Hellraiser - Hellworld
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Movie Reviews of Hellraiser - Hellworld
Movie Review: HOWS THAT FOR A WAKE UP CALL?
Summary: 3 Stars
The movie had a really good plot, and wasnt really like the Halloween movie at all. It seemed to mesh two different stories into one film and it balanced well for the most part. The final scene with Pinhead is always the best, even if the movie isnt great. Just remember the title of the review after seeing it.Movie Review: Hellraiser:Hellworld
Summary: 3 Stars
Watched it last night and it was better then I thought it would be.But they should have kept the Cenobites out and made it its own movie instead of adding it to the Hellraiser mythos.They're in it for so little time anyway and I think the movie could have stood on its own without them.Movie Review: A waste of time and money
Summary: 2 Stars
I've seen so many god awful movies in my lifetime. I've seen plenty of films and thought why was this ever made? This movie fits directly into that category. Have you ever wondered what were they thinking when they wrote this? Who knows maybe I'm not alone when I say this but it just seems like the Hellraiser films go downhill with each new sequel. Although I did find the 6th film to be much better than the previous entry that came out before it. Hellraiser Hellword however is easily the worst in the series and quite possibly one of the worst horror films I've ever seen. I've waited maybe a year or two for this movie to come out and the long wait really had me anticipating it much more. Hellraiser Hellworld is about a group of friends who get invited to a bumping party filled with others who are connected to an online video game. More specifically it's a Hellraiser party thrown by the man who is the online game's biggest fan. Soon after the kids find themselves struggling to survive as they are slowly being killed off by Pinhead and the rest of the Cenobites.
Much different from all the previous films, Hellworld plays with the idea of the well known Hellraiser franchise. Much like the plot to Wes Cravens New Nightmare, all the characters in the film are well aware of Pinhead and the other legions from hell as if it were like a huge fan base (much like real life). Being a fan of the series I had a hard time trying to deal with the fact that everything seems to be well known. You'll see characters wearing Hellraiser t-shirts and playing an online video game based on the puzzle box. Like a lot of genre films today there isn't much interaction between the main characters where you would feel for them and want to survive. Luckily I didn't watch this film for the main characters anyway. The only characters I were interested in seeing were the well known Clive Barker created characters and the other character played by Lance Henriksen. Seeing Lance Henriksen in a Hellraiser film caught my attention from the very beginning. I've seen the actor in a bunch of movies and I really enjoy his work. The character he plays in the pictures seemed to really fit in well.
On the other hand, the rest of the film is just a mess. All the aspects from every previous film isn't present in this picture. I suppose it's their way of trying to do something different, but for me it just ruins the whole idea. Hellraiser Hellworld runs like a typical slasher film. Instead of having a huge mystery where the entire film is like one giant nightmare you have to fallow these braindead characters as they are being killed off one by one. It's almost nothing like the original concept and Hellworld just seemed to go the route of a slasher film. It does feature some decent acting and gory death scenes but it's just a total mess. Turning Hellraiser into an 80's style slasher film is like training a dog to write your homework, it just doesn't work. To top it all off the film the film features a plot twist which doesn't make any sense. By the time you figure our what's going on you're already in a loop as to why you're even watching the rest of the film.
Worst of all the way the film ends just wasn't sweet. The overall plot and twist near the end pretty much ruins everything, but the films ending just seemed to add more to the time that is wasted. I don't know too much about the making of the picture and I don't know what went on behind the scenes but I can see why this film was kept buried for so long as well with the 7th film. Hellraiser Hellworld for me is an insult to the series and to the fans who take the time to watch these pictures. It's great to see old characters again but placing them with this plot just didn't fit at all. Unless they can find some great way of bringing back life to this series then I don't see any reason why they should continue making them. Although making a new film isn't such a bad idea since the series itself ends on a bad note with this picture. Hellworld is not only the worst entry in the series but it was also a waste of time and money.
Movie Review: It's A Hell Of A World When Even Pinhead Stoops To This Level
Summary: 2 Stars
What is it with my favorite Horror franchises just majorly falling apart around their eighth (and usually final) entry? Michael Myers becomes a game show contestant in Resurrection, Freddy Krueger gets "real" in New Nightmare, Jason Voorhees buys a ticket-to-ride to the big apple and turns into a child in the process in Jason Takes Manhattan, and even Pinhead himself becomes a slasher-for-hire in Hellworld.
