Monday, October 21, 2024

Hellraiser

This has been a movie I've wanted to review since almost the beginning, and it's been one of those movies where I keep pushing it back year after year. But I've finally seen it.



Based off the book by Clive Barker who took it upon himself to adapt and also direct the feature film, and my God is this story bizarre. Following the aftermath of a shady individual named Frank who acquires a unique puzzle box and upon solving it summons four horrific entities that literally tear him to bits, a short time later relatives move into the house who inadvertently ressurect Frank and he has plans to become a new man again with murder and freaky ass imagery abound. This easily is the most disgusting movie I have ever seen in my life, if I had a dollar everytime I said eww or made a sound of disgust I'd be a well off man before even the halfway point. The special effects are truly special and usurps The Thing as the most grotesque visuals I've seen in a horror film for my money anyway. I'd love to read the original work and am aware of the differences Clive made himself in making the movie, in fact this was his directorial debut and I'll admit he did not do a bad job in the slightest! The acting is a bit more than your ususal horror fare, with a lot of love going to Claire Higgins who is the most complex of the characters she just did such good work with this material, and I gotta admit real quick because I've seen far far too many movies I was looking at Andrew Robinson and was like I know you but why? Guess what, dude was Scorpio in the first Dirty Harry movie! So that was a big treat for me to see him act in this and he gets his moments. Despite all the promotional material the leader of the summoned entities known as the Cenobites known famously as Pinhead is not in the film a great deal and really comes more into play near the end but the performance and look is rock solid, with Doug Bradley nailing the power and dominating presence that grabs your attention seamlessly. You can tell they had a dedicated cast and crew for this and honestly it's a miracle the production studio, Roger Corman's New World Pictures, let them do what was in the final cut. It may not have as strong a representation in pop culture or fans as other horror juggernauts but it's a good movie that deserves to be seen more in my estimation. I give it 3 stars, 7.5/10! And while the month is coming closer to an end, we have such sights to show you...

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