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Hellraiser Movie Review

Hellraiser is a 1987 supernatural horror film directed by Clive Barker and starring Ashley Laurence. It’s a messy, but undeniably imaginative and unique work.

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“We have such sights to show you!“

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A couple moves to an old house to find the man’s brother and the wife’s former lover who has turned into an ugly beast. He now bids the woman to bring him human sacrifices to help him be whole again. Now an iconic cult classic, in particular for the Pinhead character and his look, Hellraiser wasn’t always as respected as it nowadays mostly is. In fact, it was criticized for being overly gruesome and slight back when it was released.

But in my book, the film is undercooked as it has so many ideas that some fall to the backside. In particular, that vagrant who is stalking the protagonist throughout the movie never really gets a proper arc and we never get to know why he is connected to the main storyline. He was intriguing, but totally unnecessary in the bigger scope of things.

And the film is grotesque, there is no denying that. It almost crosses over into the camp territory in certain moments. However, this over-the-top gore ultimately worked for me as the practical effects are so amazing. This is the type of practical engineering that I just adore. Watching these undead creatures in all of their flesh and blood glory was incredible, particularly due to how that flesh looked so real. These effects made the movie believable and highly authentic.

Another highlight is the score. It is very memorable and consistently perfectly accompanying the imagery on screen. The film needed better directing, though. This was Clive Barker’s first foray into feature filmmaking after writing dozens of horror short stories and it shows. He adapted his work somewhat chaotically due to weak pacing and structure to the film and a lack of a clear narrative drive.

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But the mythology behind Hellraiser remains spectacular even to this day. These creatures look fantastic and the BDSM quality to their way of life was quite edgy for its time. The AIDS parallels in the movie’s grotesque imagery are also easily drawn. As for the acting, many have criticized it, and although I did find Ashley Laurence mediocre in moments, others were solid with Frank Chapman being particularly striking.