HELLRAISER
CAST
Andrew Robinson, Clare
Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Doug Bradley
DIRECTOR
Clive Barker
YEAR OF
RELEASE
1987
This movie
is an absolute classic and ranks as one of my
personal favorite movies. Clive Barker's
art-as-horror angle is at it's best in
Hellraiser, without lacking suspense or
scare, and there is definately lots of gore
to go around! The story centers around a
couple- Larry and Julia Cotton, and Larry's
estranged brother Frank, whom Julia carried
on an affair with until Frank, with a carnal
interest in the macabre, purchases a
puzzlebox that is a gateway to hell. But not
traditional hell, in typical Barker style,
hell is portrayed as a place of extreme dark
pleasure, combined and almost one in the same
with extreme pain. Frank dies in the attic in
a classic fish-hooking scene, only to be
resurrected when Larry, who along with Julia
has moved in to the home, spills his blood on
the floorboards. Julia discovers Frank and
the two maintain an uneasy relationship- she
kills to get him blood and flesh so that he
can be 'himself' again, and he promises to
carry on their lusty affair, all the
meanwhile, Larry's daughter, Kirsty, figures
it all out. The cenobites are something like
the landlords of hell, led by Pinhead, a man
with needles in each of the pressure points
of the face (ingenius!). Hellraiser is
captivating and dramatic and is among the
honored MisterShoes Recommended Viewing.
There are sequels, most notably Hellraiser
II: Hellbound, which picks up where this one
left off. The whole thing is based on
Barker's book, The Hellbound Heart, which I
also recommend.
SHOCK/SUSPENSE
4
GORE
5
CAMP
0
OVERALL
5
