Now available on Blu-ray and 4K from Arrow Video
This set contains the first four films in the Hellraiser franchise as well as a hardcover book with new writing from Phil and Sarah Stokes.
Hellraiser (1987)
As a couple moves in his family’s house, someone or something has found its way into one of the rooms and it plans on making a comeback to full life using the wife and then daughter of the family.
Written and directed by Clive Barker and based on his novella The Hellbound Heart, Hellraiser is a masterpiece of horror cinema and one that has aged rather well. The writing here is strong, to no one’s surprise, and the direction works quite well. The story here is creepy, kinky, a bit odd, but all in the right ways. The film brings the novella to the screen quite well and while there are changes, the fact that Barker was in charge made those easier to accept. Here, the film has great acting from Ashley Laurence, Clare Higgings, Andrew Robinson, Sean Chapman, Doug Bradley, and the rest of the cast. This is ensemble work, and it is great. Adding to the writing, direction, and acting are the special effects. These are mostly practical effects and even this many years later, they look great. Of course, these and the non-practical effects have aged, but they work well within the film’s confines. The score by Christopher Young is iconic.
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
A sequel coming this close to a masterpiece has some big and recent shoes to fill and this one kind of does. It is not as great as the first film, but it is still a strong horror film with strong themes that develops the universe and gives the Cenobites more to do. Written by Peter Atkins based on work by Clive Barker and directed by Tony Randel, this sequel takes a bit of an interesting turn and, honestly, it needed to. This turn brings back Ashley Laurence and Clare Higgings as well as Doug Bradley and the other Cenobites, they become the core of the series because of this. The story here is interesting and expands the world of Hellraiser creepily well. The acting is good and so are the writing and direction. The film’s new characters and the gore are good. The gore is a main point of sort here with more of it than in the first film. Overall, this is a solid sequel with practical effects that have aged well and laser that look absolutely worse in HD, but that is ok as it adds to the charm.
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)
The 1990s came and brought back Pinhead in a great and odd way. Written by Peter Atkins and based on a story by Atkins and Tony Randel and of course based on the writings of Clive Barker, and directed by Anthony Hickox, this sequel attempts something new and some of it works well and some of it doesn’t work at all. While some of the new Cenobites are fun, some of them look silly (we’re looking at you cd-spitting Cenobite). The film is fun though and the effects are decent. It definitely feels like a third film in a series. On the plus side, the cast is fairly good, with one exception but they don’t deserve to be pointed out and audiences will know who this is referring to, Doug Bradley gets more screen time and gets to do things a bit differently which works well.
Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)
Also known as Pinhead Goes to Space, this entry in the series is highly uneven, but the period piece parts of the film are fantastic. This sequel is written by Peter Atkins and directed by Kevin Yahger and works great when it works and, well, is a bit silly once it gets to space. There are good ideas here, but the space stuff doesn’t work for this viewer. When it comes to the LeMarchand box being created and first used, those parts of the film are fantastic. The flailing and the skin being put on like a catsuit are great sequences with practical effects that work to this day. The film here has a lot of going on, including the cast with Doug Bradley doing his tried-and-true Pinhead at this point and Valentina Vargas being a goddess of gore in the best way possible. The cinematography here is possibly the strongest of the sequels.
This box set here is one that will make most Hellraiser fans happy as can be. It has a ton in it beyond the 4 films including new scenes that can be watched spliced into the third film and a work cut of the fourth film, both of which are worth checking out at least once. Each of the films here have new audio commentaries and the first three have archival audio commentary. One of the highlights of the extras is The Story of the Abandoned Coil Score which has excerpts from this score that didn’t make it in the end. For fans of the first film, it’s an interesting what-if. The set also has a bunch of archival interviews that include some with Clive Barker, Doug Bradley, Sean Chapman, and more. There are special effects featurettes, behind-the-scenes, original EPKs, etc. There is some much on here that it will take a fans of the film a long, happy time to get through it all. While the price of the set may look hefty, there is more than the money’s worth in extras alone, not counting the films in HD restored from the original camera negatives by Arrow Films. This set is a great way to own what could be the definitive versions of these films.