Each of us has that friend – that one friend – who lives and dies attached to a particular franchise. Be it Horror, Fantasy, or Science Fiction, everything about this one intellectual property appeals to him, no matter how good, bad, great, acceptable, astounding, or lukewarm the final product truly is. He’s what you call that ‘die-hard fanatic’ – a true-blue enthusiast of the highest order – and no matter how you might try to convince him that, say, his film set may’ve had an inferior outing he’s convinced otherwise. It consumes him. He studies its minutiae. He owns every single home video release – sometimes in multiple copies – and it’s all he’ll talk about if you dare to give him the chance.
For me, my friend worships the wide, wide world of Hellraiser … and – dammit all – I just can’t see why.
It’s a property that just escapes me. What of it I’ve seen is – at best – good, but the stories and characters just don’t resonate on any conceivable level. While I’ll concede that the practical effects work has largely been very good, indeed, that just isn’t enough to make me want to commit so much of my own personal gray matter to contemplating it any further than the occasional casual viewing. For clarity’s sake: I don’t dislike it. But because I have that friend – that one friend – who eats, sleeps, and breathes the sum of its existence, I have given it more than a passing glance for no other reason than to try to understand perhaps just what I’m missing.
But, hey, to each his own … right?
In any event, I sat down yesterday with a brand-spanking-new industry copy of Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) in glorious 4K from the good people at Arrow Films. Directed by Tony Randel from a story by Peter Atkins and franchise creator Clive Barker, the Horror/Fantasy brings back Ashley Laurence in the lead and a few familiar faces from Hell itself (or is that Hell-adjacent?) along with a new supporting cast of disposable characters. It picks up only moments after the first film’s ending; and it puts our beloved Kirsty on a path wherein she’ll confront the Cenobites again but this time she’ll need a little help from a friend in order to set things right.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Kirsty is brought to an institution after the horrible events of Hellraiser (1987), where the occult-obsessive head doctor resurrects Julia and unleashes the Cenobites and their demonic underworld.”
For me, my friend worships the wide, wide world of Hellraiser … and – dammit all – I just can’t see why.
It’s a property that just escapes me. What of it I’ve seen is – at best – good, but the stories and characters just don’t resonate on any conceivable level. While I’ll concede that the practical effects work has largely been very good, indeed, that just isn’t enough to make me want to commit so much of my own personal gray matter to contemplating it any further than the occasional casual viewing. For clarity’s sake: I don’t dislike it. But because I have that friend – that one friend – who eats, sleeps, and breathes the sum of its existence, I have given it more than a passing glance for no other reason than to try to understand perhaps just what I’m missing.
But, hey, to each his own … right?
In any event, I sat down yesterday with a brand-spanking-new industry copy of Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) in glorious 4K from the good people at Arrow Films. Directed by Tony Randel from a story by Peter Atkins and franchise creator Clive Barker, the Horror/Fantasy brings back Ashley Laurence in the lead and a few familiar faces from Hell itself (or is that Hell-adjacent?) along with a new supporting cast of disposable characters. It picks up only moments after the first film’s ending; and it puts our beloved Kirsty on a path wherein she’ll confront the Cenobites again but this time she’ll need a little help from a friend in order to set things right.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Kirsty is brought to an institution after the horrible events of Hellraiser (1987), where the occult-obsessive head doctor resurrects Julia and unleashes the Cenobites and their demonic underworld.”
When we last saw Kirsty (played by Laurence), her dear father had departed our world – the skin ripped from his body and placed atop her lecherous Uncle Frank (Sean Chapman) in his bid to reanimate into our plane of existence to further explore the limits of his carnal desires – and she had outfoxed Pinhead, Butterball, Chatterer, and the – ahem – unnamed female Cenobite, sending them back emptyhanded to wherever they came from. In a brief coda to the film, we see that the puzzle box – the key to and from their dark world – survives and is presumably back in the hands of some Middle Eastern merchant who offers it up to another customer. But for all intents and purposes it seemed as if the lovely lady had survived and – one would hope – had moved on with her life.
However, the opening to Hellbound: Hellraiser II kinda/sorta recasts that ending: Kirsty awakens, locked into an insane asylum, where an insistent police detective is questioning her about what happened in her father’s home as well as the potential whereabouts of any other person involved. (Erm … didn’t the place collapse? Wasn’t it completely destroyed?) As fate would have it, the house is still around, and the investigation has produced a wealth of bodies along with the bloodied mattress upon which Kirsty’s stepmother Julia (Clare Higgins) properly deflowered herself with stepbrother Frank and apparently died. (Erm … wasn’t she stabbed on the staircase? Did she not die right there?)
