Clive Barker’s Hellraiser is obviously a horror classic, and it was something I only experienced for the first time during last year’s Halloween. With a horror icon in Pinhead (Doug Bradley), whatever dated effects are to be found in there are made up for by the film’s perverse, sadomasochistic fervour; this wasn’t just a slasher, but a bloody tale where people wanted to be torn apart by the blurring of pain and pleasure. Now I liked Hellraiser but I had more fun with its sequel, Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), which picks up immediately after the events of the first film, focusing on the sole survivor, the innocent Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) whose family was torn apart, and then ripped apart by the insatiable desires of Uncle Frank (Sean Chapman) and her step-mother Julia (Claire Higgins), summoning cenobite demons through a magical puzzle-box. Set in a hospital where Kirsty is being treated by doctors and questioned by cops, the sinister brain surgeon Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham) secretly desires knowledge of this powerful netherworld and is looking to exploit Kirsty’s trauma for answers. There’s also another mute patient, Tiffany (Imogen Boorman), and what do you know, she has a gift for solving puzzles! Hellraiser II isn’t perfect; the first half contains a lot of recapping of the previous film and the hospital setting can’t help but recall a Garth Meranghi vibe. Yet once Julia is summoned from a blood-stained mattress and eventually the action shifts to the Cenobite dimension – a vast, grey maze with matte painting imagery and repetitious stone hallways – this thing kicks into high gear. While there’s definitely an air of chasing what A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors conjured, the result is an adult fantasy horror that feels like a messed up (or even more messed up) version of Labyrinth; as if you would actually see the Furies rip off limbs rather than get distracted during a song and dance. Ashley Laurence was great in the lead, a sympathetic and resourceful protagonist, basically trying to save her and Tiffany from this endless nightmare. Also Claire Higgins is terrific as Julia who goes even harder as a character in this film, and Cranham is particularly good in the early scenes as the officious, sinister Channard. My favourite detail was how Channard and Julia find themselves dressed up when they are indeed hell-bound, resembling a classy couple from some Ealing Studio comedy but just taking a tour of an inter-dimensional hellscape. Directed by Tony Randel from a story by Barker; Christopher Young contributes the bombastic, gothic score. And to think I had always avoided this because of the half star review Roger Ebert gave it; sorry to break it to you, my good man, but this was one sick-ass movie that I had a blast with. Available to stream on Amazon Prime. Recommended.
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