Horror franchises endure. For better or worse, if a horror film succeeds on even a marginal level, that film will receive a sequel. Hellraiser: Judgment marks the tenth film rendition in Clive Barker's masochistic creation that all started with his novella, The Hellbound Heart.
Popular consensus suggests it went downhill after the second film in the franchise as far as quality is concerned, and from a financial standpoint, the film peaked at the box office with the fourth film, Hellraiser: Bloodline. From there, the franchise left theaters and became a straight-to-DVD afterthought. Countless sequels, all of them bashed or ignored, many of them only featuring the Cenobites spliced into scripts that originally had nothing to do with them.
Hellraiser: Revelations is the most universally despised of them all. The first, and so far, only film not to feature Doug Bradley as Pinhead, a role he became known for, in a smaller extent, like Robert Englund did with Freddy Krueger. The film's visuals and narrative, acting and directing, all of it panned and deemed as terrible, some critics even went as far as referring to it as a mock buster interpretation of the original concept. It's widely believed Revelations was a film made for no other reason than to allow Dimension to keep their claim of the franchise.
Hellraiser: Judgment has been announced. Directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe, whose only directorial credentials include two children's fantasy features and a 90s b-movie science-fiction called Within the Rock. He also wrote the screenplay for Hellraiser: Revelations. All in all, despite the director's assurances, it doesn't alleviate the paranoia from the loyal supporters who have been burned before.
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If everyone's honest with themselves, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce what Judgment's worth is. A reboot of the franchise with a film directed by Clive Barker has been discussed for years and years and years, and whether that ever happens, who knows, but this film looks like an elongation of Dimension's ownership, nothing more and nothing less. I don't doubt the director's sincerity in his statements. He'll try his best. And he might even be allotted the means for his vision to come to fruition. But even if I enjoy it, I have a feeling that it will do little to silence naysayers and those who have disliked the other direct-to-DVD films.
With that being said, and in the interest of honesty, I didn't hate Hellraiser: Revelations. I mean, Pinhead looked ridiculous, and the visual aesthetics did little to work around the minimalist budget, but I enjoyed the narrative and concept more than I enjoyed most the others.
Furthermore, Hellraiser: Inferno is, to this day, the only film in the franchise I can look at and say to myself, “That was a good film!” Inferno was directed by Scott Derrickson, who went onto direct Deliver Us From Evil and Sinister, and is now scheduled to direct Marvel's Doctor Strange. I found Inferno, regardless of whether or not it used the Cenobite mythology properly, to be the best overall film.
When Clive Barker came around in 1987 with Hellraiser, it was unique, having elements familiar to a slasher film, but at the same time, with its own unique identity. In-retrospect, it had uninteresting characters and little depth. To me, it was a below-average film with a great idea. It was Clive Barker's directorial debut, and with little background in film at all, he did better than most would. I am excited to see what Clive Barker would do now, almost 30 years later, with his experience, with the graphic novels, and all the flushing out he has done with the characters.
Maybe a Hellraiser reboot really will happen. With Doug Bradley back, and Clive Barker at the helm. In the mean-time, Hellraiser: Judgment will stall time for it. And I actually look forward to the film. For better or worse.
Thanks for reading...
Popular consensus suggests it went downhill after the second film in the franchise as far as quality is concerned, and from a financial standpoint, the film peaked at the box office with the fourth film, Hellraiser: Bloodline. From there, the franchise left theaters and became a straight-to-DVD afterthought. Countless sequels, all of them bashed or ignored, many of them only featuring the Cenobites spliced into scripts that originally had nothing to do with them.
Hellraiser: Revelations is the most universally despised of them all. The first, and so far, only film not to feature Doug Bradley as Pinhead, a role he became known for, in a smaller extent, like Robert Englund did with Freddy Krueger. The film's visuals and narrative, acting and directing, all of it panned and deemed as terrible, some critics even went as far as referring to it as a mock buster interpretation of the original concept. It's widely believed Revelations was a film made for no other reason than to allow Dimension to keep their claim of the franchise.
Hellraiser: Judgment has been announced. Directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe, whose only directorial credentials include two children's fantasy features and a 90s b-movie science-fiction called Within the Rock. He also wrote the screenplay for Hellraiser: Revelations. All in all, despite the director's assurances, it doesn't alleviate the paranoia from the loyal supporters who have been burned before.
---
If everyone's honest with themselves, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce what Judgment's worth is. A reboot of the franchise with a film directed by Clive Barker has been discussed for years and years and years, and whether that ever happens, who knows, but this film looks like an elongation of Dimension's ownership, nothing more and nothing less. I don't doubt the director's sincerity in his statements. He'll try his best. And he might even be allotted the means for his vision to come to fruition. But even if I enjoy it, I have a feeling that it will do little to silence naysayers and those who have disliked the other direct-to-DVD films.
With that being said, and in the interest of honesty, I didn't hate Hellraiser: Revelations. I mean, Pinhead looked ridiculous, and the visual aesthetics did little to work around the minimalist budget, but I enjoyed the narrative and concept more than I enjoyed most the others.
Furthermore, Hellraiser: Inferno is, to this day, the only film in the franchise I can look at and say to myself, “That was a good film!” Inferno was directed by Scott Derrickson, who went onto direct Deliver Us From Evil and Sinister, and is now scheduled to direct Marvel's Doctor Strange. I found Inferno, regardless of whether or not it used the Cenobite mythology properly, to be the best overall film.
When Clive Barker came around in 1987 with Hellraiser, it was unique, having elements familiar to a slasher film, but at the same time, with its own unique identity. In-retrospect, it had uninteresting characters and little depth. To me, it was a below-average film with a great idea. It was Clive Barker's directorial debut, and with little background in film at all, he did better than most would. I am excited to see what Clive Barker would do now, almost 30 years later, with his experience, with the graphic novels, and all the flushing out he has done with the characters.
Maybe a Hellraiser reboot really will happen. With Doug Bradley back, and Clive Barker at the helm. In the mean-time, Hellraiser: Judgment will stall time for it. And I actually look forward to the film. For better or worse.
Thanks for reading...