As we prepare for David Bruckner’s new take on Clive Barker‘s iconic text Hellraiser, what better time to re-evaluate the state of the franchise up to this point?
Even a cursory glance at the ten existing Hellraiser films (four theatrical, six direct-to-video) reveals that not all Cenobite films are made equal. And while the top film is a given, what about the other slots?
Here are my definitive rankings…
10 – Hellraiser: Revelations (2011)
Like many major horror series in the 2000s and beyond, Hellraiser properties were driven by rights issues. Revelations (and, to a lesser extent, Judgment) suffers as a result. Dimension Films needed to release a new film or else they would lose the rights, so Revelations was rushed into production and made on the cheap.
Fans of the franchise decried the loss of Doug Bradley, who for the first time refused to reprise his role as Pinhead (let’s be honest: replacement Stephan Smith Collins never stood a chance). Still, there’s something intriguing about Revelations’ attempt to return to the narrative of Barker’s first film with friends Nico (Jay Gillespie) and Steven (Nick Eversman) taking the place of Frank (Sean Chapman) and Larry (Andrew Robinson). Revelations isn’t good, but it has a kernel or two of something interesting.
9 – Hellraiser: Inferno (2000)
No shade to director Scott Derrickson, who cut his teeth on this fifth entry in the franchise, but for anyone who hates the back half of this franchise, Inferno is where to lay the blame. This is the film where it starts to go wrong (though other BD writers beg to differ).
The visual look of Inferno is perfectly fine, and there are even some novel sequences in the franchise’s first direct-to-video sequel. But the script, which effectively turns Pinhead into a literal judge, jury, and executioner in the case against a corrupt detective (Craig Sheffer) establishes the formula that would doom nearly every entry in the series afterward. Hellraiser was never a police procedural or a neo-noir, but thanks to Inferno, that’s what it became as the majority of the successive films would ape its structure.
8 – Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002)
Also known as “the film that does Ashley Laurence’s Kirsty dirty.” The sixth entry in the franchise infamously brought back its heroine from films 1 & 2, though Oz and 30 Rock actor Dean Winters is really the protagonist of the film.
Basically, we’re repurposing the same dirty cop motif as Inferno, only Lawrence pops in a few times. What makes Hellseeker place so low on the list is not its bland, generic storyline, but rather how it misunderstands what made Kirsty and Pinhead fan favorites in the first place. The crux of the climax is that Kirsty sells out her husband to the Cenobites in a mirror version of what she does to Frank in the first film.
The issue here is that she also offers up four other souls, which is something Kirsty would never do (for that matter, it’s also not something Pinhead and the other Cenobites would accept; in fact, the film treats Pinhead like a bit of a moron for falling for the deal).
There’s no point denying that all of the sequels are cash grabs, but Hellseeker proves that writers Carl V. Dupré and Tim Day, unlike future writer Gary J. Tunnicliffe, simply don’t have a handle on what makes Hellraiser such an exceptional franchise.
7 – Hellraiser: Judgment (2018)
It may seem sacrilegious to rank a film without Bradley above the ones where he appears, but the reality of films 5-8 is that Bradley is little more than a cameo. At first glance, Judgment – like Revelations before it – is another Dimension rights casualty: cheaply made and shot quickly.
And yet…fans of Barker’s Hellraiser comics and The Scarlet Gospels (2015), the sequel to his OG novella The Hellbound Heart (1986), will recognize something of the authoritarian world of the Leviathan in the bureaucratic procedures within Tunnicliffe’s script. It’s clear that the writer/director, who also penned Revelations, is a legitimate Hellraiser fan.
So while Judgment’s egregious nudity and bland police procedural is a dull and familiar affair by this point, the small touches about the Auditor and the rules dictating Cenobite behavior is a fascinating adaptation of written Hellraiser texts. That’s what elevates this one above other mediocre entries in the franchise.
6 – Hellraiser: Deader (2005)
Deader is the weaker of two Hellraiser properties to drop in 2005 (thanks, Romanian tax breaks!). Whereas Hellworld succeeds by embracing its campy ridiculousness, Deader struggles with the same kind of self-seriousness that plagues both Inferno and Hellseeker. Its saving grace is prolific genre actress Kari Wuhrer, who tries (not always successfully) to make her banal investigative journalist character, Amy Klein, a compelling protagonist.
The most frustrating aspect of Deader is that there is a kernel of something interesting at work within the film’s narrative, which finds hard-worn journalist Klein investigating a cult who is obsessed with Pinhead. It has shades of Barker’s interest in the occult, particularly the case files of Harry D’Amour (played by Scott Bakula in Lord Of Illusions and ever-present in the later Hellraiser comics).
The problem, however, is the film’s tendency to rely on unremarkable hallucinatory visions as set pieces. The scares simply aren’t particularly engaging, memorable or convincing (blame the film’s limited DTV budget). Deader is on the weaker side of the franchise’s more experimental narratives, but it is heads and shoulders above the generic cop procedurals that precede it.
5 – Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005)
There’s no question that Hellworld is a “bad” movie, but in comparison to the two Hellraiser films before it, at least this one is fun! Unlike Inferno and Hellseeker, there’s no police protagonist stuck in his own personal hell; instead, this is the closest that the franchise comes to a traditional slasher film as a group of College students obsessed with a Hellraiser game are invited to a mansion party and killed off one by one.
Never mind the fact that Hellworld clearly has no idea how or why people use the internet (in 2005!). Viewers should instead focus on the welcome presence of Lance Henriksen, or a young hunky Henry Cavill, whose death by decapitation courtesy of a large hook on chains is the kind of set piece that William Castle would have loved.
