Hellbound: Hellraiser II.

Review #2599: Hellbound: Hellraiser II.

Cast: 

Clare Higgins (Julia Cotton; Deborah Joel as Skinless Julia), Ashley Laurence (Kirsty Cotton), Kenneth Cranham (Dr Philip Channard), Imogen Boorman (Tiffany), Sean Chapman (Frank Cotton), William Hope (Dr Kyle MacRae), Doug Bradley (Pinhead / Captain Elliot Spencer), Barbie Wilde (Female Cenobite), Simon Bamford (Butterball), Nicholas Vince (Chatterer; Kevin Cole as Chatterer's human form), Oliver Smith (Mr Browning / Skinless Frank), and Angus McInnes (Detective Ronson) Directed by Tony Randel.

Review: 

You might remember that Hellraiser quickly had ideas of becoming a franchise, complete with retaining most of the crew and cast from the 1987 film for its sequel. Barker could not direct/write due to having prior commitments that would see him tabbed to serve as executive producer. For the task of the screenplay, he tabbed his old friend Peter Atkins, who had worked with Barker and Bradley as co-creators of the avant-garde troupe The Dog Company. The two worked on an outline together that was guided by ideas Barker had in mind of where to explore further in the Hellraiser universe, specifically with the history of the Cenobites. From that outline, Atkins got started on a first draft screenplay that later saw notes and further tabbing when Tony Randel was brought on to direct. The director chosen by Barker and company was a familiar choice for him, as Randel had been tabbed by New World Pictures to oversee the latter stages of the first film and had hit it off with Barker. This was the directorial debut for Randel, who had started out in the New World mailroom before rising up to special effects and also work on stuff such as Def-Con 4 and the American rendition of The Return of Godzilla (1984). Randel mostly edits and directs on a small-scale basis, with this being his most noted film. There were a few snags that had to be overcome prior to filming, namely having no Andrew Robinson and an ending that had to be changed due to the non-commitment laid out by Higgins, and the film had to go through edits to avoid an X rating, but the movie was a hit enough to lead a drive for another movie. Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth came out in 1992. with Atkins and Randel co-writing the story (Atkins also wrote for the fourth film) while Anthony Hickox directed. Barker wasn't involved with the film until post-production (incidentally, Randel apparently was felt to be too bleak in his vision by producers to direct) while Bradley reprised his role and Laurence made a cameo. Incidentally, the video game Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival (released just this month) took inspiration from the first two Hellraiser films in their atmosphere.

Sure, let's throw out the entire book for puzzle-solving, skinless mayhem, and M. C. Esher wannabee imagery. It isn't a great movie by any means, and it does have a test of coherency when it eventually fiddles onto the conclusion, but it makes for an adequate sequel to something that I saw once and thought was a "horror film of the senses"*. It's entirely possible to understand someone's revulsion to people being torn apart in an effects sequence, even if, well, it's an effects sequence (more people have revulsion to, say, animals being CG'd to death*). For me, I roll with it, and you basically have to go with that in mind here because it is a 99-minute mishmash that amps the gore within the mazes and basically throwing out any story idea they can, which starts at the looney bin (at least A Nightmare on Elm Street only got there in three tries*) and sticks around a bloody mattress and more people who stumble onto puzzles before somehow getting down to looking inward with the Cenobites.  Barker apparently envisioned Higgins and here character being the main character to keep coming back for the franchise (yes, even more than Bradley's character), but she did not see it that way and thus went down the road seen for the climax. Higgins is a bit more confined in what she gets to really do because, well, it isn't a case of someone from before being roped into murder, now she's the one doing the roping, which is more interesting to see in the pairing with Cranham and his carefully composed nature of basically being a nerd about wanting to play God. Laurence keeps the ball rolling in relative charm for us to root for in seeing her live a further nightmare. Bradley and the others can only have so much to actually do, and the resolution to that just makes me shake my head. At least it sequel-baits itself something maybe worth looking into. As a whole, the labyrinth of hit-and-miss ideas within desires and the bounds of Hell (as seen with a diamond-shaped entity) proves for an okay experience for those who like what they want to see and hear from something that doesn't reach the heights of the original but at least gives them something worth their curiosity. 

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day (belated)

*Atkins also wrote for Wishmaster (1997). Next year? Also, here's a link to an interview that he did for those who dig three-hour interviews, I suppose - https://michaelcavacini.com/2022/07/19/interview-peter-atkins-discusses-clive-barker-hellraiser-nightbreed-wishmaster-more/ - or maybe go with the documentary Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II. 

*Looking back on that Hellraiser review (and doing a bit of retroactive editing for phrasing and splitting a paragraph), 2020 Movie Night was a weird weird time.

