Lets rate Hellraiser

[JDviant]

Watched them all over the past few weeks.

1. Hellraiser - A minor horror classic. Great effects and costumes. Assume everyone puts this here.

2. Hellbound: Hellraiser II - More good effects, but even with its first sequel its clear that this franchise doesn't need them. The Kyle character is just a piece of wood, but the movie is saved by Kirsty's likability and overall its a solid effort with some nice moments.

3: Hellraiser: Hellworld - I honestly feel like there should be a ton of empty slots between this and my second choice, because everything after was just so much worse. Probably the most disappointing film, because the idea of an online community obsessed with a Hellraiser game could have been awesome. Lance Hendrikson is just so welcome in these kind of roles though that he can keep me interested, and the incredibly illogical ending kept me from hating this movie. Katheryn Winnick is also really hot, so while it was terrible there was something nice to look at.

4. Hellraiser: Hellseeker - Not good by any means, I just like Dean Winters and the ultimate conclusion to Kirsty's story was pretty satisfying.

5. Hellraiser: Inferno - Suffering from not actually being a Hellraiser film, this was at least a moderately engaging detective story. It all goes to hell at the end, but most of these movies do.

6. Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth - A Cenobite that throws cds? I have a crush on Paula Marshall, and JP was an actual entertaining character. Of course, this means he had to die. Lots of Doug Bradley though.

7. Hellraiser: Revelations - No Bradley hurts this, and its god-awful. But so inconsequential that I don't hate it.

8. Hellraiser: Bloodlines - PINHEAD IN SPACE!! A mess, really silly and stupid. If he can blow up Cenobite dogs, why not Pinhead? Hell, crash the ship into the sun. Just dumb, but Adam Scott in it.

9 Hellraiser: Deader - This was the third straight "It's all a dream!" style movie we got, and it wore thin. It was also just terrible. I can't remember a thing I actually liked from the film.

[mizerable]

I've only watched the original, but I absolutely hated it. It had a somewhat unique plot, but overall I just didn't like it one bit.

Then again, I don't like many movies of the horror genre. But I truly tried to give this one a chance.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

the first 2 are the only "must watch" ones and the 3rd one's the only other one that's even watchable. the first one is my favorite movie, though.

[Welfare Willis]

I and II are classics, III and IV are enjoyable in a funny kind of way, and I really wouldn't bother with the rest outside the one Ashley Laurence returns.

[Deleted]

1 and 2 are and should always be in that order...then comes the rest.

I prefer Hellseeker over Hellworld just because of the conclusion of the Kirsty story...and I like that no matter how much he tried Pinhead still cannot get Kirsty.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Unless you read the comics.

Revelations is absoloutley deadlast for not having Doug Bradley..but also for being an absoloutley atrocious film , every other Hellrasier movie meh no particular order but Hellrasier 3 , deader and hellword would follow after hellseeker in my viewing order.

[JDviant]

Jan 21, 2013 17:55:33 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

Revelations is absoloutley deadlast for not having Doug Bradley..but also for being an absoloutley atrocious film , every other Hellrasier movie meh no particular order but Hellrasier 3 , deader and hellword would follow after hellseeker in my viewing order.

Almost ranked it the same because of that, but the fact that so many Hellraiser movies are just generic horror movies that they tacked Pinhead into makes it a tough call, lol. So many are atrocious XD

[kidglov3s]

Hellbound is by far my favorite. I love its expanded scope. I love Kirstie and Tiffany's camaraderie. I love that Julia's come back. I love how surreal everything is. I love the score by Christopher Young. I love that there's more Pinhead, seeing how he became what he was. One of my favorite movies.

Hellraiser is pretty awesome, but it seems so muted and limited to me after Hellbound.

I have good memories of 3 and 4 but haven't watched them since I rented the tapes in 2001. /

The rest I can do without.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Jan 21, 2013 17:55:33 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

1 and 2 are and should always be in that order...then comes the rest.

I prefer Hellseeker over Hellworld just because of the conclusion of the Kirsty story...and I like that no matter how much he tried Pinhead still cannot get Kirsty.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Unless you read the comics.

Revelations is absoloutley deadlast for not having Doug Bradley..but also for being an absoloutley atrocious film , every other Hellrasier movie meh no particular order but Hellrasier 3 , deader and hellword would follow after hellseeker in my viewing order.

though Revelations did give us that hilarious rant by Clive Barker about how the movie had nothing to do with anything he came up with.

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

1. Hellbound: Hellraiser II - This is exactly what a sequel should be liked: keep the style and atmosphere of the original and expand on it. I really loved the way they showed more of Hell and of the Cenobites' hierarchy. I felt it drove home the fact that they are neither good or evil even better than the original. And sure there are silly moments and some of the special effects are of dubious quality (which is odd considering how good the make-up job and animatronics are), but I think it only adds to the surreal atmosphere on the film, and I LOVE myself some surreal horror.

2. Hellraiser - Of course the original is going to be one of the better ones. It's the one that sets he rules, after all. A very good film which really shows how to make a horror movie that's both impressively gory AND very atmospheric. It helps that Kristi is a great protagonist and her actions feel very believable. The film really does a great job of making you root for her.

