HELLRAISER: REVELATIONS Post-Release

Never knew about this. I thought the franchise was completely dead till the upcoming Barker reboot.

As for the existing Hellraiser films, I've only watched till BLOODLINES.

Are the others worth watching? I know one entry has Ashley Laurence reprising her Kristy role.

I for one am shocked that the new too-cheap-even-too-hire-Bradley Hellraiser sequel is craptastic...dare I ask what the dreaded Revelation actually is?

That guy looks like a total pussy. Bradley should've showed up on set and beat him.

Didn't this movie happen just so Dimension could keep the rights? I thought that was the story.

Anyway, I'm sure it's horrible ... as has been every HELLRAISER movie since HELLBOUND.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Dark Shape 

There isn't one!

 

I thought the sequels actually took a bit of an upturn once the series went DTV.  Hellraiser III was awful.  Bloodline had a cool little story, but it was ripped apart by studio exec.  Focusing on the more personal stories and putting Pinhead on the sidelines again was a good move.

 

But if you hated 5-8... oh, you haven't seen anything yet.

I haven't seen 5-8 because something in the back of my mind told me they might not be of great quality. I'm not sure what.  However, I'm with you on 4.  I thought 4 was an intriguing idea that was absolutely murdered by the studio.

Is there any new information on the reboot?

I don't mind the prequel/flashback stuff in BLOODLINE, but it all goes to hell (snicker) after that.

The DTV ones are terrible. They're barely even HELLRAISER movies, and that includes the one with Kirsty.

I just want Barker to publish THE SCARLET GOSPELS before I die. Can that happen, please?

I read a slightly detailed synopsis for this movie over at Bloody-Disgusting, and it sounds like they make half a movie, then rush the other half. They said the gore was all practical, and there's some pretty brutal stuff.

Ah, curiosity will get the better of me, and I'll check it out when it streets on disc, but with what Dark Shape said, and what I read over at BD, I'm not hoping for a return to form. Shit, I never did when the suits only gave the filmmakers 2 weeks to shoot this thing, and only shot it to keep the rights.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zak chase 

I don't mind the prequel/flashback stuff in BLOODLINE, but it all goes to hell (snicker) after that.

 

The DTV ones are terrible. They're barely even HELLRAISER movies, and that includes the one with Kirsty.

 

I just want Barker to publish THE SCARLET GOSPELS before I die. Can that happen, please?

According to Barker's twitter feed, the Scarlet Gospels are finished but he needs a publisher.  He and Harper Collins have parted ways.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Dark Shape 

I never understood this argument.  If Barker's Hellraiser defined what a Hellraiser film is, then Inferno, Hellseeker, and Deader are far closer than Hell On Earth or Bloodline are.

 

People like to say the DTV sequels are more in the vein of the original HELLRAISER because Pinhead plays more of a background, shadowy role, as in the original movie. And that's true. But what makes the original (and HELLBOUND) special isn't just an appropriate amount of Pinhead, it's the entire mythos: the cenobites, the box, the Hell dimension, Leviathan ... yadda, yadda. It's good horror world-building. Those DTV movies don't expand on any of that mythology (which III and IV at least try to do, although mostly unsucessfully). They just take some of the iconography from it and shove it into a movie that would otherwise be a generic thriller.

Revisited the first four about a year ago and found Hell on Earth and Bloodline slightly less horrible than I'd expected. The first is still great and Hellbound doesn't get enough love. I decided to press on with the DTV entries. Part V was nearly intolerable and VI was even worse. Bringing Kirsty back intrigued me, but they really bungled the execution. I don't think I have it in me to power through parts VII and VIII, much less IX.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Dark Shape 

(Not that I'm attacking that approach; Hellbound is my favorite film in the series.)

Mine too! And, hey, I think HELLRAISER III is damn near total garbage!

Let's drop the debate and be friends.

(P.S. you make some good points.)

By the way ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devildoubt 

According to Barker's twitter feed, the Scarlet Gospels are finished but he needs a publisher.  He and Harper Collins have parted ways.

