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Film Review: Hellraiser (1987)
What if there was a puzzle box and if you solved the puzzle, sex demons appeared and tortured you to death? That’s the question Hellraiser seeks to answer. Summarizing it as such may come off snide, but I only mean to highlight how bold and weird the film is. Hellraiser gets lumped in with Halloween, Friday the 13th, et al., but structurally and thematically it’s a far cry from your average slasher. Nightmare on Elm Street comes closest. Both films focus on their supernatural elements, their iconic baddies have personalities rather than being silent, faceless killers, but tonally and in myriad other ways, the two diverge.
Hellraiser begins in a bazaar in some unnamed country where Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman) buys the aforementioned puzzle box, a black lacquered cube with unique patterns of filigreed brass on each of its six sides. Frank solves the puzzle in his attic, then hooks shoot from the box to tear him apart. His square brother Larry (Andrew Robinson) and Larry’s wife Julia (Clare Higgins) move into Frank’s house, oblivious to what happened there. While hauling a mattress upstairs, Larry cuts his hand on a nail. His blood seeps beneath the attic floorboards where it is absorbed by what remains of Frank.
The blood resurrects Frank but only partially; he’s all exposed muscle and bone and lymph. He enlists Julia to bring home men so he can steal their life force to restore his flesh back to normal. The two had had an affair during Julia and Larry’s engagement. Larry is slow to notice something is afoot in his home, though he can tell something is wrong with his wife. Kirsty (Ashley Laurence), his adult daughter from a previous marriage, agrees to try bonding with Julia. This leads to her stumbling upon her stepmother and uncle’s murdering scheme and discovering the horrors of the puzzle box.
If you haven’t seen the film, you’re probably wondering where Pinhead (Doug Bradley) fits into this, considering he’s the face of the franchise and the one widely known thing about the movie. You’ll be surprised to find out how little he appears on screen (according to one site, it’s eight minutes). He’s leader of the Cenobites, the beings summoned by the box, in his words, “Explorers in the further regions of experience. Demons to some, angels to others.” This brief line, their BDSM-inspired appearance of leather and open wounds, and Frank’s sexual depravity are about all the hints we’re given as to the nature of the Cenobites. The audience is trusted to piece things together. It works far better leaving them mysterious. They seem to follow some set of rules, but exactly what or why is not stated. They are not killers out for revenge like Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees. They function outside human understanding.
Julia Cotton (Clare Higgins) washes up after her first murder.
Also, they look cool. Let’s be real. These are some of the most inspired creature designs in horror and there would not have been nine sequels, a line of comic books, parodies, and endless merch had they been something more generic. Of course, the idea of interdimensional S&M monsters is ludicrous. What the sequels didn’t understand (as so many sequels don’t) is that explaining such a thing in greater detail, “expanding the lore” as the kids say, doesn’t make it more believable, it merely draws attention to how loopy the premise is. No, something like the Cenobites works better at the periphery of the story, exciting your imagination, not straining your credulity.
It’s the twisted love triangle that drives the film. Frank is a slave to his vices which is what makes him enticing to Julia. He isn’t caring, supportive, or charming, even in a superficial way. What he offers is danger, something she could never get from his brother who’s frankly a weenie. When Larry cuts his hand, he comes to her like a prissy child to his nanny. Since Julia’s motivations are driven by lust, she is neither good nor sympathetic, but Clare Higgins squeezes every bit of humanity from the character. She seems reluctant during the first killing and is shaken afterward, though who knows if she’s struggling with regret or anxious about being caught. Higgins pulls off being a deadly seductress with a horrendous haircut I’ll charitably assume was stylish at the time.
Andrew Robinson conveys the blandness of Larry Cotton while not making the character one note. It was his first role to break from the psychos he’d been cast as since playing the Scorpio Killer in Dirty Harry. Ashley Laurence plays Kirsty with the right degree of innocence. Though she’s the only one not middle-aged, she isn’t the obnoxious teen you find in most horror from the time. She’s competent and independent. In her first scene, she tells her father she found a place to live on her own despite his protestations. The characters and the drama are as fleshed out as you get in a 90-minute splatter movie.
