Tag: Ashley Laurence

Sweet Suffering Pt 6 (Hellraiser: Hellseeker, 2002)

HellRaiser_Hellseeker_PosterDid you know that “Cenobite” means the member of a religious order? I did, because when I was looking up cast and crew on the IMDB, every Hellraiser film has this trivia fact.

Anyways, much like Inferno, Hellseeker was an unrelated script that got turned into a Hellraiser film. They retrofitted one of the characters to be Kirsty Cotton from the first two films and were able to get Ashley Laurence to return to the role. Allstate’s Mayhem is married to Kirsty, and he is a bit of a sleaze. The film focuses on Trevor (the aforementioned Mayhem, Dean Winters) after a car accident has claimed the life of his wife. As he works to piece it all together, the police seem to think the accident may not be an accident.

And there is a lot of evidence to suggest Trevor is less a victim and more of an…asshole. Selfish assholes are kind of the bread and butter of the Hellraiser franchise. Through flashbacks, it is revealed Trevor gave Kristy the Lament Configuration as a gift with sinister motives.

Truthfully, the film’s twist moment is not terrible…however… (big Spoiler ahead)

Continue reading “Sweet Suffering Pt 6 (Hellraiser: Hellseeker, 2002)” →

0

Sweet Suffering Pt 2 (Hellraiser: Hellbound, 1988)

Hellraiser_Hellbound_PosterHellraiser: Hellbound picks up right after the first film and we find Kirsty under psychiatric observation.

The police, of course, think she is…well, a bit crazy.  Doctor Channard is a famous psychiatrist (he runs the Channard Institute) and along with his protege Kyle, is overseeing Kirsty.

But Channard harbors a secret. The Institute’s basement is full of especially disturbed patients (it is reminiscent of the worst of the asylums that made the news in the 80’s). Kirsty has seen the skinless body of her father begging for her to help him, and she becomes obsessed with the notion. She convinces Kyle to investigate.  It turns out that Channard is obsessed with the Lament Configuration and has done a crazy amount of research. He has several of the boxes.  Kyle hides and witnesses Channard sacrificing a patient to bring Julia back from the first film.  This sets everything in motion.

One of the interesting things is that it is kind of clear that although the Cenobites were the most memorable aspect of the films, the filmmakers wanted Julia to be the central villain.  As Doug Bradley himself has noted, Pinhead and the Cenobites are more dispassionate observers. They are simply there to do their assigned duty.

The film delves deeper into the mythology of the Cenobites, or rather, it adds a mythology.  Bradley said he had been told by Barker that Pinhead had once been human, and the film establishes he was a soldier in the 1920’s. The film actually attempts to redeem the Cenobites, by having them fight the other threats of the film. It ends up not quite working, but again Bradley’s performance is terrific.

The film also has some really interesting visuals. Hell is a confusing and seemingly lonely place.  Pinhead warns Kirsty that everyone is in their own hell. She finds her uncle Frank and his hell is a constant teasing of his lust…beds slide out from the walls, women writhing under a sheet…but when Frank removes the sheet there is nothing their. He is facing an eternity of being unable to satiate his lust.

On the other hand, the film falls into the trap of a punning villain, which feels out of place next to the proper Pinhead.

Hellbound is kind of interesting, but also disappointing in how it deals with the Cenobites at the end of the film.

0

Sweet Suffering Pt 1 (Hellraiser, 1987)

Hellraiser_PosterClive Barker pulled off quite a feat as an author…his first directing gig was also a movie adapting his own short story. It opens with Frank Coffin, who is in search of the ultimate pleasures. He is given a strange box (known as the Lament Configuration) with he brings to his family home. It is a puzzle box, but when he opens it, he is taken to a place of torment and pain. The film jumps ahead and introduces us to Kirsty, her father (and Frank’s Brother) Larry and her step mother Julia, who are moving into the house where we last saw Frank.  Larry is a decent sort of guy, but Julia is shown as cold towards he and Kirsty. It is revealed her real passion was with Frank, with whom she had a sordid affair.

The house is full of rotting food, and Larry suspects it was Frank that left the house in disarray.  When Larry gets a cut and spills blood on the floor of their attic, it starts a chain reaction.  The result is that Frank returns from wherever he was…it is a process, and he needs blood to fully restore his body. Julia discovers Frank hiding in the attic and proceeds to help him.

Kirsty also finds Frank and this sets off the finale in which she accidentally calls forth the Cenobites, lead by Pinhead. In a bargain to save herself, she tells them about Frank.

What is interesting here is that this is really not about the Cenobites.  They are minions of hell, simply doing their job.  The true villains are Frank and Julia. Pinhead, with his leather gown and chalk white skin, a head covered in spikes is a memorable visual. His fellow Cenobites are quite creepy.  The film is not particularly interested in setting forth any detailed mythology. Who are the Cenobites? Well, beyond their job, we don’t really know. How does it work? Well, you open the Box…where does it come from? The film is not concerned with this things. And that is fine in this film.  It is a bit slow moving and a heavy focus on expository dialog delving deep into answering the mysteries would likely just bog it down more.

Doug Bradley gives Pinhead a regal presence. He is proper, even in his hellish role as a torturer (his primary mode of operation is chains with hooks on the end). While the film is slow at points, it is quite gory when it gets to the horror (though the most squeamish moment is probably when Frank, disguised as her father puts the moves on Kirsty).

Hellraiser is a decent film debut for Barker and Pinhead is a hard to forget addition to the pantheon of horror icons.

0

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