Hellraiser - Bloodline
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.82 You Save: $4.17 (42%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Hellraiser - Bloodline
Movie Review: Worthy Addition the the Hellraiser Mythos
Summary: 3 Stars
Bloodline is the fourth installment in the Hellraiser saga created by Clive Barker. This film is unique in that it traces the origin of the puzzle box that opens the gateway in which the cenobites travel. The movie spans generations of the bloodline of the box's creator. The bloodline begins with LaMerchant, a toymaker in old France who makes the box for a wealthy client. The client uses black magic to transform the simple toy into Hell's gateway. The present day descendant of "the toymaker" is a gifted architect who designed the building we see at the end of Hellraiser III. The bloodline concludes in the future where LaMerchant's descendant devises a plan to rid the world of the box once and for all. Overall the movie is well crafted, but not without fault. For starters, there are times when the viewer is left wanting more detail. I would have like to have seen more time spent with the story of the box's creation for example. I have read that the director was unhappy about the edits made to reduce the running time of the film. Perhaps we'll get a director's cut at some point. The special effects are good, but much of the gore seems more gratuitous than necessary. In fact, unlike the horror effect it has in the first two movies, it becomes more distracting here. Doug Bradley is once again brilliant as Pinhead. As has become customary, we are introduced to new cenobites including a pretty cool dog-like creature called the chatter beast.
The movie is presented in widescreen and the picture and sound quality of the DVD are very good. Unfortunately there are no extras on the DVD making the price rather stiff for a bare bones disc. However, if you are a fan of the Hellraiser saga or an aficionado of modern horror, it is a worthy addition to your library. Perhaps some of these later films will get the "Anchor Bay" treatment in the future.
Movie Review: Pinhead in space.
Summary: 3 Stars
What I don't understand is why horror fans have complained about this sequal when the ones that were released after this were even worse I mean this film is a masterpiece compared to those crappy straight to video sequals Inferno and Hellworld. The film is about the horrifying struggles of a family bloodline who created the puzzle box (thats how I got my nickname hehe) that opens the doors of hell and let the diabolical Pinhead free to wreak havok on earth and then in the 22nd century a scientist in a space station is trying to solve the puzzle and finaly wants to defeat Pinhead and the other cenobites and break the curse that his family has been suffering through. The film shows us the history and background behind the puzzle box that was created by the La Marchant family line beginning in France in the 18th century, the film also introduces a new villian the demonic Angelique which was very nice and interesting it also had a nice amount of gore including a very nasty looking decapatation and the twin cenobites that get there heads screwed on together which was also hilarious so overall the film was not that bad even though it did have some very cheesy and corny moments and some special fx looked bad and outdated I still enjoyed this film alot and I highly recommend this to hellraiser fans.Movie Review: Not as bad as one would expect
Summary: 3 Stars
The director was so disappointed with the final version of the film, that he had his named removed and replaced with the notorious Alan Smithee. Considering that and that the film has enough going on in its plot for two Hellraiser sequels, the film didn't come out all that bad. It's story surrounds the origins of the puzzle box and how its creator's bloodline is cursed through the centuries. It hops form the 1800's, to modern times, and finally ends in the future on a space station. The acting ain't all that great, and more plot holes in Peter Atkins script, but fans will find something appealing about this film.Movie Review: Blood is thicker than Water: Gory, Flawed---& Beautiful
Summary: 2 Stars
Nobody in Hollywood would deny that the movie business is War. And as we all know from General Sherman, War is Hell.
First-time director Kevin Yagher found that out the hard way. When studio chiefs brought in Joe Chappelle to fill in what they thought were gaps in the movie, Yagher walked off the set, pulled his name from this fourth Hellraiser installment and cursed it to movie development Hell, branding it with the ultimate shame of having been directed by "Alan Smithee", the Hollywood calling card of a disaffected director.
Frankly, I think Yagher acted prematurely---"Bloodline" is flawed, one of the weakest of the brooding "Hellraiser" franchise---but taken on its own terms, it bumps and grinds quite nicely and sheds plenty of the red sauce along the way.
"Bloodline" is an entertaining little wallow in the ghoulish legendry of the hellish Cenobites, their tormented minions, and the earthly conjurers who hope to bring the Demons into the material world for gain and glory, and end up giving "body piercing" a whole new meaning.
"Bloodline" feels like a film created by committee, which is exactly what it turned out to be. It is uneven, jumping from scene to scene in fits and starts; it's evident that Yagher's vision was unfulfilled and his contempt justified.