I guess when Horror characters get long in the tooth, the powers that be just try too hard to come up with something new for them to do, but alienates the fans that put them there in the process. Such with Hellworld, Hellraiser's eighth (and last, until dreaded "remake" time) installment. Director Rick Bota back around 2003 was given the opportunity to make two new Hellraiser films back-to-back to add to the franchise and give Dimension Films something to add to their bad sequel catalog. Strangely though, both scripts he ended up with were never intended to be Hellraiser films in the first place, but stand-alone projects that only were altered to feature Pinhead and company in small, cameo-like roles. His first, Part 7:Deader seemed more Hellraiser-ish to other direct-to-video chapters like Part 5:Inferno & Part 6:Hellseeker. More based on one character's slow trip through madness, ending up in Pinhead's clutches towards the end. Not the case with Hellworld, for the first time all the rules are out the window, Pinhead's going for it in ways he's never done before...or really should have either.
In it, there is a popular on-line videogame called "Hellworld" based upon the Lament Configuration (y'know..the box?) and it's guardians The Cenobites, with Pinhead being it's "Mario" of the bunch. In this movie everybody knows the Hellraiser legacy, however I'm pretty sure that unlike say New Nightmare or Blair Witch 2, they don't know of any of the actual movies based on them...whew! When one of a group of friends kills himself over too much playing of the game, the five surviving friends go their separate ways until two years later when they reunite due to a special invitation to a Hellworld themed house party. Once there they're host, always welcomed and enjoyed Lance Henriksen, takes to the group and shows them around his private collection of Hellworld rarities and oddities. And then strange things start to happen to each of them, making them question what is real and what is not, as if they were playing the game right then and there...and with Pinhead stalking them the whole way.
That's right, "stalking" them. Pinhead's never been one to play Jason or Michael but he does so here. And even though his new techniques are somewhat explained by the film's end, you sort of wince when you see this once great character lose his originality. Gone are the chains/hooks of death replaced with knives and wooden stakes, and early on you question how did Doug Bradley let himself get stuck in a script like this. At least the visuals look nice, with a decent (yet cheap) amount of gore, nudity, and flash, but all the way feeling empty and foreign to the Hellraisers we've seen before. So by the credits roll, you feel the same way as you did when you probably saw Friday The 13th V:A New Beginning..hopefully that won't spoil it for you too much.
So to a Hellraiser fan, it's a must once see film, but you won't stop watching at least four other chapters for it. Sure, you do get to see Pinhead more in this film compared to three chapters before it, but sometimes "less is more" is a phrase that isn't used often enough.
(RedSabbath Rating:6.5/10)
Movie Review: Hellraiser meets...The O.C.?
Summary: 2 Stars
The Hellraiser series, now at entry #8, has suffered its shares of ups and downs, no one will deny that. But at least the other entries had the undeniable stamp of the franchise on them. Even #7"Hellraiser: Deader", which gave minimal screen time to Pinhead and his Cenobites, had the classic Hellraiser feel, with an emphasis on pain, S&M and a dark, gothic feel. In "Hellraiser: Hellworld", director Rick Bota throws all of this out the window and gives us something completely different. He replaces the British setting with an American one. Uses a teen cast instead of an adult one. Makes it comedic and self-referential instead of gothic and mysterious. The result is something that resembles a mediocre by-the-numbers slasher of the like that studios like Lion's Gate and Artisan Entertainment like to pump out with inhuman regularity.
The story revolves around a group of teens who receive invitations through a Hellraiser website to attend a "Hellworld" party. They then find themselves in a huge mansion party with lots of debauchery Hellraiser style. The party is hosted by the Lance Henriksen character. Then one by one the gang start to die at the hands of Pinhead and the Cenobites at the urging of the host, who apparently has a hidden score to settle with each of the teens.
Very similar to the awful Halloween: Resurrection, we get a movie that likes to self-reference itself to death. Bubbly teens wearing Pinhead t-shirts and Cenobite masks, cellphones, Hellraiser websites, the list of atrocities goes on. Every time one of the teens made a mockery of the Hellraiser mythos (such as The Box) it felt like a direct spit on the franchise. Jesus wept!
Despite all of this it could have still been an okay film because it's obvious that all involved were trying VERY hard. The actors (except for Henriksen) are intense, there's lots of action, lots of gore but for some reason the movie just doesn't work. It's too self-referential for its own good and the characters are among some of the most bland I have ever witnessed. The idea of Lance Henricksen in a Hellraiser movie should have been an exciting one, at least it would have been 15-20 years ago. Now Lance just looks old, tired, bored, sore-throated and like he's desperately trying to milk his "genre icon" status to the last penny.
Anyone complaining that entry#7"Deader" should have had more Pinhead in it needs to be careful what they ask for. Yes, there's a lot more Pinhead, and a lot more gore this time around but despite that "Hellworld" is easily the worst Hellraiser film so far. In fact, I'm convinced it has put the nail in the coffin of a franchise that so many horror fans cared deeply about. And for that Mr. Rick Bota may myself, all other Hellraiser fans and Clive Barker cast your film to the lowest depths of Hades!