I'm a fan of Clive Barker, first and foremost. My favorite books from him are The Books of Blood and Weaveworld, but I quitre enjoyed The Hellbound Heart (which the first Hellraiser film is based on). So if anyone should be overly critical, it would be myself and fans of his literature. That stated, this film is as close to Barker's world have got except for the first film. It certainly tops the sequels (in my opinion) and it's imagery is absolutely stunning. Gary Tunniclife has passion behind the camera for sure. You can tell he knew exactly what he wanted to do, which being the film's director is kind of a requirement (they call it a vision) but unfortunately there a ton of films with directors that seem to not have one or they are only worried about finishing the film on time, making money, make it look "just good enough". And with this type of film, the tenth I believe in the series, it kinda deserves that but no...not this film. The craftsmen/women and artists that made this film wanted to make it the very best they could and with a limited budget (limited is an understatement - it was roughly 350k it says on imdb) they succeeded in a way words can't really describe. Paul T Taylor as Pinhead I believe stole the show (duh). He is an amazing Pinhead and should (but won't always) make the fans rejoice. There is quite a bit of biasm (some may say loyalty) towards Doug Bradley, and he is great as Pinhead, but Mr. Taylor is right up there and he seems to relish the role giving it the due dilligence it deserves. No matter how good he was it was also the excellent storytelling that utilitzed him the way you're supposed to with Pinhead...sparingly. Like little pinches of salt and pepper, just here and there. I found myself really liking the Auditor (the director of the movie). I noticed I looked forward to him and Pinhead and when they came back into the film I wasn't disappointed. They were a great team. I have only two real problems with the film and that was 1) it did lack a sense of the romantic edge that the first Hellraiser had...A woman luring men to a cellar to kill them and reanimate her dead lover is a pretty fantastic and somehow romantic angle. Barker's work has a sick and twisted romance to it... Hellraiser Judgement's subplot was a serial killer (heavily inspired by Seven) and I believe I had even seen this in an earlier sequel. That romantic horror is absent. 2) I'm sure I would get some harsh remarks for this but...the female Detective, Alexandra Harris, wasn't believeable and I didn't care for her nor some of the other characters. Again, they are necessary to keep the balance, having one plot be the Cenobites and the subplot being the humans chasing the killer, but I simply didn't like their characters as much as the others...small little details...but just being honest.
Other than that, I enjoyed this very much and I'm happy to see passion breathed into this franchise. There will be many that will hate it for a variety of reasons - viewers who dislike the horror. Fanatics of the film (not the book) who yearn to see Doug Bradley as Pinhead again. And of course people who will immediately disregard this because of the budget and the negative naysayers...but if you watch this film and cut off any preconcieved judgements (no pun intended) you will enjoy it. Fantastic job and I for one can't wait for another one so long as it's made with the same passion.
Watch it if you dig Hellraiser. You'll enjoy it.
