Hellraiser (1987) Review
I remember the first time I tried to watch this movie. It was not exactly an easy ride so I stopped halfway through. I have now tried again, almost two decades later, and yeah, glad I waited until now. To be fair I had finally caught up with every Clive Barker directed film ever except this one, so it only made sense. But yeah, I had the chance to before times got too hectic than they were the first time, and glad i did.
I mean one thing that the movie succeeds in in a way that works for a horror movie is that it doesn’t waste time in essentially crumbling up our comfort zones. It shows that Mr. Barker is fairly conscience that he’s in the same decade as Carpenter and Craven yet doesn’t care if his name starts with the same letter or not tries to amp up the ante in their august genre either way. From an avant garden dream scene to sordid symbolism to a gothic Kubrick scene that most likely inspired Hellboy: The Golden Army’s puppetry, this movie is a horror powerhouse. It makes sure not even rats or crickets are safe (at least in terms of what it could get away with in its decade given the rating warning). Of course it still makes sure the narrative heft throughout the end takes as little prisoners as possible before the credits roll, even if it does go all the way with its twisty yet cheesy 80sness.
I can’t really say much more about this movie that isn’t obvious, such as the fact it's ironic that this is the latest Hellraiser film I’ve seen completely (although it’s also the first in the series). The later installments could’ve been more passionate throughout the 2000s, even though they made them anyway. You’ve still got to love the way they have had something to make them horrible yet wonderful at the same time, from the outlandish premise to the design of the cenobites. I wouldn’t call these movies a must for any self-respecting horror fan, but at least one or two have been more than worth checking out (in my case four already). I can certainly see why Mr. King held Mr. Barker's work to such renown: the latter is the former bulked up.