Hellraiser (1987)    New World/Horror    RT: 93 minutes    Rated R (language,  extremely graphic violence and gore, nudity, sexual content)    Director: Clive Barker    Screenplay: Clive Barker    Music: Christopher Young    Cinematography: Robin Vidgeon    Release date: September 18, 1987 (US)    Cast: Andrew Robinson, Claire Higgins, Sean Chapman, Ashley Laurence, Robert Hines, Frank Baker, Doug Bradley, Nicholas Vince, Simon Bamford, Grace Kirby, Oliver Smith.    Box Office: $14.5 million (US)

Rating: ****

 I think we can all agree that Hellraiser is a full-blooded (in both senses of the term) horror movie. Although its boogeyman Pinhead tends to get lumped with Jason and Freddy, he’s NOT a mad slasher that hunts and kills horny teens. He’s a Cenobite. What’s that? It’s an evil being from Hell that shows up when somebody uses the Lament Configuration. What’s that? It’s a puzzle box that when solved, opens a gateway through which the Cenobites enter into our world.

 I didn’t know the puzzle box had an actual name until I did some research for my review of Hellraiser, the first installment of the popular horror franchise starring Pinhead (Doug Bradley). It’s based on the novella “The Hellbound Heart” by writer-director Clive Barker. I knew from when I first saw the trailer that it was going to be cool. It opens with the following blurb by popular horror author Stephen King: “I have seen the future of horror fiction and his name is Clive Barker.” Talk about high praise from Caesar, right? Plus, it looked genuinely scary. It didn’t hurt that its distributor was none other than New World Pictures. That sealed the deal right then and there.

 I went to see Hellraiser on an overcast Saturday afternoon at the City Line Theater. I couldn’t ask for better weather conditions. I couldn’t wait to find out what Barker had in store for me. Well, not only was it chilling, it was also extremely gory. In my eyes, it was a total win!

 Hellraiser opens with a man named Frank Cotton (Chapman, The Fourth Protocol) purchasing the puzzle box from a dealer in Morocco who ominously asks, “What’s your pleasure, sir?” Frank is a hedonist forever in search of new sensory experiences. The puzzle box is supposed to open a passageway to a whole new realm of pleasure. Sitting in a bare room, he solves it. Hooked chains emerge, tear into his flesh and tear him apart.

 Sometime later, Frank’s mild-mannered brother Larry (Robinson, Dirty Harry) moves into the house with his icy-mannered wife Julia (Higgins, The Golden Compass). They can tell right away that Frank had been there recently, but must have run off to somewhere in the world on the spur of the moment. This is when we learn Julia had an affair with Frank right before marrying Larry. She’s still obsessed with the guy. As it turns out, Frank has been under their noses (and feet) all along. His remains are concealed beneath the attic floor. Blood from a cut sustained by Larry resurrects him, but he’ll need more to be fully restored, much more. It’s to this end that he convinces Julia to bring home strange men and kill them for their blood.

 Unfortunately, Larry’s daughter Kirsty (Laurence, Warlock III) spots her stepmother bringing a man to the house. She immediately suspects that she’s having an affair. She soon finds out she’s way off. She escapes with the puzzle box which she later solves. Pinhead and three other Cenobites appear and try to drag her back to Hell with them. She informs the leader that Frank has escaped and she’s willing to lead them to him. They agree to leave her alone in exchange for Frank. She returns to the house to find ….. nope, not going there!

 While I’m certain that anybody reading this review has already seen Hellraiser, there’s always a chance that somebody new to the series might be skimming through it so let’s turn our attention to other matters.

 While Hellraiser most definitely isn’t a slasher flick, it most definitely is a splatter flick. We’re talking free-flowing blood and mounds of bloodied flesh. Frank spends a great deal of screen times sans skin which means viewers get a good look at how we all presumably look beneath the surface. There’s a scene where a man is literally pulled to pieces by the hooked chains. Let me put it this way, the guy who mopped up the set at the end of each day’s shoot should have been listed in the end credits.

 In addition to copious amounts of gore, Hellraiser is also heavy on atmosphere. A sense of doom hangs over the proceedings like pre-storm dark clouds on an August afternoon. Certain scenes are simply incredible like when Frank solves the puzzle box at the beginning of the movie. Light shines through the spaces between the wall boards and smoke hangs in the air. It’s a real mood-setter, one that’s enhanced by Christopher Young’s eerie score.

 The whole cast does a very good job. It’s surprising to see Robinson not play a villainous character for a change. Higgins makes a great ice queen. Laurence looks suitably frightened and freaked out by all the weird stuff that’s going on around her. There’s this derelict that keeps popping up. God only knows what he’s after.

 Then there’s Bradley as Pinhead. I’ll say it now, he’s the only one that should ever play this character. Just like there’s no Freddy Krueger other than Robert Englund, there’s no Pinhead other than Doug Bradley. He gets off the film’s immortal line, “We’ll tear your soul apart!” This boogeyman is pure evil! And Hellraiser is easily one of the most unsettling horror movies of the 80s. It’s legitimately frightening, something I can’t say about too many so-called scary movies.