Hellraiser (1987)

Rating 18
Length 1h34
Release 11.09.1987
Director Clive Barker
About A couple moves to an old house to find the man’s brother and the wife’s former lover who has turned into an ugly beast. He now bids the woman to bring him human sacrifices to help him be whole again.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Free with ads on Amazon Prime
Trailer:

Trick

• It’s a bit of a mess, production wise. It’s clearly filmed in London, but the house is a family inheritance to the American in the couple?! It’s considered a “British” film, but every attempt is made to suggest that it’s set in America: including some bad dubbing.
  Don’t get me wrong, I hate it when it’s done the other way around too. It pulls me out of the film completely.
• I’m meant to believe that Julia fucks Frank within five minutes of meeting him and that’s enough for her to not only accept him as the inside out baboon from The Fly, but go off and lure men back to the house even the Young Ones would be ashamed of?! Fuck off, I’m not buying it, and because I’m not buying it the film is shit.
• I feel a bit like Frank when he’s being spun around; I don’t know where to focus and I really want to be sick. There’s something about the combination of sex and violence that feels exploitative.

Treat

• The Cenobite designs are a thing of nightmares, but incredibly well made. You can easily see why The Priest (aka Pinhead) has become so iconic.
• Andrew Robinson all but wasted until that final act when you can see why he was place in the role and then it makes sense. Many will know him from Star Trek, others perhaps from Dirty Harry and he is as much a joy here as he is in anything else you might see him in.
• Ashley Laurence holds her own as daughter Kirsty. I almost wish we’d been following her from the start; it certainly would have given the film more grounding and a character focus.

Final Thoughts

Much like The Fly, this film goes into the pile that make me physically sick. For those that can handle it, it’s American Werewolf in London and The Thing cranked up to 11.