At the recent Silver Scream Con, I was surprised to hear Hellraiser star Doug Bradley remark, “The only one in the series I feel doesn’t work is Inferno, for various reasons.” I had always considered the 2000 effort one of the franchise’s stronger offerings, but it had been a while since I revisited the series, so I thought it may not hold up as well as I remembered.
As I’m working my way through the series ahead of David Bruckner‘s reboot, which drops October 7 on Hulu, I can confirm my support for the fifth installment. I have no doubt that Bradley has his reasons for disliking the film – it being the first installment to be released straight to video no doubt required adjustments, not to mention his minuscule screen time as Pinhead – but, even with its shortcomings, I think Hellraiser: Inferno is better than he gives it credit for.
Despite rumors to the contrary, Inferno was not an existing script retrofitted with Hellraiser elements. That would become the norm for the franchise going forward, but this one was pitched as a Hellraiser sequel by writer-director Scott Derrickson – making his feature debut before helming the likes of The Black Phone, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and Doctor Strange – and his then writing partner, Paul Harris Boardman (The Exorcism of Emily Rose).
Inferno was the first Hellraiser installment with no involvement from Clive Barker. In an interview that appeared in his fan club newsletter after the film came out, Barker actively warned people against seeing Inferno. He went on to say, “It’s really terrible and it’s shockingly bad, and should never have been made.” While it’s not difficult to see why Barker didn’t connect with a drastically different direction for his creation, I respectfully disagree with his denunciation.
Inferno doesn’t bother trying to compete with the operatic transgression of the first two Hellraiser films or even the over-the-top fervor of the third installment. Derrickson delivers a Seven-esque psychological thriller with a supernatural twist, peppered with Lynchian surrealism and film noir elements. While this approach often supersedes the franchise’s cornerstones, the tenuous connection is still more organic than in many of the sequels that would follow.
The film centers on Joseph Thorne (Craig Sheffer, Nightbreed), a corrupt Denver police detective with an affinity for puzzles. When a mysterious puzzle box is discovered at the scene of a homicide, Thorne takes it upon himself to solve it, resulting in nightmarish hallucinations. He traces the murder back to The Engineer, an enigmatic figure tied to a kidnapping. The closer Thorne gets to solving the crime, the more implicated he becomes, while his grip on reality loosens.
The premise is intriguing, even if the resolution isn’t wholly satisfying. Tonally and aesthetically, Inferno shares more in common with Jacob’s Ladder, Angel Heart, or Silent Hill than Hellraiser. Derrickson, working with cinematographer Nathan Hope (The Fog (2005), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), focuses more on atmosphere than gore – but the franchise’s signature blending of bloodshed and eroticism is intact.
Derrickson’s evangelical upbringing (from which he has since distanced himself) made him an interesting candidate to play in such a philosophical sandbox. In a 2002 article written for Christian Century, the filmmaker explains that the movie was a personal rebellion against Christian art’s discomfort with tension and ambiguity. “I wanted to make a movie about sin and damnation that ended with sin and damnation. After all, isn’t that the experience of many people?”
Despite Barker’s lack of support, casting the star of Nightbreed in the lead role was a sign of good faith. Sheffer’s character becomes increasingly distasteful as the plot progresses. Bradley’s screen time is limited, but the use of Pinhead as a neutral judge among humans is more harmonious with the character’s original intention than the previous two entries. James Remar (Dexter, The Warriors) appears as Throne’s therapist, largely serving as a Hellraiser lore exposition dump.
Nicholas Turturro, having just wrapped his seven-season run on NYPD Blue, plays Thorne’s partner who attempts to be a moral compass. Nicholas Sadler (Sometimes They Come Back) has a memorable turn as a drug-dealing ice cream man. The supporting cast also includes Michael Shamus Wiles (Breaking Bad), Alexandra Barrese (The Hangover), Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives), and Carmen Argenziano (Stargate SG-1).
Although he initially didn’t feel he was right for the project, Derrickson is proud of the film. “I still have a soft place in my heart for that film, but the script was really great. The script was better than the movie that I directed,” he divulged during a recent interview on Post Mortem with Mick Garris. The film was green-lit on the first draft and then “highly developed” through various drafts before shooting began on a modest $2 million budget.
Perhaps genre fans would have been more inclined to embrace Inferno had it been made independent of the Hellraiser banner, but that double-edged sword would have meant an uphill battle for discovery in the crowded home video market. In a time when “direct to video” was considered a red flag – often connoting a lack of quality, budget, studio confidence, or some combination therein – Hellraiser: Inferno rose above expectations to deliver something different.
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