*Current days, anyway, since most normal productions don't go around doing things to animals that you wouldn't do to people.

*What happened to the boyfriend from the first film anyway? Was he turned off by that beast thing he saw at the end when they tried to burn the box? 

Hellraiser.

Review #1589: Hellraiser.

Cast:

Clare Higgins (Julia Cotton), Ashley Laurence (Kirsty Cotton), Andrew Robinson (Larry Cotton), Sean Chapman (Frank Cotton), Robert Hines (Steve), Doug Bradley (Lead Cenobite), Nicholas Vince (Chattering Cenobite), Simon Bamford (Butterball Cenobite), Grace Kirby (Female Cenobite), and Oliver Smith ("Skinless" Frank / Frank the Monster) Written and Directed by Clive Barker.

Review:

"I see no reason to apologise for any kind of generic formation. As you know, you go back to some of the most striking images, the most lasting images, in cinema, and they come from horror films. Some people think horror films are some sort of second-class filmmaking, and the only way we can hope to bypass that thinking is by being proud of the fact that we do it."

"There was no doubt in my mind that this unnamed guy with the pins in his head had a certain je ne sais quoi that a mattress-delivery guy didn’t."

As goes the writer, goes the director, you might say. Clive Barker was originally an author, having studied at the University of Liverpool in English and Philosophy. Barker had an eclectic amount of influences growing up in terms of media that ranged from authors such as Herman Melville (such as Moby Dick, once described as his favorite novel) to William Blake to films as well. He did work in the theatre at first with plays starting in 1967 (while also occasionally doing work with 8mm and 16mm film) before moving into writing with 1985, which focused on horror and fantasy. The source material for this film was his second work in The Hellbound Heart (1986), a novella, which drew upon his experiences in hustling as a prostitute (as he did when needing to pay bills as a struggling writer). Barker was spurred to do his own film based on the experience of seeing two of his stories be turned into films (described as "cinematic abominations" by him, since he wrote both screenplays) in Underworld (1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), with an intent to direct something cheap - enter Roger Corman's New World Pictures, which gave him $900,000 to fund the film. The design of the film was inspired by his experiences at night clubs (such as seeing people pierced for fun). He was inexperienced at the art of directing, but he managed on with a mix of fairly tolerant cast and crew that did not balk at the first time director (the one stipulation that the studio did have however came with dubbing some of the accents to make what was a British tale seem more American).

What we have here is a horror film of the senses, mixing pain and pleasure for some interesting visceral moments. It sets most of its 93 minutes within the confines of a house horror film that builds tension with its ooze of atmospheric dread that make it understandable to see why there was more than one Hellraiser film. In fact, there were nine subsequent films, with Barker helping to write an outline for Hellbound: Hellraiser II as its executive producer before taking less duties with the third film while Bradley starred in seven of those sequels, and a television series was recently announced to be in development. In any case, the film sticks out among others of its decade in its difference from the popular aim of the time in slashers - there are moments with blood, but it seems more serious with its approach than say, A Nightmare on Elm Street [1984] (although each are equally qualified in horror). To me, there are moments that remind me of the vampire story, what with a character that desires blood while being confined to a certain place for the day for others to help do his bidding, although an inspiration for the film was actually the urban legend of "The Devil's Toy Box". In any case, the real threat involves the Cenobites, who can't tell the difference between pleasure and pain that can be angels or demons depending on one's perception that seemed to have a repulsive glamour (with a design inspired by S&M clubs, as stated by Barker).

One starts at first with Higgins (an actress of the stage in native London and Broadway), one who we follow along with in pursuit to deception and lust that nevertheless is compelling to follow. Laurence goes along with curiosity on the other side of pursuit with the box without being turned into a vehicle for cheap screams (her and Higgins would return in the sequel). Robinson (best known for his villainous role in Dirty Harry) also does well here as the family man needed to contrast the macabre (at least to a point). Chapman captures craven crawling with the moments needed in pursuit as the last key of the human puzzle needed in nature. The Cenobites sure are a highlight in design, and it only seems fitting that Bradley (a close friend of Barker for over a decade prior to this film) would eventually take bigger focus with each passing film, dignified in quiet tone that seems reminiscent of Christopher Lee's portrayal of Dracula - fine by me, obviously (it should be noted that the eventual name given to his character was not actually by Barker but by the crew). In general, the film works best in grisly terror for what one sees and feels from terror from the deep dark senses that found a following and place within horror that stood beyond the litany of follow-up sequels that came after it in the three decades that followed because of what Barker did to keep his vision to make the screen.

Next Time: House of 1000 Corpses

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.