In any event, I’d never insist Kirsty couldn’t benefit from a psych eval, so good on scripters Barker and Atkins for changing the mold just a bit. Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham) expresses an interest in speaking with the young woman; and – along with his assistance Kyle MacRae (William Hope) – they go about exploring what men both dismiss as a somewhat wild tale that might suggest Kirsty needs an extended stay. However, it isn’t long before MacRae begins to privately question his boss’ fascination with such dark details; and the young professional eventually learns that Channard has been previously investigating Pinhead and the other world for what appears to be many, many years.
If all of this sounds confusing, then that’s mostly because it is.
However, the opening to Hellbound: Hellraiser II kinda/sorta recasts that ending: Kirsty awakens, locked into an insane asylum, where an insistent police detective is questioning her about what happened in her father’s home as well as the potential whereabouts of any other person involved. (Erm … didn’t the place collapse? Wasn’t it completely destroyed?) As fate would have it, the house is still around, and the investigation has produced a wealth of bodies along with the bloodied mattress upon which Kirsty’s stepmother Julia (Clare Higgins) properly deflowered herself with stepbrother Frank and apparently died. (Erm … wasn’t she stabbed on the staircase? Did she not die right there?)
In any event, I’d never insist Kirsty couldn’t benefit from a psych eval, so good on scripters Barker and Atkins for changing the mold just a bit. Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham) expresses an interest in speaking with the young woman; and – along with his assistance Kyle MacRae (William Hope) – they go about exploring what men both dismiss as a somewhat wild tale that might suggest Kirsty needs an extended stay. However, it isn’t long before MacRae begins to privately question his boss’ fascination with such dark details; and the young professional eventually learns that Channard has been previously investigating Pinhead and the other world for what appears to be many, many years.
If all of this sounds confusing, then that’s mostly because it is.
As a Horror, Hellraiser worked because it took the steps necessary to establish this particular cinematic universe rather efficiently while introducing audiences to the key players. Some might argue that it didn’t always add up perfectly; and, yet the founding film still knew precisely what it wanted to be and delivered on that premise. By contrast, Hellbound – by virtue of things I’ve already pointed out – reshaped some of those particulars and then expanded this mythology with huge, somewhat cumbersome steps that come off more as a screenwriter’s invention than any smooth second chapter. While it’s easy to accept the somewhat dark but charming invitation to Uncle Frank and his dark practices in Part One, right out of the gate Part Two suggests that not only was Frank deeply immersed in this subversive folklore but also a renowned psychotherapist in the same town was even more intensely involved. If you can swallow that nugget easily, then take a look at this bridge I have to sell, will you?
I know, I know, I know. I hear you, I hear you, I hear you. “But it’s only a movie!”
While that might be true, movies still have to make sense.
The various bits and all of the puzzle pieces need to assemble in workable fashion and not feel like we, the audience, are getting an all-new information dump necessary to expand the universe for new additions. What you might decry as nitpicking I expect as competent world-building, and that just doesn’t happen comfortably and sensibly between these first two installments of the Horror property. While the addition of Tiffany (Imogen Boorman) – a fellow psychiatric inmate who is kinda/sorta mute (yet not) but demonstrates an affinity for puzzle-solving which makes her a perfect specimen for Dr. Channard and his dark obsession – is handled quite well, everything else about Hellbound is clunky at best. Like the first film, it’s visually interesting, but it lacks fundamental cohesiveness and sufficient enough explanation for why this broad expansion of the core mythology was chucked into a second chapter. Some of it feels like it’s setting up for something bigger, though – for the life of me – I can’t quite figure out what that might be.
Even worse, Hellbound delivers the massive narrative setback – so far as this reviewer is concerned – that Pinhead and the gang just aren’t nearly as powerful as Hellraiser led us to believe they were. In a weird development, Channard winds up somehow being a veritable master over this twisted cosmos after he’s seduced by Julia – once she’s back in the flesh – and sacrificed to a Hellish entity known as the Leviathan. Apparently, it is more powerful than the Cenobites; and – in the process of being converted into his new celestial form – the good doctor becomes the caretaker of this level of the Underworld, dispatching the franchise’s villains with little more than the flick of his now gruesome fingers.
I know, I know, I know. I hear you, I hear you, I hear you. “But it’s only a movie!”
While that might be true, movies still have to make sense.
The various bits and all of the puzzle pieces need to assemble in workable fashion and not feel like we, the audience, are getting an all-new information dump necessary to expand the universe for new additions. What you might decry as nitpicking I expect as competent world-building, and that just doesn’t happen comfortably and sensibly between these first two installments of the Horror property. While the addition of Tiffany (Imogen Boorman) – a fellow psychiatric inmate who is kinda/sorta mute (yet not) but demonstrates an affinity for puzzle-solving which makes her a perfect specimen for Dr. Channard and his dark obsession – is handled quite well, everything else about Hellbound is clunky at best. Like the first film, it’s visually interesting, but it lacks fundamental cohesiveness and sufficient enough explanation for why this broad expansion of the core mythology was chucked into a second chapter. Some of it feels like it’s setting up for something bigger, though – for the life of me – I can’t quite figure out what that might be.
