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Hellbound: Hellraiser 2

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Take all of the delightfully sickening gore of the original Hellraiser, multiply it ten times or so, throw in a deliciously wicked new source of evil, and then provide some background on the origin of Pinhead and his fellow Cenobites, and you have Hellraiser 2: Hellbound. I love the original movie, but this sequel is even better in so many ways. It essentially picks up the story from the end of the first movie (providing almost too many flashbacks to make sure you are up to speed), where Kirstie (Ashley Laurence) has seen her uncle return to life sans skin to team up with her wicked stepmother to kill her father, and she has somehow survived two encounters herself with the Cenobites. Little did she know that her troubles were really only beginning. We find her in a mental hospital run by the cold and calculating Dr. Cannard (played to the hilt by Kenneth Cranham), who, as luck would have it, has been secretly delving into the secrets of the puzzle box himself. He manages to get the bloody mattress upon which Julia died and brings her back to life with the help of some of his most insane patients. He and Julia use a young girl unable to speak but gifted at solving puzzles to call forth the Cenobites and enter their world to satiate the mad doctor's deep need to "know." Kirstie and the mute girl follow them into the infernal labyrinth where they encounter Kirstie's old friend Pinhead, who allows Kirstie time to explore because, after all, "we have eternity to know your flesh." When Julia takes Dr. Cannard to Leviathan, lord of the labyrinth, god of flesh, hunger, and desire, he becomes a new force for evil in that realm. Before the movie ends, there are some very dramatic events that add much depth to the entire Hellraiser series.

This is a gory movie; make no mistake about that. If you don't want to see the human body mutilated in a number of fascinating ways, this is not the movie for you. As a horror fan, I love the blood and guts, especially since it seems necessary rather than gratuitous to satisfy the requirements of this story. Some of the special effects are a little cheesy toward the end, but one must remember this movie came out in 1988. The original movie seemed pretty limited in scope, providing just a peek into the Cenobites world. This sequel broadens that scope immensely and leads us on a visual journey of wonder and horror through the labyrinth which the Cenobites call home. While the first movie naturally made one wonder where the Cenobites came from, this sequel provides many answers. We learn much about Pinhead in particular, getting visual evidence of the manner in which he earned his nickname. There are aspects about the movie's conclusion I did not particularly care for, but these issues are less important for those who are not hard core horror connoisseurs. This is not a slasher film; those who squirm their way through a Jason or Freddy movie may find themselves unprepared for the extent of the horror in this movie. Those of us who like our horror bloody and disturbing, though, will use this as the benchmark by which we compare all future gory movies.

This film is even more complex than the first one. It is a voyage inside the brain, not the individual brain of one person but inside the collective brain of humanity. The brain is a labyrinth and it is entirely dominated and controlled by desires. But this film transforms death into a fourth dimension of life because death is just a permanent imprisonment in this labyrinth facing a permanent non-satisfaction of one's desires that are thus perverted into suffering or the inflicting of suffering to new visitors or arrivers.

But this film gives an explanation of whom the cenobites are. They are men, and eventually women, who made other humans suffer when they were humans themselves. Thus Pinhead was a colonial soldier who enjoyed torturing people. Julia becomes a guide in this labyrinth after her rebirth because she was a killer, a criminal, an assassin in real life. But a new cenobites is born in front of our eyes. The psychiatrist is transformed into a torturer because he was such a man in real life, using scalpels and saws to manipulate and mutilate brains.

The twist of this film is that the cube produces a new shape, a double trihedra that is the very symbol of desires, of the flesh. And it is another victim of the psychiatrist, a young girl who was locked by her mother in the hospital of that man, who is able to solve the puzzle of this double trihedra in order to close the cube again, and it closes the labryinth of desires and the brain.

This film is a metaphor, an enormous metaphor, of society, if we consider the brain as a representation or a mirror image of society, and it is. Hence Clive Barker reaches here a social level that is not always present, in such a complexity, in his work. Very often, the flesh, the desires, the feelings, the blood of life are more in the limelight. We must think that the reason is simple : this film is not based on a book. In other words it is purely and firstly visual ; not semantic or linguistic.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.

What is definitely interesting about the Hellraiser movies is that the cenobites never go after just people. As Pinhead states: "You called, we came"! There are some life lessons to be gained from Clive Barker. The most salient is: If people are not corrupt they do not need to fear evil. All of the people who are impacted by the hellish creatures are afflicted with greed and avarice. The cenobites are the just reward for these.

