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Hellraiser(1987)

Rating out of 5 possible lobsters :

Finally HMTS has reviewed the original Hellraiser! “Time to play”.

They don’t get much better than this.  I remember being use to watching Freddy/Jason/Mike Myers... etc at the time and when I saw Hellraiser I was floored!  This is how it is done. Clive Barker probably saved the horror genre in the late 80s with Pinhead and Hellraiser. Everything was the same and stale. Freddy was messing with babies(remember the Dream Master... horrible!) , Jason was chained to the bottom of a lake and well no one had any fresh ideas. That was, until Pinhead and his Cenobites took us all by storm.

Movie starts off on the right foot by introducing the Hellraiser Puzzle Box and a man named Frank Cotton who wants to unlock it’s pleasures.  Of course he is ripped apart by chains and maybe that is some people’s idea of pleasure but no matter, the opening scene and gore get top marks.  Frank’s brother Larry and his second wife Julia, move into the old Cotton Family Home where it appears that Frank was using as a hideout.  Frank is a bit of a seedy character.  Anyway... Julia begins having daydreams about an affair she had with Frank before her marriage to Larry which sets the tone and does a good job of building up the characters. After Larry accidentally cuts himself while moving in, he bleeds onto the floor where Frank opened the Hellraiser Box. The blood them seeps into the floor and allows Frank to escape from “Hell”.  With Julia’s help, Frank is able to totally reform into a human body. 

In the meantime, Larry’s daughter Kirsty knows that Julia is up to something and it having nightmares about her father dying.  After learning that Frank is alive, she confronts him and ends up stealing the Hellraiser Box.  Of course she opens it and is introduced to Pinhead and Company.  She makes a deal with them saying she will show them to Frank if they spare her.  Pinhead, being the cool guy he is, says “Maybe” and then the real fun starts back at the Cotton Household with lots of gore, killer one liners, chains and so much more.

Nothing to say really except that Hellraiser is a classic. It’s perfect really. Some of the effects may seem dated but still very effective.  No CGI here kids!
 

Henry's Comments

 “I have such sights to show you, it’s 10 inches of terror and I’ll tear your asshole apart!”