I know that I am going to take a beating for this review but here goes nothing.
Which by the way is happening again this year on May 4, 5, 6 2012 at the Hyatt in DFW airport and DVDs are available at www.texasfrightmarevideo.com
The story goes like this. There is a box called the Lamont Configuration that is a fancy puzzle box that when solved it opens up the gateway to another dimension and brings out the Cenobites, led by “Pinhead” who proceed to perform some demented S&M on their victims. In doing so they also tap into their victims inner self and find the darkness and sins inside of them.
Hellraiser was based on the novella the Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also directed the film.
The film inspired 7 sequels as well as a line of toys and comics.
The interesting history of the films is that the franchise at first follows the survivor Kirsty Cotton as she goes into hell to rescue her father from the depths of hell. However the next couple of chapters follow Pinhead as he regains his soul and we are shown the origins of the box.
Then strangely the Hellraiser sequels went direct to video/DVD and they began following the stories of the ones that opened the box.
The now Iconic Pinhead is reduced mostly to glorified cameos but always he is portrayed by the incomparable Doug Bradley.
That is until now.
Now at first please let me explain.
Beginning with the flick Hellraiser: Bloodline the franchise rights belonged to Dimension Films.
Headed by the Hollywood Gurus known as the Weinsteins Dimension films is a division of Miramax and is one of the better distributers and makers of good Horror next to Lionsgate. Their titles include Genre Greats like the Halloween series as well as the Scream movies and the From Dusk Till Dawn trilogy.
Well currently the big trend in the movie industry is rebooting well established (and profitable) franchises that have made too many entries or have gone into a direction that has made the product less profitable for the studios.
Well a remake of Hellraiser is inevitable but they can’t get the project greenlit just yet.
However Dimension films was in danger of losing the rights to the film and they had to get a movie made fast. Well I was assured a few years ago by a fairly prominent movie star that the Weinsteins are shrewd in maximizing their profit margins and they decided to shoot a low budget short film in a super fast turn around and release it as a Hellraiser sequel.
Well needless to say Doug Bradley opted out of this outing and decided not to reprise his role as the lead Cenobite.
Now on to the flick.
The flick opens with Nico Bradley and his friend Steven Craven (I wonder who they are named after)filming themselves on a road trip to Mexico where Nico hopes to get Steven laid for the first time in a weekend of debauchery. After their car is stolen they are seen with the infamous puzzle box and naturally Pinhead appears.
It is then revealed that the video is being watched by Steven’s mother one year after the boys have disappeared while the parents and Steven’s sister/ Nico’s girlfriend Emma meet to have dinner to give themselves comfort during the trying time.
Emma eventually discovers the box after seeing other parts of the video revealing what really happened on the trip to mexico she opens it and then Steven appears at the front Door claiming to be pursued by the Cenobites.
In the process of the next hour we are shown the darkest secrets of our cast of characters while revealing what really happened in Mexico. All the while Pinhead and a new band of Cenobites come to the house with an agenda all of their own.
I have to admit that I liked the flick. It was better than some of the previous outings like Inferno and Deader.
I also have to be honest and admit that I went into the flick with my expectations with an all-time low.
Doug Bradley should have been in the flick that way it would feel like a Hellraiser than a glorified fan film.
The story did keep me interested and there were some parts that many of the mainstream audiences as taboo.
I think that the flick was not planned for a release but Dimension Films saw that there was some profit in it.
All in all the flick is what it was, It was an entertaining flick but we are all aware it was franchise milking that would have been better as a special Feature for the Remake of the original’s Blu-Ray.
Good flick but it isn’t the same
9 Dead Bodies
4 Breasts
5 Cenobites
Face Ripping
Throat tearing
Chain Hooking
Baby Killing
Hooker Killing
The Hellraiser Score is nowhere to be found
1 ½ Stars
Fans of the franchise Check it out
It's the "Lament Configuration"
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