Clive Barker
The movie was Clive Barker’s debut as director. Based on his novella, The Hellbound Heart*, Barker insisted on directing after seeing the two previous adaptations of his work. He was upset when Rawhead Rex featured an ogreish creature when he wrote the monster as a giant phallus. (Can you blame him? Alien got made, after all.) He’s fond of telling the story of going to the library to check out all the books they had on directing and the only one they had was checked out. The movie does not look like it was helmed by a guy who couldn’t even consult The Complete Idiots Guide to Directing. While his other two films, Nightbreed and Lord of Illusions, don’t suggest he was the greatest of auteurs, he undeniably had talent and an eye for arresting visuals—not surprising considering he is a painter in addition to everything else.
A strong visual sense would mean nothing if the special effects weren’t just as strong. Enter Bob Keen and his crew. On a $1 million budget, they created scenes that belong to the pantheon of horror. Frank’s resurrection, possibly the goopiest scene outside Japanese adult video, is the show stopper, a masterpiece of animatronics and reverse photography. Frank’s post-resurrection scenes feature impressive makeup effects to give him that Saint Bartholomew look. (In the audio commentary, Ashley Laurence claims skinless Frank is “sexy.” Women.) The one area where it falters is with the VFX of the Cenobites disintegrating once they’re “defeated” at the end. It’s cartoonish and couldn’t have been impressive even in the ’80s. Due to their budget running dry, Barker had to animate these scenes himself over a weekend.
If you’re a real nitpicker, you could also complain that in the scene where Kirsty is chased down a hall, you can see the crewmen pushing the monster. YouTuber Rob Ager claims the monster symbolizes a penis (his NSFW video). This seemed like smarty pants gibberish, the sort that assumes every cylindrical thing symbolizes a penis, even toothy monsters. Then I watched the movie in black and white and noticed when she solves the puzzle box before being chased the pink energy particles that float out of it look just like sperm. Guess Clive got his phallus monster after all.
The Cenobite Butterball.
We can’t talk about the movie without mentioning the music. Originally Barker hired the industrial band Coil to compose the score, but New World Pictures put the kibosh on that and an established film composer, Christopher Young, was brought in instead. How Coil’s Hellraiser would’ve turned out is one of those great what-ifs. The music they created has been released in more than one compilation, but it is incomplete, and it’s hard to know how it would have fit the film. It wouldn’t have been better than what Young created. His orchestral arrangements stand in contrast to the synth-heavy scores popular at the time. There’s a majesty to it. It’s as grand as it is haunting.
This review is already past 1,300+ words, but I have to discuss the sequels, mostly so I can get it over with and never feel compelled to write about them again. Many fans claim the direct sequel, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, is a worthy successor, some even going as far as to claim it is the better of the two. They are morons. The movie is preposterous, it pisses on the mystery of Pinhead within the first five minutes, it is trash.
I will say, though, if the highest standard of cinema was showing people without skin, Citizen Kane would be the Hellraiser II of dramas. Remove the puzzle box and replace Pinhead with a generic demon and you’d never suspect the third entry, Hell on Earth, had anything to do with the franchise. Pinhead is reduced to reciting one-liners like a thrift-store Freddy. He’s joined by a brand new cast of Cenobites, including one with CDs lodged in its head that it can shoot out its arm like a rejected Mega Man boss. The only salvageable part is Motörhead’s cover of Ozzy’s “Hellraiser,” but you’d be better off watching the music video 20 times in a row.
Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence)
I confess I haven’t bothered with any of the sequels past that point. Yes, this means I can’t say anything definitive about their quality, however, from the clips I’ve seen and what I know of their plots and the reception among fans and critics, I won’t be gambling hours of my life on the possibility that Hellraiser: Deader is actually not that bad. Nor do I care to read the comic books or even Barker’s follow-up novel, The Scarlet Gospels.
For me, Hellraiser ends with the novella and the film. The story needn’t extend beyond their borders. Any lingering questions are better pondered in the audience’s mind than resolved by the screenwriter’s pen. To this day, it is a work of a peculiar allure. It is nasty and brutal, yet there is beauty in it too, both in Barker’s prose and Young’s music. Other ’80s horror featured sex but didn’t explore it. Sex isn’t the spice of Hellraiser, it is the main course. What else? Ashley Laurence is the hottest final girl and it’s time someone said so. The Chatterer Cenobite is real freaky. Jesus wept. Alright, I think that covers everything.
