Half-Halloween 2012: Hellraiser
is it a big turd?
Well, I think so. So I’m hoping someone can provide some refutations.
I don’t have very high hopes for it given how part 4 is. I’m awaiting part 6 since it’s Dennis’ favorite.
Part 4 is the worst so far. I liked the the story of the creation of the box, but why does it need to end up in space. It seems like if your only chance to continue a series is to set it in space, that’s the clue to realize that it’s time to give it up.
Leprechaun 4: In Space would like to have a word with you. That movie is the shit.
Haha, I’ve seen parts of it. I prefer Leprechaun in the Hood. If you replace Space with The Hood, then I think the series can only get better.
Any giant, disembodied Leprechaun hands giving the one-finger salute to the surviving crew of a spaceship in Leprechaun in the Hood? No? ENDOFDISCUSSION
“if your only chance to continue a series is to set it in space, that’s the clue to realize that it’s time to give it up.”
Yeah, what the hayul’s bells was with the 90s and space-set paranormal slashers?! That was one of the comments made last night during the viewing, “Shouldn’t it be, like, the sixth or seventh movie in a horror franchise before the producers just throw their hands up and say, ‘Space. Space, that’s where we’re going. Nothing left to do here on Earth.’?”
—PolarisDiB
This conversation inspired a new list of mine. It was really fun to compile, and I have more to add but I’ll have to do it later. Making a list can be time consuming!!
I’ve actually seen Hellraiser; Inferno once beofre. I know it was quite a while ago and probably sometime late night as well. I always thought it fairly interesting the way it really kind of went off on it’s own thing. Always thought that weirdo threesome with the cenobite twins was pretty creepy like. It’s strange though that this one, Pinhead is really not that important. He’s probably in it all of 5 minutes and the film ends essentially unresolved.
Well, Inferno is no Eric Rohmer but I did enjoy the morality tale aspect of it, as well as the director seemed to be fond of David Lynch and Adrian Lyne films or something. I don’t know, I actually find this one to be better than the others in that the imagery is more inventive and the production looked like it had a lot of fun; the only problem is, yes, Pinhead doesn’t really have enough screentime or really explanation for why he’s running the show.
However, he’s positioned better in this movie, like I’ve discussed before, as not really the bad guy. The story is man vs self instead of man vs monster, it’s sort of neat. I also kinda enjoyed the police procedural aspect of it but as was mentioned somewhere above, this movie seems to be one unique story with Pinhead inserted. I’d like to know more about this ‘Engineer’ character as something more original and distinct.
(Miasma, if you haven’t seen this movie, you should.)
—PolarisDiB
I do like that man vs self aspect of it. But in a way, it seems to cheapen it as well. It reminded me of late night movies they used to show on showtime. I wish I could remember some.
Hellraiser: Inferno was the first of the series I saw. It was a long time ago and I didn’t know it was part of a series or any of the backstory. I thought it was great fun, occasionally creepy and the dude with nails in his head was awesome.
In hindsight the psychological and moral take on the franchise works well.
Basically it works as a solid stand-alone horror flick with great monster design.
Inferno is essentially An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge/Carnival of Souls/Jacob’s Ladder/Silent Hill or, hell, The Twilight Zone with Pinhead standing in for Rod Serling. Not the worst idea but not very well integrated into Barker’s existing mythos (which is pretty much picked up or dropped at the sake of convenience throughout the series, especially in the DTV sequels).
Reading that Hellseeker originally was a script for another project, but became a Hellraiser film just by inserting Cenobite characters, I’m conflicted because I’m not sure if it would have been better the way it was. It surely is the best so far out of the sequels. It kind of rehashes some of the ideas from Inferno. For a momemt i thought they were going to continue parts from the previous film, particularly the Engineer character, but they didnt. Here we have some fairly decent acting which makes it much easier for me to watch.
“Inferno is essentially An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge/Carnival of Souls/Jacob’s Ladder/Silent Hill or, hell, The Twilight Zone with Pinhead standing in for Rod Serling.”
That’s essentially exactly what I like about it and Pinhead is a versatile enough character, with his demon/human dichotomy, to really explore that issue of internal suffering and what is attractive about it. Unfortunately, none of the movies have really hit that nail in the, pun intended, head.
—PolarisDiB
That’s essentially exactly what I like about it and Pinhead is a versatile enough character, with his demon/human dichotomy, to really explore that issue of internal suffering and what is attractive about it.
Except in the short story (and to a lesser degree the first film) the Cenobites were not just amoral but beyond any concept of morality. They were a physical manifestation of the most extreme sensual stimulation possible (" pain and pleasure, indivisible"), sort of the last stop on a road that only the most exhausted, overindulged, jaded-to-the-point-of-suicide hedonists would even dream of taking. You had to desire them above all other things in order to even get the puzzle box and only singleminded obsession could manage to solve it. Part of the reason I like the first one so much (flaws and all) is that its focus is on the seekers instead of the deliverers. Once they were given human origins the series morphed into something far less interesting to me, with the DTV sequels typically even less so.
Some people have waaaaaay too much time on their hands!
^Also known as watching movies and discussing them on a movie discussion forum?
Timely response anyway as my lack of updates over the last few days has to do with the fact that I’ve been really busy. I’ve been watching the movies so I have comments, but I’ll have to catch up on them later as I’m essentially bumping the thread before I go to sleep tonight (and maybe catch up on some new topics). Tomorrow I’ll be finished with all nine and have some Avengers chatting to do, so good times. In the meantime I’ve basically just finished working a 60 hour week and some change.
—PolarisDiB
Bijoux Alexanderplatz
I quite like the third film. I know Polaris already mentioned Halloween, but 3 reminds me of the Halloween series in that parts one and 2 were companion pieces while part 3 picked up elements of the key narrative and took them in a new direction. I do agree that this film also is where Pinhead really becomes the focal point. Having heard so much about the series before I’d watched any of the films, I was surprised at the contents and overall storyline of part 1.
I’m watching some more today (my first "new "ones) . I did watch the newest version a week or so before I knew about half Halloween, and I’m really interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on that one.