Wednesday, February 22, 2006

"Hellbound: Hellraiser II" review


Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)

Directed by Tony Randel
Writing credits Clive Barker Peter Atkins

Clare Higgins.... Julia Cotton
Ashley Laurence.... Kirsty Cotton
Kenneth Cranham.... Dr. Philip Channard/Channard Cenobite
Imogen Boorman.... Tiffany
Sean Chapman.... Frank Cotton

Kirsty is in the nuthouse. No one believes her tale of puzzle boxes and Cenobites. She finds a sympathetic ear from her doctor. He believes her and can't wait to take the fast train to Hell. He gets the puzzle box open, Cenobites arrive and Kirsty spends the second half of the movie wandering through Hell with mad doctors, evil demon stepmothers and other malicious creatures.

You don't have to believe in Hell to enjoy this movie, but it would help. This is the nastiest, goriest, meanest entry in the "Hellraiser" series. Depravity abounds. This one was my favorite. I love seeing movies try to imagine what Hell is really like. Having a belief in the afterlife would definitely make the flick scarier. If you don't believe in Hell at all, I can see how most of the movie would look a little silly. The Hell effects are not that great. They worked well on me though.

One enduring mystery of the "Hellraiser" series is why these morons keep solving the puzzle box. They keep saying they want to know, they have to know... Hasn't all their research of the box told them of the tremendous suffering they're going to have to go through? I guess I just don't understand the whole S&M thing. Being a demon from Hell can't be that great. Besides, if there is a Hell, why go there early? All good/bad things to those who wait. Cenobites were just impatient, Hell-hungry freaks.

SCORE: 4 out of 4 Hell-hungry freaks

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