Hellraiser: Inferno

Hellraiser Inferno was a great movie. The acting could have been better, but it took a completely different turn than I expected it to.

Pinhead is what he was in the first two Hellraisers, A judge of Hell. If you notice Hellraiser 3 and Bloodline make him the bad guy, while in the first two movies it was the humans who were the evil ones.

This movie requires you to THINK. If you don't like having to think about a movie don't watch it, but if you liked the Blair Witch Project, You will like this movie.

This sequel brings back the style of the first two, but with enough difference to shock you in new ways. I believe this movie gets the point across that I think Clive Barker was trying to get across when he started this series, You create your own Hell, and you confront your own demons.

This movie is not like the rest of the series. It is more of a psychological terror than a slasher film. Give this movie a chance, and think about it.

It's important to note that the writers decided to take the series in a new direction with Inferno. The problem is that the direction they chose is far enough removed from the heart and soul of Hellraiser - from the very things that made it great - to be nothing short of off-putting and disappointing. It's a near impossibility to view this film without doing so through the lens of the straight-to-video format in which it was released. This film takes a budgetary back seat to its four predecessors and it shows painfully. It's very evidently a film script that the studio couldn't otherwise sell and, seizing on the opportunity, Miramax wrote in the Lament Configuration and, subsequently, Pinhead and slapped the Hellraiser moniker on it. A frequent statement fans of this film have used is that it must be viewed out of context of the Hellraiser series and entirely separate from the four films that came before it. When viewing it through that lens, Inferno becomes nothing short of a TV-movie-style production with some non-TV-appropriate profanities strewn throughout. The movie is bland, the acting is subpar and the plot is disappointing to say the absolute least. For a film that was promoted and released as a Hellraiser film with Pinhead on the cover, it's nonsensical to expect the viewer to enter into the film viewing it as anything but a Hellraiser sequel and, in that regard, it's not the worst movie ever made (and probably not even the worst Hellraiser sequel) but it definitely delivers an unhealthily large portion of boredom. Hellraiser: Inferno is an absolute pass. Not good.

A shady police detective (Craig Sheffer) becomes embroiled in a strange world of murder, sadism and madness after being assigned a murder investigation against a madman known only as "The Engineer".

So, the story is that parts five through eight of Hellraiser were actually other films that had the script tweaked in order to make them part of the franchise, under the idea that more people would rent or buy the movie if it had Pinhead in it. Well, that last part is certainly true: many Hellraiser fans rented or bought this film and were gravely disappointed.

The problem is that this is actually a decent movie... except the Hellraiser parts. A corrupt cop tracking a serial killer, while going mad and being taunted by the killer? That always works. But why would Pinhead involve himself in this? It makes no sense with the character or the story as we know it. Remove the chains and Pinhead, and you have a good story that actually makes some level of sense.

So, now what about the franchise? Is it screwed? Do we ignore this and other films or do we just say it got worse as it went? Horror franchises going downhill is pretty standard, but by accepting this one into the mix, we are muddling the mythology. Why did they do this?

...as long as you keep in mind they tried to do something different with the franchise. As such, the fifth installment is more of a supernatural morality tale in the line of Angel Heart and Jacob's Ladder. Everything does make sense, if you get all the way to the end.

Whether you like the inclusion of the Cenobites depends on whether you think they have to be center-stage or not. They basically do what they're supposed to here, and this movie does a better job of establishing how they torture people (as opposed to just ripping people apart in ugly ways) then the previous movies have done. The idea that they engage in psychological torture is one that none of the previous movies in the series have expanded upon in any great depth (although the fact they inflict pleasure as well as pain still needs to be touched upon a little more - the twin she-Cenobites kinda hint at this, though).

Basically this is perhaps the more subtle of the movies in the series, due to the apparent requirement that the Cenobites not play a large part. Rewatch it a time or two without the expectations that this will be a blood-oozing, skin-rippping "Pinhead movie" like the others, and you might be surprised.

After the disappointing reception of Hellraiser: Bloodline in 1996, the Hellraiser series had little promise. But, apparently enough promise that the series would be released direct to video and the first film to do that was the fifth entry, Hellraiser: Inferno. Released in 2000, Hellraiser: Inferno was not originally meant to be a Hellraiser film but, the studio found it cheaper to take a pre existing script and shove Hellraiser elements to then make it a Hellraiser film. Hellraiser: Inferno was written and directed by Scott Derrickson and stars Craig Sheffer, Nicholas Turturro, James Remar, and Doug Bradley. The film would be enough of a success that the series would continue well after the release of this film on direct to video.

Detective Joseph Thorne (Craig Sheffer) is a shady cop. He does drugs, takes money from dead victims, and hooks up with prostitutes while he is still married. When he finds the Lament Configuration and opens it, people start dying and someone known as the Engineer is behind all of this.....

Hellraiser: Inferno is a peculiar film in many ways. First off, it does not feel like a Hellraiser film. But that is not a bad thing at all. This film is a psychological horror/thriller that is actually fairly well constructed. It just has Pinhead sprinkled throughout the film. Clearly though, this was all unintentional. They had no idea that the already pre existing script would actually work as a Hellraiser film. The film is still dark and creepy all around. But what this film does bring that is new to the series is a sense of mystery. The cop plot and the whole murder plot is very gripping and while one probably would catch on a bit too early as to what this all boils down to, it is still very interesting to watch. This story in a way reminds me of the first Max Payne game. It is a psychological thriller with a cop/detective who is apart of a much bigger scheme. The story is a slow burn all around (with this film even managing to be the Hellraiser film with the longest runtime) but it is well worth it when the film gets to the climax and eventually the reveal which, as mentioned before, does get made a little obvious before hand. For some, the story may get a little convoluted if thought about too much but is otherwise fairly straightforward. The main character is not very likeable in the least bit but that is most certainly the point of the film. The character of Pinhead is not present in the film for very long and has little impact on the plot. But on the other hand, it is nice to see Pinhead more so as a neutral force as seen in Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II. The other Cenobites are creepy enough and are fairly simple in design. Special effects are done by Gary Tunnicliffe who did effects for Hellraiser: Bloodline and would do effects for the rest of the series and even go and direct Hellraiser: Judgment. The special effects are nothing great and considering a small budget, you are very limited on things that you can do in a film. CGI is used a few times and it does not look terrible considering that this is a low budget, direct to video film. We do get a good look at some great practical effects but there is not too much of them. It is probably the least gory Hellraiser film up to this point in the series.

Hellraiser: Inferno is highly underrated but I am seeing this film slowly gathering a cult following and it brings a smile to my face. If you did not like Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth and Hellraiser: Bloodline, and you want something a little different, Hellraiser: Inferno is the film for you.