ‘Bloodline’ its not taking much in the way of creative risks here, but what IS present is a safe film, which I think after 3 films of creative chaos on behalf of the director and editor not really knowing what to do with the series visually (causing them to just…shove as many filters on the production as possible) was a welcome change of pace. In an ideal world, I’d have liked creative vision AND sturdiness…but at this point, im willing to settle if we dont have to spend another movie in a grey sludge colour palette with ropey effects and bad editing.

Cine wise, again, its very safe. Im glad the colour grades evolved a bit more to feel warmer, with blues contrasting the warm reds and oranges of the manor house and the location footage. composition isnt really anything to write home about, but at least when the cenobites are on camera this time, they actually look kind of interesting. The edits fairly generic as well, which again, at this point, im just grateful.

Performance wise, we have an early turn from Henry Cavill and Khary Payton here and Lance Hendrickson playing ‘The Host’. Hendrickson is fantastic as the malevolent antagonist of the film, he’s clearly not giving it his all, but he’s still probably one of the best reasons to watch the movie. Our teen leads however are less than impressive, not bad…just kind of forgettable. Unremarkable really, just; generic 90s slasher victims at their most stereotypical. Again, given what we’ve come from, this is a step up. But given where we’ve been, its dissapointing.

If Hellraiser: Hellworld is the final entry in the OG Hellraiser timeline, i’d say that it ends better than its been in a LONG time. after 10 years of mediocre to poor entries in the series, Hellworld ends things on, not a good note…but a solid enough one…a film I found amusing more than spooky. I think i’d happily watch this one paired up with ‘Halloween Ressurection’ as a ‘.Com’ double feature. Probably the only DTV Hellraiser film i’d choose to revisit. its not good…but so is Junk food, and I still eat that.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hellraiser-hellworld/