Even worse, Hellbound delivers the massive narrative setback – so far as this reviewer is concerned – that Pinhead and the gang just aren’t nearly as powerful as Hellraiser led us to believe they were. In a weird development, Channard winds up somehow being a veritable master over this twisted cosmos after he’s seduced by Julia – once she’s back in the flesh – and sacrificed to a Hellish entity known as the Leviathan. Apparently, it is more powerful than the Cenobites; and – in the process of being converted into his new celestial form – the good doctor becomes the caretaker of this level of the Underworld, dispatching the franchise’s villains with little more than the flick of his now gruesome fingers.
Sadly, the flick never quite recovers from these structural flaws. Though its pacing is solid and there’s a respectable vicarious delight at traversing the resulting hellscape (which, confusingly, is little more than 90% dirty hallways), Hellbound is far from spellbound with the intense, dark magic that made Hellraiser minimally worth the time and trouble. The film just never rises above feeling like a hodgepodge of ideas in search of some way to still present its two likeable female leads with a somewhat requisite happy ending. It both does and it doesn’t, and I still feel cheated in the process.
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) was produced by Film Futures, Cinemarque Entertainment, and Troopstar. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Arrow Films. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I found the provided sights-and-sounds to be very good from start-to-finish. There are a few sequences with some rather obvious grain, so I can only assume that the deficiency is owed to an inferior master. There are also a few short bits of – ahem – rather obvious special effects that could’ve been a bit better. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? This is Arrow Films, and they never disappoint. In order to be precise, I’m doing the dutiful copy-and-paste from their press materials published on Blu-ray.com:
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) was produced by Film Futures, Cinemarque Entertainment, and Troopstar. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Arrow Films. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I found the provided sights-and-sounds to be very good from start-to-finish. There are a few sequences with some rather obvious grain, so I can only assume that the deficiency is owed to an inferior master. There are also a few short bits of – ahem – rather obvious special effects that could’ve been a bit better. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? This is Arrow Films, and they never disappoint. In order to be precise, I’m doing the dutiful copy-and-paste from their press materials published on Blu-ray.com:
- Brand new audio commentary featuring Stephen Jones and Kim Newman
- Archival audio commentary with director Tony Randel, writer Peter Atkins and actor Ashley Laurence
- Audio commentary with director Tony Randel and writer Peter Atkins
- Hell Was What They Wanted! – brand new 80-minute appreciation of Hellbound, the Hellraiser mythos and the work of Clive Barker by horror authors George Daniel Lea (Born in Blood) and Kit Power (The Finite)
- That Rat-Slice Sound – brand new appreciation of composer Christopher Young's scores for Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II by Guy Adams
- Archival on-set interview with Clive Barker
- Archival on-set interview with cast and crew
- Behind the scenes footage
- Being Frank: Sean Chapman on Hellbound – archival interview about the actor's return to the role of Frank Cotton
- Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellbound – archival interview with the iconic actor about his second appearance as 'Pinhead'
- Lost in the Labyrinth – archival featurette featuring interviews with Barker, Randel, Keen, Atkins and others
- Trailers and TV spots
- Image gallery
Alas, only ... Mildly Recommended.
While I’m never been a big fan of the wider Hellraiser Cinematic Universe anyway, I’m still a bit disappointed with what Clive Barker and the gang foisted on us with Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988). Though I’ve no problem with the somewhat rejiggered state of affairs between the first film and the second, Hellbound never quite respectfully plots a new course, instead mashing in new characters alongside familiar faces with what feels ham-handed at best. Sure, it’s always great to see the world expand, but it still should be done organically. Far too much of this feels like it was tossed into the mix because “audiences will find this cool,” and that’s a cheap distraction from what could’ve been a more logical step forward.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Arrow Films provided me with a complimentary 4K UltraHD Blu-ray of Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) – as part of their Hellraiser: Quartet Of Torment Collection – by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
While I’m never been a big fan of the wider Hellraiser Cinematic Universe anyway, I’m still a bit disappointed with what Clive Barker and the gang foisted on us with Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988). Though I’ve no problem with the somewhat rejiggered state of affairs between the first film and the second, Hellbound never quite respectfully plots a new course, instead mashing in new characters alongside familiar faces with what feels ham-handed at best. Sure, it’s always great to see the world expand, but it still should be done organically. Far too much of this feels like it was tossed into the mix because “audiences will find this cool,” and that’s a cheap distraction from what could’ve been a more logical step forward.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Arrow Films provided me with a complimentary 4K UltraHD Blu-ray of Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) – as part of their Hellraiser: Quartet Of Torment Collection – by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
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