Hellraiser - Inferno
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Movie Reviews of Hellraiser - Inferno
Movie Review: Inferno: Hot Stuff!
Summary: 4 Stars
Having been a fan of Clive Barker for many years, loving his books, and original films, I was a little trepidatious when it came to the fifth Hellraiser installment, especialy as Clive had pretty much much disowned it....a shame really, because it is a good film!OK, it has a few questions hanging over it...such as just how did Pinhead get back? We'd seen him fairly well obliterated in Bloodlines, so how does he come to be here, haunting the dreams, and life, of Craig Scheffer? How also did Pinhead take on the mantle of The Engineer? (Anyone familiar with the history of the whole Hellraiser story will know that the Engineer and Pinhead are two seperate entities, and could never be one and the same). Aside from that, the film moves at a reasonable pace, has a few well orchestrated set pieces; some of them very 'spooky', and some excellent new Cenebites. Those blank, featureless, bloody creatures are actually quite un-nerving, especially compared to the OTT creations from the past couple of flicks...CD Man, the twins twisted together, etc.
The way these new Cenobites were presented was effective, in the haunted grey, snowy wastes of a hallway, in a foggy forrest, always in a place you didn't expect to be in anyway!
The film relies more on the deep seated disquiet of unfamiliar surroundings when you least expect it, and that works very well, making it more of a very badly haunted house scenario than that to which we had become accustomed.
Doug Bradley, though only on screen for a few minutes, is superb, as usual. He obviously realises, as an actor, as to the power of his character of Pinhead, and never lets it become just another Jason/ Freddy cartoon character. He plays it with such dark dignity; almost majesty, that his few moments onscreen are almost a revelation! A wonderful character that I hope will never become a fey sham of it's glorious self!!
The basic plot is fairly contrived, and oft-used, but the way in which it is presented is quite fresh, and the overall dark tone, with the underlying Cenobite involvement makes for a very watcheable film. A good chapter in the Hellraiser chronicle.
Movie Review: Unique and Intelligent - Pinhead meets "Seven"
Summary: 4 Stars
Yep, Hellraiser 5 - the direct-to-video sequel is splitting fans right down the middle. Most horror fan boys are disappointed because Pinhead only appears for about 2 minutes total. Others complain because there's not enough effects or gore. Well, all I have to say is Thank God this series looks like it will not go the way of such juvenile series as "Elm Street" or "Phantasm". I mean do we really want this series to go the way of Freddy Krueger with Pinhead cracking one-liners every 5 minutes? If you do, then stay away from this movie.What we have here is a stylish police-thriller (seemingly inspired by David Fincher's "SE7EN") about a corrupt cop whose life becomes haunted by horrific images, the cenobytes and violent murders which start after he opens up the lament box. It's slow and methodical, but always retains intelligence and never sinks to the level of the usual cheap horror cliches. There is no group of teenagers being killed off one-by-one, there are very few on-screen killings, there is no big pay-off or effects-laden finale...if that's what you want go rent any one of a thousand cheesy videos at Blockbuster. Instead, this movie offers a solid thriller using the "Hellraiser" mythos as a backdrop. There are quite a few very creepy moments as well and the cenobytes appear throughout in very effective sequences. I was thankful Pinhead was kept to a minimum....once again, do we really want him to become another Freddy Krueger???
There's nothing I can say to change people's minds about this sequel. Love it or hate it. I was just very surprised that the producers have decided to go the high route with the series instead of making something like "Pinhead Strikes Back". I think Clive Barker would approve of this sequel as well, even though he had nothing to do with it. I now look forward to further installments in this series which is something I had given up on after the first three mediocre sequels.
Movie Review: A good Hellraiser story, a pretty good film
Summary: 4 Stars
This film is nothing if not controversial among Hellraiser fanatics. First off, there's no Clive Barker Presents, there's no licensed Hellraiser theme, there's nothing here except for Doug Bradley from the previous four installments.Looks like the Weinstein brothers took over on this one and lo and behold, we get a completely different kind of Hellraiser. Pinhead has gone from the chattier incarnation in Hellraiser: Bloodline to but a cameo in a Hellraiser film. His onscreen time MIGHT total two or three minutes, but fear not.
