Presents

Hellraiser

With the upcoming 're-imagining' of the classic Halloween, it seems that the remake is here to stay.  In fact, I read recently that Clive Barker has signed on to produce and write a remake of his classic Hellraiser!  I guess if we have to do remakes, at least getting the original artist to re-do the work makes it a little more palatable...I guess.  So, after reading this, I went back and rewatched the original Hellraiser, just to see how it holds up after all these years and, you know what, it's still just a good a movie as it was when I first saw it in the theatre!

The story here is pretty cool, a man who made a deal with some demons is on the run from them.  He's found a way back from Hell and is in the attic of his lover's house.  When she discovers that the way to restore him to life is through blood, she begins seducing men, luring them into the attic and spilling their blood.  The sequences of the re-growth of Andrew Robinson are some of the coolest effects ever committed to film, they're really on par with the effect in John Carpenter's The Thing, without being that over the top!  Well, after begin restored to life, I think you know what's gonna happen, the demons...or Cenobites, in this case...find our anti-heroes with the intent of returning them to hell!

  The real beauty of Hellraiser is that no one, with the exception of Ashley Laurence's Kristy, is a good guy!  The bad guys are on the run from worse guys...if that makes sense.  Hellraiser wallows in evil, it revels in the grotesque and celebrates pure badness.  It makes you root for the cenobites, in the form of Pinhead, Chatterer and Butterball, three of the strangest heroes ever filmed.  In fact, they're not heroes at all, but you'll find yourself strangely drawn to them, it's a very weird feeling to find yourself rooting for these nightmarish visions!  I'm giving Hellraiser four out of four cigars, because not many movies made in 1987 hold up this well.  Oh the fashions have changed and the hairstyles aren't nearly as big, but the sheer unadulterated evil has never (and probably will never) be more palpable than it is in Hellraiser.  It's a movie that makes you think, hey, being evil might be kind of cool.  So, until next time, when I'll tell you about the times I've been evil...and then I'll have to kill you...remember that the best movies are bad movies!