Hellraiser - Deader
|
Our Price: $9.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.30 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Hellraiser - Deader
Movie Review: Hellraiser-Deader.....Direct to Video for a reason.
Summary: 3 Stars
Ever since Hellraiser:Bloodline(4) all subsequent sequels have been direct to video. Why? well Hellraiser: Inferno, Hellraiser: Hellseeker, and this installment Hellraiser:Deader have used the same premise; screw with you head. In the first 4 films it was that when you solved the puzzle box you summoned Pinhead and crew, got hook chained back into hell. With the exception of a couple delusions/hallucinations that was basically it. In #5 on it changed you opened the box and you went on this mad journey through you own psychosis, almost like a dream where your mind is manufacturing things and at the same time Pinhead and the powers of hell are supplying their own special effects. I'm not feeling all that.
In Deader we have the lovely and talented Kari Wuher playing Amy Klien reporter for a paper called the London Underground. She gets an asignment to check out the Deaders after watching Deader front man "Winter" bring some chick back to life. Taking place in Romania Klein acquires the puzzle box and solves it, sending her on her own little psychotic journey into her own personal hell. As with #5 and 6 the big mystery for Klien is figuring out what the hell is going on, is she crazy or not and why does this Winter guy possess the ability he has to bring the dead back to life......whatever! Trying to follow her mental break path to hell is a waste of time. Just let the movie unfold as it does and all--however thin will be revealed. For Fans of Pinhead, yes Doug Bradley reprises his role as the brooding darkly poetic, and articulate Cenobite. Pinheads presence in the first half of this 88 minute outing is nil. The second half has a bit more but not much.
Some of the effects in this film are I think not up to snuff, like the Cgi chains that pinhead uses. However Makeup jobs are cool, and there is a fair amount of blood being spilt. which make for some disturbing visuals, I found myself saying; "Dang, thats messed up!" a few times in this Film. Overall for a direct to video sequel, Kari Wuher does a great job, and its always good to see Pinhead warp reality and twist words. For those reasons I went from 2 to 3 stars. Bottom Line.....Stronger sequel that Both Hellraiser: Inferno, and Hellraiser: Hellseeker.
Movie Review: Falls short again
Summary: 3 Stars
3.5 Stars. I don't think the writers/producers get this Hellraiser series. The entire idea of Hellraiser is to have Pinhead in the scenes because he is one of the scariest, most curious characters in horror. Again, he isn't shown enough. I want to see him lurking out of the darkness and showing up in flashbacks and threatening people.
The theme of the movie isn't bad: It's about a guy who can bring people back to life once they've been coaxed into killing themselves and he's been annointed by Pinhead to do this. All of these people are called "Deaders".
The strangest and most mysterious part(s) of the movie is when a journalist (Kari Wuhrer) checks all of this out and enters the subway and gets on a subway train which is a trashy hedonistic palace/chamber to get information from a fellow. The costumes and people on the subway are freaks and you can't take it all in because there's too much going on: there's sex and drugs and mutilation taking place among small groups of people.
Kari Wuhrer puts in a great performance I think, especially when she becomes one of the "deaders" and it freaks her out because she's bleeding everywhere she goes.
The climax always falls short in these Hellraiser movies for some reason. When Pinhead confronts Kari at the end she takes the box and says, "Go to Hell!" and throws the box. I still have no idea what this gesture means to Pinhead because it sends him into complete madness but it happens in every Hellraiser movie.(?) I mean all he has to do is walk over and pick it up!!! What's the big deal? My suggestion would be to end a Hellraiser movie differently by letting Pinhead torture someone physically or mentally for ten minutes or so and make the ending more complex.
Could have been much better but check it out.