This is essentially the story of a damned man who winds up in his own personal eternal hell. Craig Sheffer (he of Nightbreed) is Joseph Thorne, a corrupt Denver cop whose life and sanity appear to unravel after he comes across the box at a crime scene. Later when the box opens on its own after Joseph takes it from evidence, Joseph finds himself damned to hell but unaware of his own plight.
Hellraiser Inferno went straight-to-video, but it doesn't feel like a cheap 'bang-em-out' horror installment. Essentially a moody police thriller it has elements of noir, horror, gore, and psychological thrillers. The photography is appropriately dark and shadowy with muted skies. Sheffer is very good as Joseph, bringing a tired, deteriorating feel to the seedy character.
Think of this as a kind of Bad Lieutenant meets Hellraiser. Essentially it's the story of the personal hell Joseph creates for himself. And presiding over the entire affair is Pinhead. Pinhead delivers today's moral at the end.
This is a solid effort, a good idea to do a completely separate story as a one-off. Dimension is returning to the Hellraiser elements of the first three films in Fall 2002 with Hellraiser: Hellsinker. But Inferno stands as a good outing--not only Hellraiser fans, but for those looking for a dark and twisted thriller.
Movie Review: Excellent!
Summary: 4 Stars
I understand why some people didn't like the movie. I however LOVED it. It starts off slow; after the first five or ten minutes I was ready to play a video game or something, but I figured that I paid to rent it and dammit I was going to watch it even if it killed me. I wasn't disappointed! The movie keeps you guessing, wondering what's going to happen next up until the very last minute. Then you realize that what happens next doesn't matter when you're in HELL! I was glued to the screen after the first death.I agree that this movie could have been done completely separate from the Hellraiser storyline. Fans of Pinhead are going to be disappointed since His appearance is rather brief. He also is identified as the Engineer (one of many names, he implies). It's been a while since I watched the first movies, but weren't Pinhead and the Engineer identified as two separate characters somewhere along the line?
I would consider this movie one of the best in the series. It's something new, not just a rehash of the same stuff we've already seen/heard. And incidentally, the inDUHvidual who whined about it being subtitled 'Inferno' but it was snowing all the time needs to get hirself to a library and read (as in a book) some Dante!
There were a few weaknesses, which keep me from giving it 5 stars. The first few scenes, though necessary to set it up, dragged. The voice overs by the main character at the beginning and end weren't top quality; they sounded like he was reading them from a script. (I mean, I know he *was*, but it shouldn't sound like it.) Pinhead's appearance was briefer than I liked.
Other than that though, fantastic movie, I hope #6 is as good!
Movie Review: Surprisingly Good For Straight To Video
Summary: 4 Stars
It took me over a year to watch this video after I bought it. The "direct to video" thing scared me off. I am a huge hellraiser fan; a Clive Barker fan in fact. I really enjoy the worlds he creates, and what other people have been able to do with his vision.My favorite works of his have always been the Nightbreed and Hellraiser series. Back in the late 80's, Clive licensed out the creative right for Hellraiser to Epic Comics, and several up and coming writers (Mike Mignola, Neil Gaiman, etc.) would write fantastic short stories based on the Hellraiser rhelms. These stories would always have a demented twist or sense of irony along the lines of Twilight Zone or Creepshow.
That is what "Hellraiser: Inferno" reminds me of. A really good short story. An episode or Tales From the Darkside or Twilight Zone. I'll warn you now, you get only one or two minutes of Pinhead or any other cenobites; so if that's what you're after, you're bound to be disappointed. The Hellraiser story has always been about the box, and the effect it has on those who find it...or who it finds :)
I don't really get the "direct to video" sense of cheapness from this film. The film quality is fine, the acting in good (the main character is played by Craig Scheffer, who also played Boone in "Nightbreed"!), and the effects are gory enough for a Hellraiser movie. It was probably on a budget, but they worked well within those constraints to produce a pretty good movie.