dperky

There are moments in this new Hellraiser film that does inspire slight chills and for those brief moments, a better film is teased to the audience - a film that might have been as good as the first two films. After decades of mediocre to poor straight to video sequels, the Hellraiser series could use a little freshening up and this new one certainly brings the saga up to the present day. The gore is more playful and slasher-esque than the original films and there's some attempt at an eerie mood, but most of the film's attempts at atmosphere fail due to the scenes being so under lit that they're impossible to see.

Performances are fine, if unmemorable, and the whole thing feels 10 times longer than it really is. It's not a triumphant return to form, but it's better than most of the other sequels.

A sequel with a little more inspiration that the previous slash fest, but it doesn't fit in with the two films that came before it, making for an awkward ending to the trilogy. Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode appears to be even less traumatized than the woman we met in 2018 even after Michael Myers has proven himself to be a supernatural force that might not be able to be stopped. Plus, the iconic boogeyman has disappeared for the past few years since the events of the last film and Laurie doesn't seem as phased by this as she would have been in the first film of this trilogy.

A new character named Corey has been added and, while a lot of his material is interesting, it feels a little too late in the game to be giving most of the spotlight over to a brand new character.

A mostly cynical mash up of The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby with less plot, less character development, and less interesting effects. There's some entertainment value to be had from how shameless of a rip off this is and the lead character's children, especially the profane mini-adult daughter, are hilarious at times. For a film so slight, it also runs incredibly long for no reason.