Hellraiser

Most people want to be good in life, help other´s that need help and make a home that feels safe. There will always be challenges along the way, where we are forced to deal with difficult situations. We might loose a family member in a disease, or you find out that someone you love may be going through a very rough time that personally affect you. What we need to do is try and have hope and not give up, no matter how difficult it may feel. But what if there are people, who look in a different direction and want to explore the darkness instead? They want to see what it is like on the other side, where goodness does not exist and pure evil feeds on the flesh of humans? This is a perfect example what happened in the 1987 cult classic horror film Hellraiser from iconic horror director Clive Barker ( author of Books Of Blood horror fiction anthologies, released in six volumes ). Hellraiser is one of those films that have managed to age with dignity and is just as appreciated as it was in the late 80´s. Hellraiser begins by showing us a man known as Frank Cotton ( Sean Chapman ), who is in Marocco, where he buys a puzzle box that is said to open to a realm of otherworldy pleasure. At his home, Frank solves the puzzle and hooked chains emerge, tearing him apart. A black-robed figure resets the puzzle and the room is restored back to normal. Frank´s brother Larry Cotton ( Andrew Robinson ) moves into the home of Frank, where he intends to build a relationship with his second wife, Julia Cotton ( Clare Higgins ). Larry is unaware that Julia had an affair with Frank before her marriage to him. When Larry accidently cuts his hand moving furniture, his blood drips on the attic floor and resurrects Frank in a ghoulish form. Julia discover that Frank have returned in another shape, where he needs her help to restore his body buy having human victims. Julia pick up strangers in bars, and take them to the attic. Julia may think she is helping Frank, but does not know who is really behind all of this. Hellraiser is still to this day a really good horror film, with really good practical make up effects, great characters, and i love to see legendary actor Doug Bradley as Pinhead, one of the greatest 80´s iconic horror characters. We have had many sequels over the years, and i would like to say that i really appreciate the second film most, and i think the third one is alright. After that we did have some terrible ones ( except for Hellraiser: Inferno, i did enjoy this one ). Hellraiser Judgment was at least a nice attempt to go back to the original form of Hellraiser on a limited budget. And here we are with a reboot, simply called Hellraiser. Being a fan of this franchise, does this reboot deserve to be respected, or is it just a simple cash in to make money out of horror fans?

During a party at hedonistic millionaire Roland Voight´s ( Goran Visnjic`) mansion, sex worker Joey Coscuna ( Kit Clarke ) comes across a mechanical puzzle box, which Voight insists he solve. Joey solves the configuartion and is stabbed by a blade that springs from the box. A portal opens, from which chains fly out and rip Joey apart. Six years later, recovering addict Riley McKendry ( Odessa A´zion ) is living with her brother Matt McKendry ( Brandon Flynn ), his boyfriend Colin ( Adam Faison ), and their roomate Nora ( Aoife Hinds ). Riley´s boyfriend, Trevor ( Drew Starkey ), convinces her to help break into an abandoned storage warehouse, where they discover and take the puzzle box. Riley manage to open up the puzzle box, not knowing that she have opened a portal to the other side.

When you make a reboot of a classic film, you will have to know that the audience of the original film will have some opinions, no matter which way you choose to go. What i personally care about in a reboot, is that you actually make a good film, that knows what kind of audience it was meant for. If you can accept that there are other characters here from hell instead of Pinhead, i think you will actually enjoy this Hellraiser reboot. It has more of the same atmosphere of the 2 first Hellraiser films, than many of the sequels in the past. And that is exactly what i was hoping for with this reboot, that they actually took the material seriously and showed respect to the original film. Let us get into some details of why i enjoyed with this film, and first of all i love the demonic creatures that we see coming out of the walls. Their practical make up effects is some of the best work i have seen in a very long time in horror films. Each character look really good, and we even have like a different version of Pinhead here as well. I also love how brutal this film is in certain scenes, just like we want a Hellraiser film to be. Bodies beeing torn apart, flesh wounds, lots of blood. This is something that i have been missing for a long time in this franchise, and i am happy to see that they decided to bring this back. The main character Riley ( played by actress Odessa A´zion ) is actually the perfect character for a film like this. She have struggled a long time with addiction, and now she is forced to deal with these demonic creatures. Odessa clearly worked hard to make us feel like she is a struggling addict, and i actually think her acting performance works better than i expected. There are a few interesting other characters as well. So anything negative to say? Some of the other characters don´t get much space, which means that you will not remember them. The film is 2 hours long, and i actually think it could have been cut down at least 10 minutes, without harming the film itself. Otherwise i have to say, this is one of the better horror reboots i have seen in recent years. Director David Bruckner ( who directed the well made horror film The Ritual, worth checking out on Netflix ) have clearly taken this film seriously and listened to the fans of the franchise. He manage to capture the Hellraiser tone from the past, and add some new interesting details that actually manage to work. Looking for a horror film this Christmas to enjoy? I suggest you give Hellraiser a chance, and you might be just as pleased as i am.

Rating: DDD