Joined
·
6,344 Posts
Its been awhile since I did one of these, and I've let my review skills hit the skids as of late, but never fear, I'm back with another installment of my film critiques. This time in the hot seat we have Hellraiser: Deader.
In this chapter of this almost too far gone series we follow Amy Klein (Kari Wuhrer) a reporter who likes to live on the edge and explore the darkside of life. Her boss tells her that their office has recieved a videotape from someone that goes into the inner circle of a cult that calls themselves "Deaders." After witnessing a suicide on the tape and the groups leader bringing one of its members back to life, our reporter is sent off to Romania to get the lowdown on this resurrection cult. Rather typically, Amy finds herself way out of her league as she tracks down the person who sent the tape and comes in contact with the Lament Configuration Box. Amy "solves" the puzzle and anyone who hasn't lived on Mars since the late-eighties knows what this brings about. Ya see, it seems that Pinhead is pissed that the Deader's leader, Winter (Paul Rhys in a thoroughly uncharismatic role) is stealing what rightfully belongs to him, and he needs Amy to get it back. This takes her into the cult's stronghold itself where her own demons surface and threaten to drag her down into her own form of Hell.
As with Freddy, Jason, Myers and in this case, Pinhead and the subsequent movies that have the aforementioned characters, I don't quite understand why we as Horror fans are so masochistic to put ourselves up to certain forms of punishment. Maybe we're hoping that for one last time we'll see our favorite monsters pull one more proverbial rabbit from the hat and make us sit in awe as a new chapter unfolds in their saga that will at least be on the par with the movie that made us sit up and take notice of them in the first place. This movie suffers from bad direction, a thin storyline, lifeless acting and an utter lack of atmosphere found in the first two movies of the series. The parts without Pinhead and the other Cenobites (The Chatterer makes another appearance, but it is painfully brief.) played out much like a Lifetime afternoon movie starring washed up actors like Priscilla Barnes and Lee Horsely. When the demons DID make an appearance, the screen presence they had once so long ago is totally gone. There was no sense of dread like the original movie and the majestic scores were sadly missing as well. Overall, this was a complete crapfest, that not even Doug Bradley reprising the role that made him famous, The Chatterer or the lovely Kari Wuhrer were enough save this monstrosity.
Hellraiser: Hellworld comes out in either September or October, I can't remember which (I'm not sure I care anymore) and stars one of my favorite actors of all-time Lance Henrickson. Maybe Lance can bring some dignity back to this ever sinking franchise, but I seriously doubt it.
Rating: 1 1/2 out of a possible 5 stars.
In this chapter of this almost too far gone series we follow Amy Klein (Kari Wuhrer) a reporter who likes to live on the edge and explore the darkside of life. Her boss tells her that their office has recieved a videotape from someone that goes into the inner circle of a cult that calls themselves "Deaders." After witnessing a suicide on the tape and the groups leader bringing one of its members back to life, our reporter is sent off to Romania to get the lowdown on this resurrection cult. Rather typically, Amy finds herself way out of her league as she tracks down the person who sent the tape and comes in contact with the Lament Configuration Box. Amy "solves" the puzzle and anyone who hasn't lived on Mars since the late-eighties knows what this brings about. Ya see, it seems that Pinhead is pissed that the Deader's leader, Winter (Paul Rhys in a thoroughly uncharismatic role) is stealing what rightfully belongs to him, and he needs Amy to get it back. This takes her into the cult's stronghold itself where her own demons surface and threaten to drag her down into her own form of Hell.
As with Freddy, Jason, Myers and in this case, Pinhead and the subsequent movies that have the aforementioned characters, I don't quite understand why we as Horror fans are so masochistic to put ourselves up to certain forms of punishment. Maybe we're hoping that for one last time we'll see our favorite monsters pull one more proverbial rabbit from the hat and make us sit in awe as a new chapter unfolds in their saga that will at least be on the par with the movie that made us sit up and take notice of them in the first place. This movie suffers from bad direction, a thin storyline, lifeless acting and an utter lack of atmosphere found in the first two movies of the series. The parts without Pinhead and the other Cenobites (The Chatterer makes another appearance, but it is painfully brief.) played out much like a Lifetime afternoon movie starring washed up actors like Priscilla Barnes and Lee Horsely. When the demons DID make an appearance, the screen presence they had once so long ago is totally gone. There was no sense of dread like the original movie and the majestic scores were sadly missing as well. Overall, this was a complete crapfest, that not even Doug Bradley reprising the role that made him famous, The Chatterer or the lovely Kari Wuhrer were enough save this monstrosity.
Hellraiser: Hellworld comes out in either September or October, I can't remember which (I'm not sure I care anymore) and stars one of my favorite actors of all-time Lance Henrickson. Maybe Lance can bring some dignity back to this ever sinking franchise, but I seriously doubt it.
Rating: 1 1/2 out of a possible 5 stars.
