'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enou...
'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enough to wish to continue to read my ramblings, you can find me on Dooyoo under the user name plipplop. See you around! :P
Member since:15.07.2000
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It would be something of a lie if I said that I didn't have more than just a passing interest in horror films. In my teenage years, I must have exhausted the local video library store of just about every single remotely horrific film that was going, and my best friend and I would spend many a happy hour in front of the TV, watching people being murdered in countless different ways. It became less and less common, therefore, for a film to crop up that I really enjoyed - something that stood out above the rest. In 1987 that film arrived - Hellraiser.
Hellraiser was written and directed by Clive Barker - now a cult figure in the realms of fantasy and horror. The film captures many elements, but it primarily introduces us to a world of supernatural power, unleashed by a combination of curiosity and greed.
Frank Cotton buys a mysterious Chinese puzzle box that turns out to be a secret gateway to a hellish dimension
occupied by the Cenobites - four demonic beings whose sole purpose is to inflict pain and suffering on others. One day, secured in the attic of his house Frank solves the puzzle, unwittingly opening the gate to this dimension - and is physically torn apart by the Cenobites. Years later Frank's brother, Larry, returns to the house with his new bride Julia. An accident in the house results in a flesh wound spilling blood onto the attic floor - which somehow catalyses a process of regeneration for Larry's brother Frank. Comprised of only very basic body tissue, the partly re-animated Frank persuades Julia to help him fully regenerate (it transpires that Julia had an affair with Frank years earlier and is still in love with him). But in order to regenerate, Frank needs blood - which Julia amply provides by luring strangers back to the house, and murdering them. It is Larry's daughter (Kirsty) who discovers the terrible secret in the attic. Her only hope is to unleash the Cenobites - and hope that they finish off Frank, before he finishes off her…..
A bizarre, almost absurd plot for sure - but this is a fantasy film - so why should the plot not be fantastic? From start to finish the film rips along at breakneck speed, as events gradually become more and more desperate - and more and more grisly. The film is graphically violent from the outset - Frank's evisceration at the hands of the Cenobites takes place fewer than five minutes into the film, and viewers of a squeamish nature are strongly advised to avoid this film. Special effects and make-up were excellent (at the time of release) and Julia's affair with her skinless lover Frank is visually very unpleasant.
There are few heroes in this film - Barker pulls no punches in portraying the dark side of human nature, and the film has a suitably sombre direction throughout. "Hellraiser" is so full of unforgettable images, that you could write for hours - but it is perhaps the Cenobites which captured the imagination of so many. Partly organic and partly mechanic, the Cenobites appear to be comprised of tortured souls whose bodies are wounded in a variety of disturbing ways - on one of them a gaping throat wound is held together by surgical instruments, but the most famous of them has to be Pinhead - so named because his skull is peppered with hundreds of nails hammered into the bone in a symmetrical pattern. Pale white skin, black eyes and synthetic voices complete what are arguably the most terrifying horror characters ever devised - indeed they reappear in three sequels.
Where Hellraiser works so well is its imaginative fusion of so many ideas. In one element of the plot are the Cenobites - almost mythical creatures, summoned through a bizarre set of rituals. But the film also portrays the brutal entrapment and murders committed by Julia. This is a story of passion and betrayal - and yet it is set within one of the most gory and violent plotlines invented. The performances are universally solid - Sean Chapman carries the evil role of Frank with great aplomb. Clare Higgins' Julia is deliciously cold and malevolent (the English accent always helps), and Doug Ramsay's portrayal of the Coenobite Pinhead is groundbreaking. For once even Ashley Laurence's screaming teenage daughter seems to work - well, I think I'd probably scream if my uncle walked in with no skin on.
Fans of films like Sleepless in Seattle will find Hellraiser as close to hell as you can possibly get. This film pushed the boundaries of horror films farther than any predecessor. Probably my favourite horror film of all time - highly recommended.
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I'm too chicken and the Hellraiser film just horrify me too much! Chris x
kano 01.07.2001 21:03
Great op. Your not the only one, i nearly got hauled off for watching too many horror films hahaha About to watch the sequel actually. Cheers Ken
Kathryn6 03.05.2001 12:48
I remember watching it when I was about 15. Went through a phase of watching 80's early 90's American horror films like Fright Night, The puppet master and other lil monkeys. Hellraiser was one of my favourites.
Advantages: Features Doug Bradley, some decent special effects, at least its short, Disadvantages: Widdles on the franchise, terribly directed, atrocious cast and acting, terrible plot, melodramati
Advantages: Better than the first 3 Disadvantages: Not enough of Pinhead
iateamonkey 27.10.2006 (27.10.2006)
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Review of Hellraiser - Inferno (DVD)
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![Hellraiser [DVD] [1987]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78514907.jpg "Hellraiser [DVD] [1987]")
Mar 20th, 2001
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