Review of Hellraiser (1987) by David L — 08 Mar 2014

My god, how weird is this. Associated largely with the Pinhead character, I was surprised to see he's not actually in it very much, just a couple of fleeting cameos at the start, middle and end. It's a very dark and dingy film which has a very underground feel to it with all it's fetish like pleasure vs pain concept.

It centres around a character who has a desire to reach the extreme of sexual experiences and purchases a box which can give the ultimate taste of heaven or hell. When he endures the latter, the boxes keepers, the cenobites, proceed to tear him apart limb from limb.

However, when his brother Larry's blood is spilt on his remains, he is reincarnated and requires the help of his brothers wife, and former lover, to bring back several men on which to feed upon. Bemusing to say the least.

As his body nears completion, the coenobites hunt him down and with the help of Larry's daughter, manage a second chance of butchering their escapee. It's clearly a film keen on exploiting an orgy of special effects that sure do shock and confuse on a par with the likes of the Evil Dead series.

Even giving this film your undivided attention may leave your mind spinning but it's clearly the work of a crazy yet innovative producer. A true definition of the horror genre, this is blood thirsty, violent, and sordid, one which definitely has it's own unique placing in movie history.