Hellraiser

< Previous Trailer  |   Add to My Scrapbook  |   Next Trailer >
Hellraiser

78% Liked It
liked it

Hellraiser

Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Doug Bradley, Sean Chapman

Evil Julia helps her lover, Frank, come back to the mortal world from hell. Because Frank has used the Lament Configuration box to taste pleasures outside the normal realm of human sensation, freeing ...( read more  read more... )him from hell unleashes Pinhead and a menagerie of demons (cenobites) back unto earth.

Id: 10904217

Do you want to see this movie?

My Friends Said...

Hellraiser Recent Reviews

Register or sign-in to see your friends' reviews !

Recent Reviews

Hellraiser Recent Reviews
  • DrZeek
    October 15, 2009
    DrZeek
    Kirsty Cotton: Who are you?
    Lead Cenobite: Explorers in the further regions of experience. Demons to some. Angels to others.

    From Clive Barker, this is a very sick and twisted horror film that brings nightmares to life. That is a fairly generous opening sentence, which makes...( read more) the film sound better than it is. While certainly gorey, the film is not too scary. The story is ludicrous, however the redeeming factor comes from some of the ingenious work made possible by cool looking practical effects.

    Lead Cenobite: No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.

    A couple has moved into a house in New York. The couple consists of Larry and Julia. Julia is Larry's second wife. Julia once had an affair with Larry's dead brother Frank. Larry also has a daughter, Kirsty, from his first marriage, who lives in the city. How do all these things connect you ask?

    Well, a mysterious cube, said to be the source of unbearable pain as well as unbearable pleasure was responsible for Frank's death. Of course, Frank died none other than in the very house Larry and Julia (who remember slept with Frank) have moved into. Soon, after an accident, blood is spilled in the attic, where Frank died I guess, which somehow brings him back to life. However, not completely, he sort of forms just enough bone and tissue to be around, but not whole.

    Soon, Frank comes into contact with Julia and because of her undying attraction to Frank, she agrees to help Frank collect victims to help him reform his body, as long as the evil spirits behind "the box" don't find out about this.

    Lead Cenobite: We'll tear your soul apart!

    I hope this plot synopsis was helpful, because beyond the iconic Pinhead character, I had no idea what this movie was about and certainly did not expect what came out of it. The story is ludicrous. The actors get by, some better than others. Its really the production value that lets this movie get by.

    While I don't follow Clive Barker's work very closely, what I know about him is his obsession with the dream/nightmare world. He does a lot here, on a fairly low budget, to try and bring theses aspects to life. Bringing forth a lot of abstract character and gore designs to make some memorably gruesome images.

    So with all the ups and downs, I still found entertainment value in this film. The use of practical effects was a big plus. There are some fairly ingenious gore sequences in this film, particularly the resurrection of Frank towards the beginning. The very cheesy 80s feel of the film was certainly a plus as well. Christopher Young's orchestral horror soundtrack was also welcome.

    By no means a classic to revisit, this is still a film made to be viewed nowadays with friends to celebrate its combination of gore effects and cheesiness.

    Kirsty Cotton: You can go to Hell!
    Female Cenobite: We can't. Not alone.
  • SirPant
    September 29, 2009
    SirPant
    An indulgent film by Clive Barker who didn't have much experience in directing and sadly at times it shows. Still, the story is strong and the gore and sadistic horror plentiful, even the worst acting ever has not prevented it from becoming one of the best horror films of all time.
  • MovieGeek13
    May 27, 2009
    MovieGeek13
    Ah, yes, Hellraiser. I've finally watched it, and having been pleasantly surprised last month by The Midnight Meat Train, I wanted to see what else Clive Barker has been putting out over all these years. Well Hellraiser certainly didn't do anything for me. It's exactly the kin...( read more)d of picture I hate. Relentless violence for the sake of relentless violence.
    I hated every character in this movie. Upon meeting one character, Frank, I didn't know enough about him to identify with him before he is turned into goo, but I hated him even more as the film went on. Julia is, for lack of a better term, a nutjob. Actually, no, she's a plot device. She's supposed to be unhappy with her husband, Larry, but is more than ecstatic to be with Frank. She'll do anything Frank asks so the film can get on with the killing. Larry is the definition of a douche bag. The only likeable character is their daughter Kristy. In any predicament she gets in, she will survive, no matter how implausible it may seem.
    It's not that I only watch movies with likeable characters. But there's a difference between watching flawed people, and being completely indifferent as to what happens to them.
    Furthermore, Hellraiser just throws images at you without explanation. It doesn't take much imagination to throw a monster down a hallway, or have weird people come out of a box. Horror is supposed to assault your senses, and maybe leave you comepletely shocked, but it is not supposed to leave you confused at what you just saw. I had no idea what was going on in Hellraiser. How does the box work? How can torture be pleasurable? How can the creatures just disappear at the closing of the box? How did Frank escape in the first place?
    Hellraiser has spawned dozens of imitators and numerous sequels, all ridiculously flawed. But can you really blame them, when they have this crap as their inspiration?
  • stopitgoaway
    May 1, 2009
    stopitgoaway
    A lot of people on this site are moaning that HELLRAISER isn't all that scary . Well define " Scary " ? opening an electricity bill and finding that it exceeds your life savings causes my heart to miss a few beats but will anyone be making a horror film about someone getting a ma...( read more)ssive electricity bill ? I don't think so either and very few films have terrified me and the notable few that have scared me witless like THREADS , QUATERMASS AND THE PIT aren't strictly speaking horror movies . In fact the one thing that used to terrify was DOCTOR WHO and what's that ? A childrens TV show shown at tea time so let's not kid ourselves horror movies are scary

    !!!! SPOILERS !!!!