THIS IS A TRUE HORROR FILM, WAY AHEAD OF ITS TIME, THE LOOK OF THE FILM, THE EFFECTS, ITS GORE, EVERYTHING ABOUT IT FRIGHTENS.

I was expecting the sequel to Hellraiser to be a retarded knock-off of the original, but I was definately shown not to judge a movie by it's cover. This movie continues where the first one left off and reveals more of the origin of Pinhead and his comrads. Just watch it, but only if you've seen the first Hellraiser.

this is one of those rare sequels that out does its predecessor. this one has some of the most incredible imagery ive ever seen in a horror film, and provides plenty of scare. see the first one of course, but do not skip this one. oh, and don't get your hopes up for "Hellraiser III"; its the worst of the "Hellraiser" bunch, and quite simply a terrible movie.

This, my friends, is THE ULTIMATE horror sequel. It deservesto stand by such greats as DAWN OF THE DEAD or THE EXORCIST 3. I'm notsaying the original's bad.. Not at all. The original is another horror classic with unlimited imagination. HELLBOUND is one of the very very horror sequels that expands and surpasses the original, with such great additions as Leviathan, Pinhead's past, hell, and extremely interesting new characters like Dr. Channard and Tiffany; you actually care about these characters and what happens to them, how many movies can you say that for? It's too confusing? WRONG! This film is very silent about the entire story, and you have to be a good listener and ADD free to understand it. The second best sequel would have to be Hellraiser Bloodline; simply because of the awesome past scene that shows the creation of Lemarchand's Lament Configuration (Puzzle Box.) But my friends, the absolute worst is Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth. What a complete joke! Where did the frightening Pinhead from parts 1&2 go? What's with the one-liners? On top of that there IS NO STORY. Stick with the original two if you want a good story, shocking gore, great acting and imagination. Rent Hellraiser 3 if you want an experience similar to that of your average, horrible Nightmare on Elm Street/Friday the 13th sequel. Bottom Line: Hellbound Hellraiser 2 is one of the best horror films ever, period.

Firstly, Hellbound:Hellraiser 2 is not just a second-rate sequel, but expands on, and perhaps even betters it's original. Now with Hellbound there's really two ways to approch it. #1 is to sit there, wracking your brain, and trying to make sence of the whole thing. And #2 is to put your chair right infront of the T.V., turn the lights down low (to create the horror movie atmosphere)press play, settle down and stare at the screen for a hour and a half.
I chose the latter, which was probably for the best, because otherwise I'd probably be up all night. But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this movie is confused or that it doesn't make sence or anything. What I mean is that I think they just tried to fit too much into one movie. There's enough matirial for two movies.But, hey I love it. Let's take a look-see: The new characters (Dr.Charnard, Tiffany) are both interesting (perhaps a little disterbed, but who cares?) plus Kirsty returns but Steve managed to slip out of it.But here's the part that trips me up: Dr. Charnard lets a mental paceint slice himself up royaly on the mattress containing Julia's soul,(very nasty) thus resurecting her. Resurecting Julia. Who in their right mind would do it? Well Dr.Charnard falls in love with her,(and makes out with her) even though she's a skinned corpse (nice, hey?).

Anyway off they all head down to hell. Actually I found the concept that everyone has their own, personal hell very intreiging. That was heaps interesting. So anyway everyone's there and basicly all hell breaks loose, thus the expression. Dr. Charnard gets turned into a Cenobite, who's linked directly to Levithan. And so there's another who's trying to kill Kirsty and co. Also Julia gets hers back on Frank for killing her in the original. But I think the best part of all is when Kirsty confronts the Chatterer, Butterball, Pinhead and She-who-must-not-be-named with their own humanity. But God knows how she managed to reconise Pinhead from the picture of Elliot Spencer. But then, God has no part in this flick. Also, I really liked the part in the beginning when they showed us how Elliot Spencer solved the dreaded box and was transformed into the delightfuly nasty demon, Pinhead. A painful and traumatic process, but not half as painful as watching TVSN from 7 til 12, but that's a different story.

