I just finished up all the special features on my new Anchor Bay BluRay of Hellraiser. Thanks to everyone who advised me on the best version to pick up! I had not watched this film in over two decades. I enjoyed it a lot and am happy that I decided to revisit the film. I was never a fan of the franchise in general. I didn’t like Hellbound back in the day and still didn’t really care for it when watching some clips on Youtube a while back. I read an old interview with Clive in Fangoria where he basically stated that Hellbound spilt fans, with those who liked the first film not caring for the second, and those who like the second not liking the first one as much. I thought to myself how true this observation was, generally speaking. He went on to say that Hellbound was not the direction he would have taken the story, had he made the sequel (though the always-polite Clive praises Tony Randall and his team for what they did do). I can see that, as I think the sequels got hung up on what was popular versus truly exploring what the Cenobites had to offer. The traded exploring the experiences beyond human understanding with more hooks, chains, and tearing people apart, as if that was all it was about. In my opinion, those elements in the first film were an extension of what was inside Frank all along. I believe that every experience would be different (always extreme, but different), depending on the person using the Lament Configuration. The interview with Andrew Robinson revealed that he thought the script was not good for the sequel, though the real reason he didnt return was that they sought to pay him less money. Even if Andrew decided to return, I can’t imagine that the story direction would have been much better, as with or without him, they were already going the route of running with ideas we’d already seen, such as skinless people, hooks, and chains, and trying to top the Cenobites with Channard. The first film has a lot going on with the characters, which I found truly well written and interesting. The Cenobites are not the stars, nor is the dimension they hail from. When they appear, they are chilling, but they are not the heart of the story. Kirstie’s family is the heart of it all with the Cotton Brothers and Julia’s experience with Frank leaving her forever unable to be satisfied with brother Larry. I have read that Julia and Frank were to be the villains in the series, but really, I think it should have picked up with new characters and new experiences, linked only by the Cenobites. Oh well, just my opinion. Clive Barker or Doug Bradley (I forget which one) mentioned some footage of the Cenobites in individual cells, waiting. He said they didn’t use it and in all honestly I can see why. I don’t think it offers anything to the story and I can’t imagine where it would have been used without interfering with the pacing. I thought it was interesting that the footage did appear in the International Trailer. Anyhow, I really enjoyed revisiting Clives first stint as director after so long, and I was hoping to hear opinions from others here at Occupy Midian about what they liked or did not like about Hellraiser, or even why you like Hellbound better if you happen to fall into that camp.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 12:08:06 +0000
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