    What I absolutely love about HELLRAISER is that it's not really a horror film as such - It's a macabre love story with loads of subtext about how love and sex can destroy us and in many ways it can be viewed as an AIDS allegory ( 1 ) . Larry doesn't satisfy his wife in a sexual matter and it's this sexual inadequacy that leads to his death , Julia lusts after Frank which leads to her death , men who've just met Julia go back to her flat for some casual sex only to be murdered , while Frank lusts after Kirsty ( Who can blame him ? ) and it's this obsession that leads to his death at the hands of the Cenobites

    ah yes the Cenobites . A lot of people seem upset that the Cenobites aren't to the fore in this movie but it should be pointed out that they're the catalyst of the story not the focus . The story revolves around Frank and Julia's relationship and Julia's dissatisfaction with her marriage . In fact you could easily rewrite the story with Frank being on the run from a criminal gang instead of demons from another dimension and you'd still have the same story

    I shall admit there are some flaws to the movie such as the bizarre dubbing but I should point out that this was done post production in order to make the characters more identifiable ( 2 ) to an American audience hence English characters speaking with Bronx accents which does make some of the performances laughable . Ironically the only performance which can be described as bad is genuine American Ashley Laurence as Kirsty , but hey she's gorgeous so let's not complain too much lads . Writer/director Clive Barker's strengths do outweigh any weakness , take for example the scene in the hospital where a nurse watches TV and it's not a TV show she's watching but a rose in bloom , and for me the greatest image isn't the murder and gore but the scene at the end where a photograph of Frank burns to a haunting soundtrack . Barker does get good performances out of most of the cast namely Andrew Robinson who isn't as good as he was in DIRTY HARRY but he'll never be able to top that and he is good as uber wimp Larry , Claire Higgins as femme fatale Julia and Sean Chapman as the human version of Frank. I thought Chapman might have gone on to become a big name after this movie but strangely not . Even stranger I thought Barker would have gone onto bigger and better things but for some reason I found myself disliking his other stuff and seems to have disappeared from film making all together and I can't say I'm all that upset

    HELLRAISER is a classic story on the themes of love and death . Such a pity someone wanted to turn the movie into a franchise

    ( 1 ) The same week HELLRAISER was released FATAL ATTRACTION topped the US box office charts . One can't help thinking HELLRAISER would have been better regarded if it came out a few weeks earlier since the subtext is very similar to the Michael Douglas blockbuster

    ( 2 ) HELLRAISER spent several weeks in the US box office reaching a peak of number three on the charts and taking millions of dollars ( Not bad for a movie costing one million bucks ) so the dubbing is probably justified
  • LitelBluHli
    December 23, 2008
    LitelBluHli
    Uncle Frank was freaky!!!! This movie still scares me now after all these years. So dark and creepy.
  • imagination22
    December 27, 2009
    imagination22
    The hook of the film is that it plays on the duality of sensation. It seems to have some clichés but also some very quotable dialogue.
  • holocaustoinfer
    December 9, 2009
    holocaustoinfer
    I love the way this movie plays the topics of pain and pleasure!!!! Pinhead!!!!
  • TheQueenOfAwesomeness
    December 7, 2009
    TheQueenOfAwesomeness
    horror flick starring Doug Bradley, Ashley Laurence and Clare Higgins. based on Clive Barker's novel The Hellbound Heart. written and directed by Clive Barker.

    man finds box. man receives all kinds of kinky pains and pleasures. man is killed. man's lover and her husband m...( read more)ove into old abandoned house, where he once lived. the lover discovers he is dead... sorta. man must convince lover to do horrible things so that he can be whole again and they can once again be together.

    disgusting, yes. but scary, no. I mean, come on... the dripping, oozing dude was just nasty. and the whore that wants to get it on with him... even worse!

    it made me laugh once or twice, but mostly it just made me sick to my stomach. I honestly don't know how I ever thought this film was scary.

    another film that is way over-hyped.
  • poppies4u2000
    November 24, 2009
    poppies4u2000
    the best, love you Clive barker
  • Liloh
    November 23, 2009
    Liloh

    This is the only Movie thats Freaks a Hell outta me. I mean its like I get paranoid, Geez I remember when I watched it for the first time I was about 14 years old I think. I couldnt sleep at night, not because I cannt watch Horror Movies, I love Horror Movies. There is somet    ...( read more)hing strange about this one though. Something Bizarre, I aint sure what exactly? Tried to watch it as an Adult and it still scares a shit outta me. Naw thanks, THATS WHY 5 Stars. This is what I call Horror!
View All Reviews

Opening This Week

Top Box Office

Upcoming Movies

New on DVD