Review of Hellraiser: Inferno (2000) by Tim B — 20 Sep 2010

Takes a 180 from the Hellraiser franchise and goes in a completely new direction. I can see why this one pissed fans off but I can't see why it's hated on so much. The continuing storyline started losing me at Part 3 anyway, so I appreciated this new take.

The storyline grabbed me from the get-go; a dirty cop (aren't thay all?) gets his own taste of karma with a descent into madness/hell while also trying to fix himself by solving a missing child's case.

Although not the most original of stories, it held my interest which gave it points from me. Anytime Thorne would start to lose it and trip out, so would I. For somebody that I didn't really identify with, I was surprising myself by rooting for the dude to make it out.

When the climax hit, I was almost cheering for him. Loved that shotgun! Lastly, although nowhere near as graphic as the previous installments, there was enough red chunks for a good soup mix. I was actually surprised that I was more disturbed by what wasn't shown this time around.

Different... Craig Sheffer threw me off at first but there was something about him that grew on me. By the end of the movie I dug him. Nicholas Turturro plays another cop and does fine. Typecast? James Remar shows up and disappears and the same with Doug Bradley.

I really enjoyed Scott Derrickson's directing. The use of sound was way creepy and the orange/red lighting was a nice, welcomed change. The man actually made me jump in parts as well! Which brings me to my flaws with it: lies.

Big time. There's no way in hell (lol!) this should've been called 'Hellraiser Part 5.' This had nothing to do with anything in the series. It tried to justify itself by putting 'the box' in, a couple of nods to the previous entries etc.

but they would be useless to new viewers and not enough for fans. Even Pinhead doen't make an impression in this one. He literally pops in at the beginning and end. Why even bother in the first place? Yes, although its undeserving calling itself Hellraiser, that doesn't mean its undeserving as a horror movie period.

Add to this a very interesting score that complimented the happenings and you get a well-done, if not phony horror movie. If you dig thrillers more than gorefests, check it out. Fans of the series may want to give it a second go.

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