Movie Review: Series improves slightly
Summary: 3 Stars
After the last few horrible Hellraiser flicks, this one ups the ante just a bit. The main gripe is still that Doug Bradley's awesome "Pinhead" is barely anywhere to be found. I realize that it is prudent to keep him somewhat hidden to keep the suspense going but this is ridiculous. The character makes about a 15 second appearance within the first 45 minutes of the film. Then he comes on during the last few moments of the film along with 2 other underutilized cenebites. Hey I'm as big a fan of Kari Wuher as the next guy but she can't hold up the entire picture by herself. Plus she's either bloodsoaked or grunge infested for the entire picture which makes her appeal a bit diluted. As with the last couple Hellraiser debacles, this one includes all the same dreaded "quick cut scare effects segueing to the inevitable wake up & it was all a dream" sequences. Can't anyone come up with something original on this front? On the positive side of things, the cinemetography is nice (Budapest makes for a haunting backdrop), the music while not up to Chris Young's caliber of the first 2 entries of the series is passable, and the general atmosphere of dread is well utilized despite the low budget. I look forward to the next entry "Hellworld" as I do every release in this series. Here's to hoping we continue the upward trend towards a more interesting "Hellraiser". I think it's about time they just let Doug Bradley write & direct one. He's certainly intelligent enough to come up with the goods (I met him at a Chiller Convention & he's a great guy). Either that or BEG Clive Barker to throw in his 2 cents again before the inevitable "hollywood treatment" of Pinhead VS Michael Meyers. We just have to keep the faith that this series will get back on track for at least one more grand epic!Movie Review: Hellraiser: Deader (Denser? Duller?)
Summary: 3 Stars
I had such high hopes for the HELLRAISER franchise after INFERNO and HELLSEEKER. Sure, they were virtually the same film, but they were a fresh turn from the mess of the two films that preceded them. HELLRAISER: DEADER, the seventh film in the series, doesn't necessarily stray from the recent formula but doesn't do anything to improve the series and, even worse, drags it down with an incomprehensible story.
Who are the Deaders? Well, they kill themselves and come back to life. How? Why? and even better, how or why does this relate to the Hellraiser mythology? I've watched the film twice and I still can't tell you. Somehow arch-antagonist and head-Deader Winter (played by Paul Rhys) found a loophole in the Lament Configuration but little effort is made to explain why an escape from Hell is a good reason to kill yourself in the first place. The real story is that a screenplay called DEADER was floating around unproduced, purchased and crafted into a HELLRAISER film. And it shows. All Cenobite appearances and references feel pasted in and leave the viewer with a disjointed horror amalgam that never quite gels.
That said, DEADER has its moments (the corpse in the bathroom, for one) and Bota maintains a great sense of dread via his claustrophobic framing, lighting and Eastern European locations. Finally, Kari Wuhrer is a delight as a Hellraiser heroine and this viewer is sorry to see she won't be carrying the torch beyond this film (especially since Kirsty apparently won't be back, either).
All in all, a sloppy patchwork of a film and a serious backward misstep for a series that had just started moving forward again.
Movie Review: Deader is Funner
Summary: 3 Stars
As would be expected from the seventh entry in a series that started to lose steam (that's being generous, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, Hellraiser: Hellseeker, and Hellraiser: Inferno are flat-out dreadful), Hellraiser: Deader leaves much to be desired. What is nice, though, is that Doug Bradley is reliable as always as Pinhead and he's actually IN THE FILM, rather than being turned into a cameo as he was in some previous films (note his three or so minutes of screen time in Hellraiser: Inferno). Kari Wuhrer is a good sport and plays her part perfectly alongside Bradley. The change of location to the seedy underground of London and then various European locales is a nice change, and I liked the concept of the Deaders. All in all, the film is an entertaining and consistently enjoyable romp through the world of Pinhead if you're a fan of the series. It's not nearly as ridiculous and brilliantly hilarious as Hellraiser: Bloodline, but it has its moments. For those of you not used to the series - some of the foreign actors are a bit sketchy with shaky accents, the screenplay may just as well have been thrown on the floor with scenes acted at random, camera work is on par with most direct-to-video horror films, etc. If you're a fan, it's a worthy entry. If you're not, it's probably a waste of time to start with this one - go back to Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II. Or not. This is a series not suited to everyone's taste given that three of the eight entries are too graphic for an R rating, but it's certainly a step up from the Friday the 13th series and about on level with Nightmare on Elm Street.