Review of Hellraiser: Deader (2005) by John M — 26 Mar 2014

Getting further away from the point. So this is about a determined investigative reporter (Kari Wuhrer), who travels to Romania to look into a mysterious cult, the Deaders, who kill members and bring them back to life.

Now I know that this series is not all about Pinhead (despite how the cover-art may lead you), but these past two movies have really gotten away from what a Hellraiser movie is all about. It seems as if they just picked these generic thrillers and merged them halfheartedly with Hellraiser elements to keep the rights to the series.

I read in a review that this was originally not written with Hellraiser in mind, and that really doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Not that you need a ton of Pinhead in your movie, mind you; the first two movies, Pinhead and the Cenobites are just background supporting characters and those are the best two in the entire series.

Here, they just focus on the puzzle box every thirty minutes and call it a day. No scene complements another in any particular way, and this has devolved into the land of jump scares. The majority of the horror just cops out as well, being written off as a dream or a hallucination, and you don't end up trusting the movie because of that.

This series so far, I still think Hellraiser 3 is the worst, but this is a close second (although I still haven't seen the infamous Hellraiser 9 yet).