The film begins on a space station, with Science Officer Dr. Paul Merchant (played by French Canadian actor Bruce Ramsay, who does a stellar turn with all of the Le Merchant/Merchant roles) interrupted by a security team while trying to summon the demonic Cenobites using a high-tech version of the infamous Lament Configuration.
Interrogated by one of the marines (played by the lovely but underused Christine Harnos), Merchant reveals that he is the last in a bloodline of inventors and scientists, and that his ancestor Phillip Le Merchant was a fabled 18th century French toymaker who first created the hellish Lament Configuration.
Here's my advice: while I bought "Bloodline" for its gaudy, gory imagery and style, I would rent it and watch the first 40 minutes, if only for the fact that Yagher commits to celluloid some of the most graphic, stylish, erotic and disturbing images ever filmed.
The story of the toymaker's design and delivery of the wicked box to a French nobleman, hedonist and sadist (played to the wild-eyed feverish hilt by Mickey Cottrell) is both hellacious and eerily beautiful, shot in natural light, the candles and firelight glittering on a palette of flesh, bone and blood. It is beautiful stuff, and I can see why Yagher resigned in disgust when his vision was commandeered by Chapelle.
Oh, and Chilean actress Valentina Vargas is glorious as the demoness Angelique, with or without skin: she can rend my flesh any day of the week.
Other than that, "Bloodline" is forgettable: we move from Le Merchant to his 20th century architect descendant and a skyscraper crammed with Cenobites, and thence to the haunted space station. While some reviewers have complained that the gory sequence in which two hapless twin security guards are transformed is both gratuitous and brings the movie to a halt, I enjoyed it: it's a wickedly bloody, gory piece in prime Hellraiser style. Finally, Douglas Bradley is in fine form as Pinhead---but then again, when isn't he?
For the hardcore Hellraiser fan, buy this DVD---if you don't have it in your collection already. For the casual gorehound, a rental might suffice, if only to savor the supple, gorgeous, haunting 18th century prologue. For filmmakers, it's a prime example of how not to go about making a horror movie.
JSG
Movie Review: Bloodline flatlines.
Summary: 2 Stars
The fourth installment in a series already spiraling toward mediocrity, even self-parody, the best one can say about Hellraiser: Bloodline is that it isn't any worse than its immediate predecessor, Hellraiser III - Hell on Earth. Sadly, though, it isn't any better, either.What's gone wrong? It's hard to pin down (no pun intended). First, while there's plenty of the requisite gore, none of it is particularly frightening. The effects aren't bad, by any means, but the hooks in the flesh leave the veteran Hellraiser viewer with a "been there, done that" feel. And abandon all hope for fun, new Cenobites right away. The "Doublemint Twins" are about as uninspired, if not worse, than anything dredged up in Part III. Second, there's the story itself. A stumbling effort to explore the history of the Lemarchand box, the plot left me torn (again, no pun...). On one hand, anyone who has become emotionally vested in the series is delighted, I'm certain, to delve deeper into the storyline's origins as opposed to another tired slasher rehash a la Hellraiser III. On the other hand, the story is so clumsily and uninterestingly presented that it ultimately leaves the viewer disappointed. Yes, the multigenerational aspect is fascinating in theory, but only the 1700s section of the story delivers on any level. As for the 1990s generation, an explanation of the intended practical purpose of the Merchant building would have been nice. As would any development at all of the characters if one expects the viewers to care about them. I won't even get into the rhetorical questions of "how did Merchant's wife suddenly know how to use the box?" or "if the Cenobites can cross dimensions, why can't they get out of a locked room?" The film is hideously paced and terribly edited, probably an indication that the finished (or unfinished) project simply didn't leave anyone much to work with. Pinhead doesn't need an eternity to know your flesh; these 81 minutes are certainly long enough to make anyone suffer.
Finally, however, the real failing of Bloodline is the series' mascot, Pinhead. I still feel that the finest entries in the Hellraiser lexicon - Part I, Part II, the surprisingly good Inferno, and the Hellbound Heart novella - all prove that less is more when it comes to the legendary Cenobites. Presented with loads of screen time compared to previous entries in the series, Pinhead in particular fills his time with the typical "I am emptiness!" soundbites that become repetitive and, ultimately, laughable. Furthermore, the Cenobites are also scariest on their own turf. Part III proved that to take them out of hell and put them on the street simply doesn't work. Neither does orbiting them on a space station. Or camping them out in the basement of an office building.
In summary, despite being an overall stinker cinematically (the Alan Smithee directing credit should tip off most potential viewers), this is still, of course, necessary for devotees of the series. That said, it's still hard to part with your money for a bare-bones DVD with a grainy picture and anemic sound. Not even the original trailer is included, though you do get a sneak peek at...Children of the Corn Part 6. Don't get me started.