{"id":1311,"date":"2024-07-25T03:46:33","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T03:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1311"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:56:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:56:39","slug":"hellbound-hellraiser-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/25\/hellbound-hellraiser-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Hellbound: Hellraiser II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Hellbound: Hellraiser II<\/strong> (1988)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New World\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 99 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unrated Version (language, extremely graphic violence and gore, brief nudity and sex)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Tony Randel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peter Atkins\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Christopher Young\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Robin Vidgeon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 24, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Claire Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Kenneth Cranham, Imogen Boorman, William Hope, Doug Bradley, Nicholas Vince, Simon Bamford, Barbie Wilde, Sean Chapman, Oliver Smith, Deborah Joel, Angus McInnes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $12 million (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0As far as horror sequels go, Hellbound: Hellraiser II<\/strong> is solid, but I\u2019ll always remember it as the last movie distributed theatrically by New World Pictures. I was blindsided by the news a few months later that the studio had effectively shut down. I don\u2019t think they were expecting it either.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When I saw Hellraiser II<\/strong> with a group of friends on Christmas Eve that year, it came with trailers for two upcoming movies, The Punisher and Warlock. 1989 stands as the year that the Golden Age of B-movies came to an end with the closing of New World and Cannon Films. But at least NW went out in style.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Like I said, Hellraiser II<\/strong> is a surprisingly decent fright flick. Once again, it more than delivers when it comes to gore. It was sufficiently bloody in its original R-rated form, but the unrated version is an even bigger and bloodier mess. I knew it would have to be since it\u2019s six minutes longer than the version released to theaters.<\/p>\n

\u00a0That aspect of Hellraiser II<\/strong> is awesome. Sadly, it stumbles when it comes to narrative. It starts out strong, but kind of loses its way about midway through. That\u2019s not to say that the picture is a failure, it just isn\u2019t as strong a movie as its predecessor. Such is the fate of many a sequel.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The movie opens with Pinhead\u2019s backstory. Prior to becoming a Cenobite, he was a British Army captain named Elliot Spencer (Bradley). He\u2019s transformed into the evil being after solving the puzzle box and opening the door to Hell. The scene then shifts to present-day, just hours after the events of the previous film. Kirsty (Laurence) awakens in a psychiatric hospital where a detective proceeds to question her about what happened. Naturally, he doesn\u2019t believe her story and leaves her in the care of Dr. Phillip Channard (Cranham, Closed Circuit).<\/p>\n

\u00a0What she doesn\u2019t know is that Channard knows all about the Cenobites and the Lament Configuration. He\u2019s been obsessed with the puzzle box for years. He brings home the bloody mattress that Julia (Higgins) died on and resurrects her by sacrificing one of his most disturbed patients, a self-mutilator. When Kirsty hears of this, she convinces Channard\u2019s assistant Kyle (Hope, Aliens) to break her out of the institute so she can stop Julia. Also, she believes her father is trapped in Hell because of a mysterious message written in blood on the wall in her hospital room.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Shortly after Kirsty arrives at the doctor\u2019s home to deal with her revived stepmom, he brings home a young patient named Tiffany (Boorman, Dreamchild), a semi-catatonic girl with a penchant for solving puzzles. She easily solves the puzzle box and opens the gateway. The four of them- Kirsty, Channard, Julia and Tiffany- enter into the Cenobite realm and begin a journey through Hell.<\/p>\n

\u00a0That\u2019s when Hellraiser II<\/strong> loses its way. The characters spend the second half of the movie wandering around Hell which is envisioned as a huge labyrinth in a stormy void. Okay, I have to admit it\u2019s pretty cool-looking. I like that the makers don\u2019t go for the traditional fiery pit of doom and gloom scenario. However, the movie slows down once the characters enter Hell. It doesn\u2019t derail the picture, but it does make it less than it could have been.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I think a huge part of the problem is that writer-director Clive Barker didn\u2019t return for Hellraiser II<\/strong>. He hands the directorial reins to Tony Randel (Ticks) who does a capable job of it as does screenwriter Peter Atkins (the Wishmaster movies). Since Barker wrote the novella upon which the first Hellraiser was based, it stands to reason he understands the material better than anybody else. He brought a unique vision to that first movie. The makers of the sequel attempt to duplicate it and mostly succeed. It just lacks Barker\u2019s special touch.<\/p>\n

\u00a0At least Hellraiser II<\/strong> doesn\u2019t skimp on the gory stuff. I forget who, but one critic said that if your idea of entertainment is seeing people without skin, then this movie\u2019s for you. I think there\u2019s more to the film than that, but gory horror isn\u2019t everybody\u2019s cup of tea, so I understand.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Once again, Christopher Young\u2019s score adds a strong note of eeriness to the proceedings. The visuals are top-notch as well. That\u2019s another area in which Hellraiser II<\/strong> delivers. Like its predecessor, it resembles a nightmare. The two movies are very imaginative in the scariest sense of the word. The cast does a commendable job. Boorman is especially good as Tiffany. Bradley does an amazing job as well with Pinhead discovering his forgotten past as a human.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Like its predecessor, Hellraiser II<\/strong> is a full-blooded horror movie. It has some genuinely scary moments and frightening imagery. Despite a few flaws, it works rather well. It\u2019s definitely the best of the Hellraiser sequels.<\/p>\n

\u00a0SPECIAL NOTE: Some have complained that they don\u2019t understand everything that\u2019s going on in the Hellraiser movies. I see their point. I guess you really need to read the book or at least check out the synopsis on Wikipedia. It really does explain a lot. For example, I didn\u2019t really know what that lozenge-shaped structure was floating above Hell. It\u2019s Leviathan, a god-like entity that rules the realm of the Cenobites. Now I know and so do you.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New World\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 99 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unrated Version (language, extremely graphic violence and gore, brief nudity and sex)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Tony Randel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peter Atkins\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Christopher Young\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Robin Vidgeon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 24, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Claire Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Kenneth Cranham, Imogen Boorman, William Hope, Doug Bradley, Nicholas Vince, Simon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror","category-scary-gory-wild-i-love-it"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Hellraiser-II-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1916,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions\/1916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}