The same can be said of the film’s controversial – and utterly ridiculous – “twist” ending, which reveals the teens were buried alive and shared a deadly hallucination. It’s very, very dumb, but also very reflective of the time period: in 2005, Saw films were all the rage and they routinely wrapped up with a ridiculous cliffhanger that recontextualized their own premise. Hellraiser: Hellworld is just playing the game!
4 – Hellraiser: Hell on Earth (1992)
Hell on Earth is the epitome of dumb fun. After the high family melodrama and mythology building of 1 & 2, the third entry in the franchise takes a slight detour in silly ridiculousness, but it’s still highly enjoyable.
Despite Barker’s plans to build the third film in the series around Julia Cotton, Claire Higgins’ departure – and a mere cameo from star Ashley Laurence – meant that Hell on Earth had to basically start from scratch. Enter Terry Farrell’s Joey, the first reporter protagonist of the series (but not the last) who uncovers the secret history behind Bradley’s Pinhead and his original human incarnation, Elliot Spencer.
The film is less revered by fans for its story than for its madcap effects and the fact that in this entry Pinhead truly becomes the new iteration of Freddy Krueger. The deaths and the gore take a page from the second film: go big. Hell on Earth embraces the concept with a bombastic set piece in sleazy J.P (Kevin Bernhardt)’s nightclub, where patrons are horribly murdered and several new ludicrous Cenobites are born (Brent Bolthouse’s CD the DJ, with his period-appropriate CDs as weapons, is a fan favorite).
Anchoring all of this is Bradley, who takes Pinhead’s vamping to new levels. The iconic scene in a Church where the Hell Priest adopts a crucifixion pose and breaks the pupil was deemed so offensive that a North Carolina church refused to allow them to shoot inside. No small feat for horror’s most eloquent icon in his third outing!
3 – Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)
This may be a controversial ranking, but the reality is that Bloodline is the least appreciated entry of the whole franchise. Yes, Part 4 goes to space, which is usually code for “we’re running out of ideas creatively,” but nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, Bloodline, the last film in the series to be released theatrically, is easily the most ambitious sequel not named Hellbound.
The final product is compromised thanks to studio interference (credit the Weinsteins – as usual) and the gore that remains only offers hints of what could have been, but regardless of meddling, the film is unafraid of taking big narrative risks.
Bloodline adopts an unusual multi-generational, three timeline approach that follows the creation of the LeMarchand box in 1800s France, the construction of a Lament Configuration-inspired high rise in “the present”, and then a space military operation hundreds of years in the future. Not only does the film explode the scope of the franchise across both time and space, it introduces a compelling new female adversary for Pinhead in the form of Angelique (Valentine Vargas).
Bloodline is also one of the few Hellraiser films where the protagonists (all played by Bruce Ramsay) – decent, albeit faulty men – actually die. So, too, do both antagonists, meaning that Bloodline is effectively the franchise’s endpoint (Pinhead’s death in this film remains canon to this day).
The critical and commercial reception for the film was not kind and it has yet to receive a much-needed contemporary reappraisal. For those who wrote off the film as simply “Hellraiser in space,” you owe it to yourself to rectify this error as soon as possible.
2 – Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988)
Acting as more of a continuation than a standalone sequel, the first sequel picks up the story of Kirsty, Julia, and Frank almost immediately after the events of the first film. Adding a novel new twist to the proceedings is the introduction of not just a maniacal new antagonist in the exploitative and corrupt Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham), but also a visually compelling depiction of the world of the Cenobites.
Inspired by the work of legendary artist M.C. Escher, hell is visually coded as a labyrinth of stairs and passageways that defy direction and gravity. And lording over everything is a giant prism overlord called Leviathan.
The expansion of the franchise world has never truly been recaptured in subsequent entries, which is a shame because the world of Leviathan and its torturous horrors is not just visually captivating, but offers new and exciting set pieces by which to explore the characters’ psyches.
Wanna see a new side of Julia? Check her out in a killer seafoam dress, torturing Frank by withholding sex from him for all of eternity.
Wanna fuck with people’s expectations? How about a Cenobite-making elevator filled with piano wire and a giant dick-like proboscis?
This movie is the shit. It’s the best horror sequel of all time that’s not Scream 2.
1 – Hellraiser (1987)
There is no other answer. It’s not just because it’s the original or the film that introduces Bradley as Pinhead, or how impeccably well-made and assured Barker’s directorial debut is, despite being made for remarkably cheap.
It’s not the off-the-charts horniness of the entire enterprise, or the fact that it’s a melodrama first and a horror film second.
It’s not how cool the Lament Configuration is, or how Frank is the physical embodiment of every shitty dude you’ve ever fallen for that you can’t let go of.
It’s Julia fucking Cotton, the horror queen who NEVER gets her due in the pantheons of villains. Yes, as everyone likes to joke, she commits murder because she can’t let go of the best sex of her life, but that logic is simplistic and reductive. The reality is that Julia starts the film as a bored housewife who is tired of married life to a milquetoast man, and when she is presented with an opportunity to reclaim the most significant and erotic moment of her life, she finds herself empowered and driven to seize it. Anything to overcome the stifling doldrums of an otherwise unexceptional life. That’s relatable shit!
So yes, bow down to Pinhead and the Cenobites, but don’t overlook the fact that Hellraiser is nothing without Julia Cotton. She’s the main character of the first – and best – film, as well as the OG villain of the franchise. Put some respect on her name.
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