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Hellraiser [1987]

Starring: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Sean Chapman, Doug Bradley
Director: Clive Barker
Format: PAL Special Edition
Released: 27 Sep 2004
RRP: £14.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

citizen kane of horror films - By: L. Niblock, 07 Jan 2008
There are a lot of contenders for the best horror film ever made, but this film stands out from them alll due to the sheer imaginative power & intelligence behind it. The concept of the Cenobites & the vast mythology that is only just hinted at in this film makes the imagination salivate for a long time after you have watched it. This is a brutal film, but by the standards of the mindless torture porn provided today (for an equallly mindless audience that wants its horror as basic & simple as possible) it is no longer as brutal as it seemed back in 1987. Visuallly striking, imaginative & atmospheric, it is the Citizen Kane of the horror genre. Like Kane no other film in its genre (other than The Shining) is as inventive in its visuals or as thick with ideas. Added to the fact that it is Barker's first film (again, like Welles) it is a masterpiece of the genre. Watch only if you want a horror film that is so much more than just a piece of genre blood-letting.
Is it any good? - By: D. Burgess, 10 Oct 2007
Well...last week I found an old VHS big box copy of this in a charity shop for only 50p! As an old school horror fan (maniac,hallloween,EVIL DEAD, brain damage,Texas Chainsaw Massacre,Shivers) I thought I should reallly have seen this movie...so I splashed out! ***was it worth every penny?*** NO WAY!!! It's just shockingly bad...not even amusingly so...it's simply a very POOR watch...1 star is being a little too kind.
In the immortal words of Pinehad, "It's time...to play..." - By: Lawrance M. Bernabo, 05 Nov 2004
It is surprising when you go back & watch "Hellraiser" again, after having steeled yourself for the experience because this time you know exactly what is coming, that Pinhead, the leader of the Cenobites, has so little screen time. Of course, this shortcoming has been rectified by the various sequels to the original, but even if there had only been one "Hellraiser" the image of Pinhead would remain one of the most disturbing images of contemporary horror films.

However, even without Pinhead, "Hellraiser" has plenty of intensely disturbing images. We begin with the compelling little Lamont Configuration, an exotic puzzle box that opens a door to Hell, which is what poor Frank (Sean Chapman) discovers just both the Cenobites rip his body to pieces. But when Frank's brother Larry (Andrew Robinson) & his second wife Julia (Clare Higgins) move into a new house & Larry rips his hand open on a nail, the blood brings Frank (well, part of him, anyway) back from the Hell dimension. It seems that Frank & Julia had been lovers, & she had promised to do "anything" Frank wanted. Julia was looking for something in the area of sexual deviancy we assume, but Frank now has something else in mind as he holds Julia to her word, namely, seducing men to come back to her house & up to the attic where their life's blood can help further regenerate Frank's body. By the time poor Larry & his daughter Kristy (Ashley Laurence) have a clue what is happening upstairs, it is pretty much too late.

Writer-Director Clive Barker does not pull any punches in his first film when it comes to putting as much raw horror on the screen as he can cram into this 94 minute film. "Hellraiser" rewrites the rules in terms of how far you can go & what you can try to do to the poor viewers of your horror film. The key thing is that as gross as things get on the screen, there is an intelligence & a creativity behind the horror that can neither be ignored nor easily dismissed. You can imagine Barker saying, "What? You WANTED to see a movie that would give you nightmares, didn't you?" This is not a particularly polished film, but I reallly think that adds to its effectiveness. "Hellraiser" is a primal horror film, operating on a raw level that is as innovative as it is disquieting. If they had rated this film "X," I probably would have agreed with the judgment. Not for the squeamish (or their neighbors).