Yeah, I read that too ... but it's been a while. Is it really that hard for Barker to find someone who wants to publish an epic, adult-horror Pinhead vs. D'Amour smackdown? Really?!

I've heard Inferno is more or less a Silent Hill movie. That make it interesting enough for a rental?

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Dark Shape 

I like Inferno quite a bit, but it has a very odd Christian bend that doesn't mesh at all with the rest of the series.

 

I also remember it being one of the better looking films in the series, it had some really nice looking scenes. I could be wrong, I haven't seen it since it first came out.
 

Inferno is pretty good. I thrown in my praise for that installment. Craig Sheffer does a great job as the lead, and I remember reading in Fangoria back when it came out, that the intent was to go back to the first one and make it more about the person creating their own hell,, and Pinhead and the Cenobites pushing him along. Plus there's that crazy scene where one of the female cenobites puts her hand under Sheffer's skin on his chest, starts rubbing him, and he groans in pleasure.

GOOD

1 classic
2 (Hellbound) is a direct continuation of the story and mythology of the first and the most impressive looking one. At times though it feels more like a big fantasy adventure than a dark horror flick about hell and eternal pain, especially the showdown

These two are the only parts you could consider well directed.

FOR CURIOSITY

4 (Bloodline) has an ambitious concept and the most interesting story of all the sequels, but it suffers from not having a big enough budget to tell it's story and a horribly edited cut which makes it feel like at least a quarter of the whole movie just went missing.

5 (Inferno) looks dtv, but it has an interesting story and one of the best leads of the series (but: as only 2 out of 8 flicks can be considered good at all, that sentence doesn't mean that much to begin with). Lower your expectations and it's kinda solid. Sadly it's not as gritty as it tries to be and, well, looks cheap. And it's slow as fuck.

DON'T BOTHER

7 (Hellseeker) shortly brings back Kristy and tries to ape Inferno with a very similar story, but the lead is visibly weaker than the one of 5.

8 (Hellworld) has Lance Henriksen and is actually only barely connected to the internet world, but it tries hard to be a big surprise and just isn't. It's a pretty lame teen slasher with occasional Cenobites thrown into it

3 (Hell on Earth) is just offensively stupid. A weak try to A make Pinhead into a new Freddy and B make an action Hellraiser without actually having budget or ideas, plus - it kills Pinhead by overly explaining him and making hin some sort of hero. Some of the Cenobites look like extras from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Only aspect is the visual style of a decent Friday the 13th sequel.

6 (Deader) I do like Kari Wuhrer, but she's only a small standout in this mess that is not only stupid, but even worse: completely boring. Also, smallest Pinhead cameo.

I think 9 needs a fourth category, something like JESUS WEPT.

There are nine of these fucking movies!?!?!? Wow. I've been ignoring them since the third one, and I only just heard about this one today. Nine! I feel like I just discovered the atom, if the atom was a completely useless and arbitrary element of life on Earth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zak chase 

Mine too! And, hey, I think HELLRAISER III is damn near total garbage!

 

Let's drop the debate and be friends.

 

(P.S. you make some good points.)

 

By the way ...

 

 

Yeah, I read that too ... but it's been a while. Is it really that hard for Barker to find someone who wants to publish an epic, adult-horror Pinhead vs. D'Amour smackdown? Really?!

Well, there's finding a publisher and then there's finding a publisher that wants to compensate Barker the way he wants to be compensated. At least that's the way I look at it.  He's quite the name so there's a bunch of business parameters that probably need addressing and the publishing world aint what it used to be. Still, given his fanbase, I don't know why he doesn't just self-publish it.  

On the cover New Pinhead looks as if he's taking a painful dump.

"WILL... TEAR... MY HOLE APART"

The trailer made this out to be Tommy Wiseau's HELLRAISER: THE ROOM.

"Ok, Timmy, open up your presents!"

"Wow! A digital camcorder!"

"...and the rights to your favorite horror franchise!"

"Whoa! Thanks, Dad!"

"Now get outta here & go make yourself a direct-to-dvd movie, ya little scamp!"

Poor, poor, poor Joshua.  I'm sure his suffering will be legendary when it comes time to cover this entry.