Clive
Barker's Hellraiser despite its mainstream success is a rather bizarre
concoction of violent imagery thus making it suitable for our humble site.
I understand they sold coffee mugs and T-shirts at the end of the original
tapes but it's still a pretty cool movie.
Based
on Clive Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart, Hellraiser concerns a
magical box which if rubbed and folded the right way, opens the door
to a new dimension ruled over by the Cenobites (angels to some, demons
to others), who through extreme tortures reveal sensations of pain and
pleasure (didn't see the pleasure part too much, mostly they just rip
people up with flesh ripping hooks).
This
really bad actor plays Frank, a man who opens the box and ensues the
tortures of the Cenobites but is able to escape when his brothers spilt
blood begins to rejuvenate him (makes no sense I know, but seeing Frank's
gooey transformation back to a human form is wild looking). Well Frank
used to bang his brothers wife Julia, and he is able to talk her into
helping him despite the fact that he has no skin and stands in the dark
with glistening muscles. Julia picks up men, takes them to Frank's room,
and bashes their heads in with hammers so that Frank can consume them
and grow back his skin.
The
Cenobites get hip to the scheme leading to the inevitable showdown between
Frank and the boys. After Clive Barker's gruesomely disturbing the Books
of Blood short story series Hellraiser is a bit of a letdown, it's bloody
and has its share of grotesque imagery but it doesn't have the edge
of Barker's early writings (or in certain scenes in his later film,
Lord of Illusions, Barker's best film to date).
The
Cenobites are worthy creatures with their leader "Pinhead" becoming
a Freddy Krueger like horror star in sequels, and who Billy Corgan from
Smashing Pumpkins is trying to turn into. The special effects range
from excellent to really awful (that ridiculous demon that chases our
herione down a hallway and those 80'ish electric effects that look hand
drawn), and most of the dialogue is completely retarded and unbelievable,
but despite all these shortcomings the film throws out enough interesting
scenes to keep you going (Franks slicing rats and nailing them to the
wall, Julie sucking on Franks bloody finger while looking tenderly into
his decomposed face, guys getting blasted in the head by hammers).
The top reason to check out Hellraiser is for
the hilarious demise of Frank. With hundreds of hooks in him,
his face being pulled in a thousand directions and completely
distorted, he licks his lips at his brothers daughter and yells
out "Jesus Wept", before exploding into a million fleshy pieces!!
Clive
Barker's Hellraiser despite its mainstream success is a rather bizarre
concoction of violent imagery thus making it suitable for our humble site.
I understand they sold coffee mugs and T-shirts at the end of the original
tapes but it's still a pretty cool movie.
