On H List of Movie Reviews

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Hellraiser (1987)

Rate: 2
Viewed: 3/07, 5/10

Hellraiser1
3/07: "Jesus wept."

Yeah, he would. It's the most memorable part of Hellraiser which defines how horror picture should be: surreal, imaginative, scary, abstract, and beyond words. The story is good which is backed up with excellent acting and direction. Andrew Robinson is great. Remember what he did as Scorpio in Dirty Harry?

There are two groups of villains, but only one is a threat. The first is cenobites which include Pinhead, and the other comprises a man and a woman who have committed sins and are therefore rewarded a trip to hell. In between is a girl (Ashley Laurence) who lives in reality like the rest of us.

All in all, Hellraiser is what a horror picture is all about.

5/10: I have now seen the light, and I'm sorry to say there's zero intelligence behind Hellraiser.

It's virtually impossible to make out the story, and the action is often random. Clive Barker prefers to focus on gore exclusively. When he does it, the film dies. Who can believe Kirsty knows how to move the slides of Lemarchand's box correctly and make it work in her favor?

By the way, in regard to the box, the reward is either pain or pleasure. After the characters try it out, the result has been always been pain. Is it a trick? In the interim, Andrew Robinson claims to be a pacifist in real life, yet he appeared in many super violent pictures such as Dirty Harry, Cobra, and Hellraiser. Huh, some stance.

All in all, Stephen King once said, "I have seen the future of horror fiction, and his name is Clive Barker..."; *yawn* wake me up when he has finally come.