Review of Hellraiser (1987) by Johnathon W — 01 Oct 2014
Horror classic that remains one of the best ever made, thanks to Clive Barker's unrelenting direction & a solid cast. The film has aged a bit with some of the visual effects (the Engineer & skeleton dragon come to mind) but the rest are still superbly done (Frank's resurrection is a masterpiece).
The dubbed lines on many of the actors stick out even worse today as well. The cast is solid across the board, with Claire Higgins turning Julie into a fine femme fatale while Ashley Laurence gives Kirsty the right mix of intelligence & spunk.
The standout, of course, is the great Doug Bradley as Pinhead (at this point, just credited as lead Cenobite), whose stiff but menacing performance (along with brilliant makeup) forms him into one of the great movie monsters of all time.
Behind the camera, Barker adapts his book, "Hellbound Heart", superbly by keeping the story simple but unrelenting. One nice touch is that Barker shows faith in the gorgeous but gruesome makeup by keeping them well-light as opposed to hiding them in shadows.
A true horror classic and still the best of the franchise.
This review of Hellraiser (1987) was written by Johnathon W on 01 Oct 2014.
Hellraiser has generally received positive reviews.
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