Review: Hellraiser

Larry (Andrew Robinson) and new wife Julia (Claire Higgins) have just moved to the family home in England. Larry is unawares that his brother Frank (Sean Chapman) is hiding out there, after opening a strange puzzle box that unleashed demonic creatures known as Cenobites. He’s not quite the same, though. In fact, Frank is pretty much dead. You see, the Cenobites are kinky sadists who derive pleasure from pain and have torn Frank apart. When a drop of blood inadvertently finds its way to Frank’s body, however, it partially revives him (but now played by Oliver Smith for some odd reason) and that’s when Higgins discovers his skinless existence. Julia, who was previously Frank’s lover unbeknownst to Larry, is persuaded by Frank to lure men to their deaths so that Frank can feed off their blood and regain his former self. A fly in the ointment comes when the dreaded Cenobites (led by Doug Bradley’s formidable-looking Lead Cenobite, AKA ‘Pinhead’) come for Frank, unhappy that he has escaped them. Ashley Laurence (who looks alarmingly like Winona Ryder in this, I think) plays Larry’s daughter Kirsty, who isn’t terribly fond of her wannabe Joan Collins stepmother. The other Cenobites are played by Grace Kirby, Simon Bamford, and Nicholas Vince.

 

I’ve never been the biggest fan of this seriously nihilistic 1987 horror/fantasy from writer-director-author Clive Barker (adapting his own short story The Hell-Bound Heart), but after seeing it several times over the last 25 years or so, I think I do have to finally concede that it’s a well-made film with ambitions far exceeding most horror flicks of the mid-80s. I still admire it more than I find it enjoyable (and prefer Barker’s underrated “Nightbreed” much more), but I can’t deny this one’s got its own vibe unlike anything else out there even today, really. Along with the “Elm Street” franchise, this is definitely the most ambitious and strange of the iconic 80s horror franchises, and I bet it messed up a lot of straight-laced folk back in ‘87. This is some weird, fucked-up S&M meets demons and angels and purgatory themed stuff right here and Barker probably got this gig simply because no one else could make heads or tails of it other than the man himself.

 

There’s some genuinely terrific elements; The excellently moody Christopher Young (“The Dark Half”, “Drag Me to Hell”, “Priest”) score, a memorably bizarre-looking and chilling iconic character (Doug Bradley’s Pinhead), nasty imagery of ripped hunks of human flesh hanging from hooks, and what sicko kid didn’t want to have their own Lament Configuration? Ashley Laurence may not have really gone on to anything else of note, but she’s forever memorable as Ashley in this film. She’s definitely a better actress than “Nightmare on Elm Street” star Heather Langenkamp. The cinematography by Robin Vidgeon (“King David”, “The Crucifer of Blood”) contains some really nice lighting throughout. With all the flesh-ripping and kinky S&M-looking demons one wonders how the hell this thing even got green-lit. It’s clearly because Barker does it so damn well, and with such style that I’m surprised he hasn’t directed more often. In particular, there’s a really terrific- and completely disgusting- transformation/regeneration scene that makes good use of obviously limited funds.

 

There are two obvious flaws with the film, the biggest being the cold fish performance given by TV veteran Claire Higgins. A third-rate Emma Samms (who in the 80s was a second-rate mixture of Joan Collins and Barbara Carrera, herself), her performance and character are so cold and bitchy, that it’s frankly hard to care about anything that happens to her. Andrew Robinson is the biggest name and best actor of the bunch here, and yet this is a surprisingly weak performance from him. He’s a bit hamstrung by a somewhat dull character, however. His best asset is that he’s such an unfriendly-looking actor that cast here you’re never sure what his intentions are. Doug Bradley makes easily the biggest impression as lead Cenobite now affectionately referred to as Pinhead. He’s no master thesp, but he delivers the immortal ‘We’ll tear your soul apaaaarrrrrt!’ with chilling malevolence that might remind you a little of Christopher Lee. Unfortunately, Pinhead and the Cenobites represent the film’s other problem. They are the most poorly utilised great horror villains in cinematic history. None of the “Hellraiser” films have treated them right, and that’s as true here as in any of the subsequent sequels. Frankly, the way this film plays out as kind of like a Hammer version of an Edgar Allen Poe story (the Julia/Frank/Larry grisly love triangle in particular seems very Poe to me), the Cenobites aren’t even necessary, and feel tacked on awkwardly. They’re awesome (Simon Bamford is particularly grotesque as the aptly named Butterball). I understand not wanting to overexpose them, but I’m not sure they even really belong in the film at all. Or maybe the film should’ve been about them with the Poe-esque stuff to the sides instead of the other way around. As is, you can certainly see the seams and it takes more than 40 minutes for the Cenobites to be even remotely integrated into the story. That’s way too long. Having said that, the film still works as is, just somewhat disjointed. I also like how ambiguous the Cenobites are. I mean, Higgins and Frank are clearly the film’s villains, but are the Cenobites therefore heroes, given they’re after Frank? Hardly, with all that flesh-ripping. It reminds me of the angels from the “Prophecy” franchise in terms of character ambiguity there.

 

OK, so this is absolutely not the film to start with as your first-ever horror film. Although not exactly ‘scary’, even today this is some disturbing, otherworldly sadomasochistic stuff right here that’ll fuck you up seventy billion different ways (It might even be the forefather of ‘torture porn’). It’s well-done, though, even if I’d prefer a warmer cast of characters. As is, my level of giveashit about all this is a bit lesser than many people’s will be. Still, this is undeniably iconic, memorable, and compellingly weird.

 

Rating: B-