Would you look at that. A reboot of the series released last week on Hulu. It’s big budget, a notable director is attached, the Weinsteins have nothing to do with it. Oooh. Wonder what that might be like? Hmmmmm.
*The story was first printed in the third volume of Night Visions, a short story collection edited by George R.R. Martin, a fact I learned writing this review.
Published in Entertainment
I know tastes differ, and I know we use words casually. I don’t bandy “pervert” around, because I think it’s too often used inappropriately. However, I think there is a kind of perversion of healthy human nature that attends a fascination with cruelty, gore, sadism, and the macabre (at least at its extremes), and I think your word choice was probably apt.
I’ve never understood the attraction of this kind of thing. I remember being perplexed, and concerned, by the enthusiasm with which Halloween was embraced in the late 1970s. I remain perplexed, and concerned.
Can’t speak for Hartmann, but I thought Phantasm was a great piece of surreal minimalist horror. Still haven’t gotten around to the sequels.
Yeah, that assessment I agree with. I have not bothered with the sequels.
I’ve read/seen enough about the sequels to have them spoiled so I know about the one with Kirsty (Hellseeker I believe) and its twist. It is cool that Dennis Duffy is her husband in it. The one that still kinda intrigues me is Inferno. Even the last one before the reboot looked creative in a bonkers way even if it looks more like a no budget Hellraiser knockoff.
Superman also appears in one of them, the same one Lance Henriksen plays the (non-Pinhead) villain. Henriksen was offered the role of Frank in the original Hellraiser, but turned it down. Another interesting Lance Henriksen fact: he was illiterate until the age of 30.
Lileks did, but I didn’t want to be the one to point it out. Hellraiser III does appear to be the most light-hearted of the series. Some fans seem to like the tongue-in-cheek approach. I don’t mind sequels changing directions, but you got to have something real good to justify not providing what attracted people to the series in the first place. If I want a light, campy horror movie there are better choices out there. One reviewer pointed out there are worse designs in the movie. The smoker Cenobite just has a cigarette poking out of its neck. CD-head at least is memorably stupid.
I disagree on Videodrome not being a horror movie. It’s creepy and suspenseful as you say, and all the body transformation stuff is textbook horror. The genre does come in more subtle varieties than just simple scares, though I understand your point.
Yes, the one from 1996. That’s one unsettling movie. Not sure how I’d classify it. It obsesses over the same ideas as Hellraiser, though without the supernatural elements. It’s artsier, though most people would have a harder time sitting through it than Hellraiser, even though it has little gore.
Let us know what you think.
Dead Zone is on my list. Cronenberg is a hard one to make recommendations for. The Fly is his only film (that I’ve seen) that has any wide appeal (as far as R-rated horror goes). I loved his latest, Crimes of the Future, but I don’t think many people will like that one, even if it’s not gross or disturbing in the ways you’d expect.
I don’t spend a lot of time around here for the same reason.
Schlitzie’s page went darker than I expected:
I’m perplexed by the love for Halloween because that movie sucks. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is its superior in every way, a masterpiece, and it had already been out for four years at that point.
I’m not a big horror fan, but I have a soft spot for the first two Final Destination films.
The idea that Death itself is the big bad, and that Death may actually be justified in his/her/its irritation at being cheated, was quite entertaining.
Also, the first two were more shocking and disturbing than gory. But, like, really shocking and disturbing. It’s the anticipation of the slowly developing unavoidable kill that gets to you, much more than the kill itself.
Sadly, the series degenerated into mindless and increasingly ludicrous CGI gore-porn starting with the third installment. Why would Death even need such convoluted rube goldberg tactics? In the first two movies the deaths can easily be dismissed as normal everyday accidents. In a weird way, the subsequent convoluted deaths make Death seem less frightening.
Nightbreed is one of those movies where they had a really neat idea but the execution leaves much to be desired.
In other words, it’s one of the few movies out there that actually sorta kinda deserve a remake.
Reg is da man!
;-)
I really want to see Crimes Of The Future. It looks really interesting.
I think Dead Zone, also had pretty wide appeal – its such an interesting premise. What if you could see someones fate by shaking their hand? What could you do to change it? I think “Tru Calling” explored this same area – but more morbidly.
Hellraiser? I couldnt make it past the cold open… about 2 minutes into the film…. Thats a pretty rough opening. Thinking it over – thats all I’ve ever had seen of the film.
