Review of Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005) by Mark D — 18 Oct 2010

Hellworld is the 8th Hellraiser film, and it is without a doubt the worst of the series. If I'm being honest, until watching this I was very pleasantly surprised with this franchise. Even as the later sequels moved from theatrical releases to low-budged straight-to-dvds, the films themselves were always at the very least watchable. Unlike many other horror series that run this long, the films in this series tried to maintain a sense of integrity, never falling into the cheesy/campy pitfall of so many other franchises (i.e. Nightmare on Elm Street). Well, I can safely say that with Hellworld, that sense of integrity is fully gone. This film is trash. Think of Jason X, or Halloween: Resurrection.

Departing from the by-now overdone "personal hell" plot of the previous three films, Hellworld tries to blend together a haunted house story with elements of the Hellraiser mythos, and unfortunately it fails miserably at both. Pinhead and the Cenobites are literally just keeping up appearances, and the rest of the cast feel like walking cookie-cutter cliches (with the exception of the always fantastic Lance Henriksen, who somehow got talked into this film). All this being said, there were few moments that earned a genuine "whaaaaaaaaat???" from me out of sheer insanity (i.e. the roundhouse kick near the end...), but overall it was a grueling experience that I hope not to endure again for a long time. In a word: it's time for a Reboot!