3. Inferno - A very pleasant surprise and in my opinion the last good Hellraiser film. Of course, it's obvious that it's adapted from a script that had nothing to do with Hellraiser, but they did a good job of including the classic elements and the story is surprisingly interesting. After the two previous movies (Hell on Earth and Bloodlines), I was shocked that there was still something to save in that franchise. I also felt that giving a more psychological twist to the Cenobites' MO was intereting.

4. Revelations - yyyyeeaaah... as I said, Inferno was the last good Hellraiser film and including Revelations so high up says a lot about the rest because it's really not a good movie. HOWEVER, I really wouldn't consider it bad either, just meh. I felt it was far more respectful of the source material than the following entries in the list and at least felt like a Hellraiser movie. It was nice to see the Cenobites as sensation-obsessed neutral entities again as opposed to laughing caricatural villains and the plot was closer to the concepts of the first two movies than the other sequels. The special effects were also surprisingly good and when you take into account the time and budget they had to make this film, it's actually quite impressive. As Bradley said, it's not a bad film, it's an unfinished one. Well okay, maybe it is a bad film, but at least it's a bad Hellraiser film, as opposed to some crap they slapped the Hellraiser name on at the last minute.

5. Hell on Earth - After the second film, I was hoping to see even more of how hell was ruled, especially with the Leviathan gone, I was curious to see how Hell was going to reorganize itself. Instead, this film decides to ignore this entirely and go for a generic and unbelievably dull monster movie plot. Very forgettable, aside from the gloriously campy ending, but too little too late. If they wanted to go that route, they should have gone all the way.

6. Bloodlines - The fan nickname of "Pinhead IN SPACE" is really inaccurate, as that sounds fun, and fun is something that is absent from this film. There is indeed a space station, and Pinhead appears in it, but they do nothing with the possibilities of such a concept. Also, most of the film actually takes place in the 18th (or was it 17th?) century and current times. It's amazing how boring they managed to make a film with such a premise, not to mention the idea of exploring the history of the Cenobites was an interesting one, but much like Pinhead IN SPACE, they make nothing with it. The only saving grace for this movie is the interesting designs of the new Cenobites, especially Angélique. Speaking of her, the idea of a Cenobite princess is absolutely awesome but, say it with me now, they never make anything of it. Inf act, a more suited nickname than "Pinhead IN SPACE" for this film would be "Missed Opportunities: the Movie".

7. Deader - A crappy and cliché flick about an investigative journalist that has nothing to do with Hellraiser aside from Pinhead making a cameo at the end and the Lament Configuration being a macguffin, and it's more of a thriller than a horror movie, really. Also, CGI chains. CGI CHAINS. Why did Pinhead's chains need to be CGI when all the other movies use practical effects? And why did it have to be so poorly integrated?

8. Hellseeker - "Hey, remember how the previous movie (Inferno) was surprisingly well received and did better than expected? Let's make it again, but remove everything that made it interesting!" A very forgettable cop movie. I honestly can't remember anything about it other being well, Inferno but boring. Oh, and a cameo from Kirsti to pretend this has something to do with the rest of the franchise and was all planned out.

9. Hellworld - F*** this movie. F*** it forever. F*** it in every hole, from every direction, at the same time. Made me waste an hour and a half of my life it did. All that for what? For what may well be the s*****est slasher flick I've seen in my life. It's cliché, it's annoying, it's stupid, the characters are the most unlikeable s***stains in the whole series, the "twist" ending is one of the most predictable ones I've seen in ages and the Hellraiser franchise is only used as an in-universe fictional franchise and an excuse for the characters to meet. That's right, even within the movie's universe, the characters from the Hellraiser franchise don't exist so it's not even actually a Hellraiser movie because it doesn't actually take place within the franchise's universe. Rarely have I felt like a film has genuinely wasted my time, and this one did, and nothing pisses me off more in a movie than this.

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Jan 21, 2013 20:58:03 GMT -5 Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! said:

Jan 21, 2013 17:55:33 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

1 and 2 are and should always be in that order...then comes the rest.

I prefer Hellseeker over Hellworld just because of the conclusion of the Kirsty story...and I like that no matter how much he tried Pinhead still cannot get Kirsty.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Unless you read the comics.

Revelations is absoloutley deadlast for not having Doug Bradley..but also for being an absoloutley atrocious film , every other Hellrasier movie meh no particular order but Hellrasier 3 , deader and hellword would follow after hellseeker in my viewing order.

though Revelations did give us that hilarious rant by Clive Barker about how the movie had nothing to do with anything he came up with.

Honestly, I have to question whether he's actually seen it or not because I refuse to believe he doesn't want to be associated with it but is genuinely cool with Deader, Helseeker and Hellworld which only use the name Hellraiser to trap fans of the franchise but aren't actually Hellraiser films.
So either he hasn't seen Revelations, or he hasn't seen those three.

[The Ichi]

What I love about the first two films is that both have human villians that are even more despicable than the monster villians. It's like they knew people would cheer for the monsters and they were right.

Seriously, Julia Cotton, Frank Cotton and Dr. Chanard are some of the best horror villians ever, and they're not even the main draw.