I saw pinhead, I saw the puzzle box. Ok, I get it…
And more attractively too, Eliza Dushku!
There was also Early Edition, but that had some other problems.
Sounds like an interesting series. I dont think I’ve ever seen it.
Eliza Dushku has kinda shot herself in the foot… She had a recurring roll on “Bull” but she sued them for sexual harassment and won $9 million settlement. Makes it difficult for her to be cast in other projects going forward.
Maybe, but $9 million can last quite a while.
Yes, even in LA, she’s in no danger of being on the street. But the point I am making, is that she’s not having the career that she should after such a good start. True Lies! Buffy, Tru Calling, then Dollhouse… Then just guest shots on sitcoms?
If they pay the rent etc, then the $9 Million can be used for other things and goes a lot farther.
Okay, this has been bothering me. What the heck is a cenobite? I can assure you that the Magic: The Gathering card has nothing to do with the movie.
Here’s a few:
The only good thing about Nightbreed is how dumbly campy it is. It is sooo….bad it’s unintentionally good. Same with Rawhead Rex. Now Lair of the White Worm, that’s a fun ride. And it has the Pogues.
Dead Zone is good as a King adaptation, and Walken’s anguished performance. The Fly, like other 80s body-horror movies, makes you wonder why the culture entertained these revolting visions. I think it was a convenient intersection of technology, jaded audiences, and a zeitgeist that encouraged transgressive rewriting of mainstream expectations. Compare Cronenberg’s version with the original, and you have to wonder what changed in the culture. What went wrong.
Cronenberg’s version is much more anguished and emotionally true than the original. But that wasn’t because it was more visually explicit. He could have achieved the same effect without the revolting images of physical decomposition, thanks to his actors. His movie lingered with besotted indulgence on its horrible images, upped the ante, and trained audiences to expect more, and more, for diminishing returns that required even more, and more.
Why did the mainstream culture entertain such horrific violations of the human form at the height of our our peace and prosperity? Jaded decadence? Unease over our good fortune, handed to all without any effort on our part?
Well, “they say” that one reason the left wants to destroy things is because they don’t think they deserve to be so prosperous, and stuff.
Phantasm… I was so young I don’t remember anything except people trapped in a horse with a freaky old man and these flying metal death balls. I was properly freaked out, but loved it. Still haven’t gone back to Phantasm yet though.
I ought to finish that review I started back when it was released. Know that it does not have a conventional narrative. I think a lot of people expected a basically normal movie with a strange premise. As long as you’re not squeamish it isn’t that rough to sit through. The hype surrounding its disturbing content came from some Cronenberg remarks that were overblown by the media.
Two things that haven’t been mentioned enough are Howard Shore’s score which is amazing, and the humor. The movie is funny. (So far) my movie of the year.
Your review is better than mine.
A cenobite is “a member of a religious group living together in a monastic community” according to Merriam-Webster. It was an obscure word when The Hellbound Heart was written so looking it up usually leads you to Hellraiser. Most people who’ve heard the word probably think it comes from Hellraiser. I did until last year.
The Cenobites were also a rap group featuring Kool Keith.
Thanks. I’ve had that problem with Magic card titles that occasionally they’ll throw in an obscure actual word and I’ll miss it because they use made-up words as well. I wouldn’t have caught this one except having read that review I had that word bouncing about in the back of my head and trying to make a connection to something I already knew.
Cronenberg’s obsession throughout his career has been how we are confined to these bodies, these stacks of meat that breathe and hunger and bleed and perspire and puke. And fail. The horror he explores is of the body revolting, a horror from which you have no refuge, self against self.
He described The Fly as basically a drama about a couple in which one of them becomes ill with something like cancer (a lot of people analogize Seth Brundle’s condition to AIDS but since it’s not communicable, cancer is the better analog). Disease is not pretty. The deterioration is gross and usually glossed over in movies. No, The Fly would not be as effective if you removed the moments of goop and rot. It would be a completely different movie.
From Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart:
Also, it’s fun, it’s interesting, it’s thrilling. Let’s not pretend there’s anything new about this. Art from the ancients to the medieval to the Renaissance depicts flayings, decapitations, impalements. In Balinese mythology there’s a thing called a leyak which is a floating head with its entrails hanging out. It feasts on babies in the womb.