Hellraiser: Movie Review

It’s time for another review! No video reviews for the summer probably. Work just started to pick up and since I work outside in the 110 plus temperatures, I will be too tired and drained to do a video. So sorry to those of you who like the video reviews. They will be back… just not to take over as governor of California.

For the longest time I never had any desire to see Hellraiser. For me, it looked like a science fiction movie, and those usually do not appeal to me. Especially fantasy or space movies.  So it wasn’t until someone told me what the movie/series was about that I finally decided to sit down and watch it. 

Synopsis: The movie is about a man and his second wife move into his childhood home. His brother was living, there, but had gone missing. The wife is obsessing over the brother/her former lover and after her husband cuts himself on a nail his blood resurrects Frank, the brother. She started bringing men into the house to kill them so her lover can come back to his normal form. The daughter comes into play and finds out what her uncle has become and gets a hold of the box. In an attempt to escape, she blacks out and is taken to a hospital. She plays with the box and it not only opens, but also reveals that alternative dimensions that lives in the box. These cenobites are creatures that use torture to those who use the box.

Review: Since this movie was not one I ever thought of watching I had no expectations for it. The gore was definitely decent, not too extreme, but not too cheesy and fake. The special effects of Frank were definitely good. The storyline with the wife and Frank I thought was a bit odd. I don’t know what it was that I didn’t like about it, I just did not like it. I also wish there was more background to the cenobites. Who are they and what exactly are they? I have been told that in the later movies they do explain this so I will have to watch those to see how are.

Some thoughts of mine were I thought the idea of the Pinhead not being very prevalent in the movie was like the original Friday the 13^th where Jason is not even in the movie. I also thought that it took the movie a very long time to get to the point. I was wondering when Pinhead would appear and what exactly was going on. It took about an hour for me to fully understand what was happening.

While the gore was good, the light effects at the end of the movie reminded me of Tron. It looked like the light suites they wore and just made the ending really cheesy and half assed.

I feel very indifferent about this movie. I don’t feel one way or another about it. I’m not even sure I want to watch the other movies. I think if it something you have been putting off, then whenever you have the time to see it, then definitely do. There is no reason not to see it, so go ahead. Let me know what you think of the movie.