Hellraiser - Inferno (DVD)

Released in 2000, Hellraiser Inferno is the fifth installment of the Hellraiser Series. So far there have been 7 sequels to the first film, with a re-imagining of the original currently in production. The films get progressively worse. Hellraiser V went straight to DVD.

Basically, a morally reprehensible police detective Joseph Thorne, (Craig Scheffer) who cheats on his wife on a regular basis with a string of prostitutes and never ...
...device in all of the Hellraiser films to open a dimensional gateway into a reality of pure chaos, Thorne finds himself facing his own personal demons in the throws of some psychotic episode.

The film has a very weak cast, all with equally weak acting skills, and generally is not in keeping with the themes and plot of the original 1-3 movies. It feels more like someone has made a very poor quality psychological thriller, and worked ... more

Released in 2000, Hellraiser Inferno is the fifth installment of the Hellraiser Series. So far there have been 7 sequels to the first film, with a re-imagining of the original currently in production. The films get progressively worse. Hellraiser V went straight to DVD.

Basically, a morally reprehensible police detective Joseph Thorne, (Craig Scheffer) who cheats on his wife on a regular basis with a string of prostitutes and never visits his retirement home-bound parents, finds himself involved in a mystery case involving a number of bloody ritualistic murders. Stumbling across the Lament Configuartion Puzzle Box, an item which acts as a plot device in all of the Hellraiser films to open a dimensional gateway into a reality of pure chaos, Thorne finds himself facing his own personal demons in the throws of some psychotic episode.

The film has a very weak cast, all with equally weak acting skills, and generally is not in keeping with the themes and plot of the original 1-3 movies. It feels more like someone has made a very poor quality psychological thriller, and worked a bit of the Hellraiser franchise into it at the last minute. Pinhead (Doug Bradley, see cover.) is the only character who appears in all of the Hellraiser movies, and probably only stepped in to make this one, as they were threatening to ask JOHN RITTER of all people to fill the role if he didn't. Can you imagine?

The plot becomes so unfathomably convoluted that by the end of the movie, even the writers had no idea what to make of it, so after the Po-faced overly introspective insanity scenes were done and dusted, they slapped in a few, arguably good, classic Hellraiser scenes where folk are torn asunder with industrial chains and hooks.

The occasional unmistakeably Clive Barker (author) horror moments though, still fail to account for this rubbish film, with such ridiculous characters as gun-toting karate-cowboy mob-bosses and a drug dealing pedophile ice-cream man and ludicrously overstated references to an omnipotent evil being called "The Engineer." There's far too much meaningless symbology, in spite of the half-decent special effects, and not nearly enough people being tortured and killed to keep a Hellraiser fan entertained.

There are a number of unrealistic and often quite unpleasant and clunky sex scenes, none of which are directed in the passionate yet understated way that Barker usually does such scenes, but much more awkward and Hollywood-esque. This only serves to detract from the film, at least it would, if that were possible. For a film with a Two-Million dollar budget, it really stinks.

Lighting and camera angles are melodramatic, almost embarrassingly so, and the script is also very poor. Characters are not believable and there's only about 5 minutes of genuinely entertaining horror in the whole film. At the end of the day least its only 100 minutes long though. It doesn't seem to know that it's a half-assed cash-in sequel, and takes itself way, way too seriously. I do not recommend this film.

Its clear Clive Barker had very little input indeed.

The DVD itself has decent picture quality and although the menu sequence is attractive enough, there are no extras at all.

Summary: This ISN'T Hellraiser, and will only upset people who are fans of Hellraiser - Avoid.

 

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