So it really is quite a good movie with some killer moments. And as for the gore, well there's a (...) load of it. Come on, let's face it; this movie can't go more than 1 minute without spearing, killing, sliceing, diceing, cutting, gutting, you get the idea. But here's the thing with splatfestival movies like Hellboud: they are compleate gross-outs at first, but after a while one just get so used to the grossness of it that the gore just washes over one. That's what I think of that aspect of Hellbound. But hey if I didn't want, dicapitation,skinning,throat cutting and dismembering I should've rented Bambi instead. Am I right? or am I right?

This is, without a doubt one of the nastiest, most sadistic movies I have ever witnessed. Infact I wouldn't even call this a movie, it's more like an experience.

So all in all I really loved it, delightfully gory.It may even be better original and Hellraiser 3. So I recomend it,(if you can take it) your suffering will be legendary even in hell!

There are few horror films that produce truly great sequels. Hellbound delivers this greatness in full realization. The gore level was turned up a notch, (which is saying quite a bit), the screenplay, though uneven, is witty and creative, with many dark, sadistic touches. The directing is top-notch and visionary. Nobody, save Clive barker, could have done a better job than Tony Randall. On the dvd's featurette "lost in the labyrinth," Randall explains his mental demeanor at the time the film was made, and he believes that his outlook on life was quite bleak and pessimistic. These attitudes carry over beautifully to this disturbing, unsettling picture. Hellbound boasts, hands down, some of the most bizarre and nihlistic images in film since Salo. The image of the woman with her skull cracked open as she receives a labotmoy from Dr. Channard, the scene where a delusional man takes a razor to his skin, and over his groin, spilling blood in every direction, the image of the reborn Dr. Channard in cenobite form, the cracked out funhouse that is hell...I could really do this all day.

Hellbound doesn't have the grand scope nor does it have the finesse and style of Hellraiser (which is, in my opinion the greatest horror film of all time), but it surely delivers some very genuine originality and flash. if only all sequels were this spellbinding.

After Clive Barker's Hellraiser made a substantial amount of money at the box office and introduced a new horror icon in the form of Pinhead, a sequel was inevitable. The sequel, which is only executive produced by Barker, boasts increased production values, more blood, and more Pinhead. Unfortunately, it also has a weak plot and an embarrassing new cenobite.

The film opens with a quick recap of how #1 ended, before we see (briefly) how Pinhead came to be his nail-studded form. Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) from the first film is now in a psychiatric hospital after the carnage is discovered at her father's home. Kirsty tells the police and staff what happened, but not believes her of course. Soon, however, the malevolent Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham) who runs the hospital has succeeded in resurrecting Kirsty's step-mother Julia (Clare Higgins), who (like Frank from the first film) has no skin. Also along for the ride this time is Tiffany (Imogen Boorman), a patient at the hospital with a talent for solving puzzles. And, of course, Pinhead and his fellow cenobites have much more screen time.

Pinhead's entrance is so grandiose; it's almost comical...But, a worthy (second) introduction to the character.

Now, the makeup effects are much more gruesome this time around. Julie does look frightfully grotesque. I advise you not to eat while watching this movie. Seeing her does make one's stomach churn. Although, it's worth noting that nothing about this movie is disturbing, but much of it is disgusting.

There is some pretty good imagery in this film though and the set/art direction is certainly more finely crafted. Some of the visual effects are, however, incredibly 80s and as such have not aged very well.

As for the character's, Channard is a caricature. He has a foreboding voice and is instantly untrustworthy. When he appears in cenobite form, I shook my head a little. He looks like a cross between a Power Rangers villain and a creature from Beetlejuice.

With that said, I still find the cenobites to be some of the more unique creations to emerge from 80s horror. The fact that their whole existence is shrouded in mystery makes them all the more fascinating...And what makes it so disappointing that they had to dig deeper into the Pinhead character. He was such a menacing presence in the first film; I think the decision to expose his humanity wasn't very wise. It doesn't bring much depth to the character and succeeds only at making him less frightening and therefore less effective.

Overall, it's the plot that breaks this film. While the direction by Barker protégée Tony Randel is even-handed, Peter Atkins' tedious, extraordinarily weak plot struggles to fill its 96-minute running time. While not a complete failure it doesn't succeed as a sequel or even on its own merit. Yes, parts will satisfy the gore-starved horror fan of America and much of it looks pretty cool but all-in-all it's pretty inferior to its much better predecessor.

GRADE: C