Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002) Reviews

• Surprising! Best sequel since Hellbound.

  evilmatt-32003-01-05

  I must admit that although I am a huge fan of the first two films, I had pretty much given up on this franchise. Part 3 was just silly. The intriguing potential of part 4 was chopped up into an incoherent mess. Part 5 decided that it was just going to do its own thing and not really be a Hellraiser film. What I'm trying to say here is that my expectations were low. Although _Hellseeker_ isn't as good as _Hellbound_, it's very satisfying because it's the first sequel since that has actually catered to fans of the original two films. Kirsty's resurfacing is a huge factor in this: the Hellraiser saga was never better than when it was her story. Granted, the focus isn't on her for most of the film. However, we are treated to a peek at her post _Hellbound_ existence as well as some very startling revelations about her character. Without giving anything away, let's just say that what we learn about Kirsty is both incredibly disturbing and undeniably consistent with her previous behavior. Her actions also shift the focus of the franchise away from the moralistic overtones of parts 3, 4, and 5 back into the darker territory of the original Cenobites and their function. The filmmaking itself is adequate, though it leaves much to be desired. In his commentary, director Rick Bota says that Kirsty and the other elements from the previous films have been minimized so as not to alienate people not in the Hellraiser fan base. While this is understandable, I would advise Mr. Bota to remember that the fan base is what is keeping the franchise alive. Don't ignore us. That said, the alternate scenes on the disc need to be in the main film, as they make it more enjoyable for those of us who have been following this thing since 1987. I would have liked to see more of the husband-wife scenes and less creepy _Jacob's Ladder_ stuff. Again the director's fault. Make a note for next time. It would be interesting to see the next film build off of this one. Definitely a film horror fans will enjoy.

• In a time when horror movies have become direct-to-video crap or cheesy first-run crap, how is it that the Hellraiser movies are among the least noticed and yet probably the most clever and impressive sequel

  Anonymous_Maxine2003-09-06

  The beginning of the fifth Hellraiser sequel raises something of a moral dilemma, which is extremely rare for a horror movie. After the car crash, Trevor, our hero, escapes from the car after it sinks to the bottom of the river and he rushes to the surface to get air, then returns to attempt to save his wife. At that point, my immediate reaction was that he deserves any suffering that comes to him, since he left his wife on the bottom of the river to go and try to save himself. On the other hand, it probably wouldn't have done much good had he remained down there and lost consciousness right there with her. I guess that's why they tell you on the airlines to secure your own oxygen mask and THEN help your kid. But while this early scene inspired in me an unusually complex combination of thoughts and emotions, it unfortunately is unable to escape from the destructive presence of reality on the possibility of it happening the way it did. I am willing to suspend disbelief on the premise that the guy was screaming at his wife underwater through the window, watching her drown right in front of his blurred eyes and therefore not necessarily able to think all that clearly, but on the other hand, riverbeds have an overwhelming tendency to be covered with big, round, hard, window-breaking rocks. When the investigation begins, things start to get a little strange and we begin to realize that there is something weird about what happened in that crash. Evidently the car was found with the doors open, which puts some serious holes in the story about not being able to get the doors open to save his wife. It turns out that he has come back with a spotted memory, and that the crash that we saw at the beginning of the movie may not have been exactly how the event unfolded. Things seem to have happened that he doesn't remember. I found it highly amusing that the detective that always gave him a hard time because he didn't believe his story was named Detective Gibbons, just because I recently took an Anthropology class in which I learned what a `gibbon' is. I would NOT have been able to keep my cool with this guy though, who was hugely overacting and throwing harsh accusations which were not necessarily unfounded but definitely a little too confident and, if accusations can be this, a little too accusatory. The best thing about this installment in the Hellraiser series is that it works on a psychological level with the main character. Granted, this is nothing new in the horror genre, but it is done very well here. We never know when he is seeing reality, when he's dreaming, when he's having delusions, inaccurate flashbacks, and there is plenty of opportunity for lots of twists and turns, and thankfully these opportunities are not ignored. I hate it when movies do that (see Hollow Man). Because of this, we never expect things like the startlingly effecting scare in the vending machine, one of my favorite scares in the movie. Pinhead has thankfully been given a much more prevalent role than he had in the rather disappointing Hellraiser Inferno, the least Hellraiser movie of all of them, and it's morbidly pleasing to see some of the familiar Cenobites return, like Chatterer. The movie closes with the old `leave him and take me' cliché, but as a whole it is a quality entry in the Hellraiser saga. It is well-written, well-thought out (almost unheard of for a horror movie these days), and entertaining, and most importantly, it is more than just another cash in on a successful series. There are a lot of horror series' that are well past their time to pass away, but as long as they keep putting this much thought and creativity into the Hellraiser films, I say there is infinite opportunity for sequels.

• The best Hellraiser since Hellbound...

  mentalcritic2006-10-07

  Hellraiser: Hellseeker has come under fire from viewers, mostly for the economic manner in which iconic character Pinhead is used. The most refreshing thing about episode six here is that Pinhead goes back to what Clive Barker intended him to be. Sort of the equivalent of the zombies in Romero's Dead films, if you get the drift. For those who don't, the whole point is that what Pinhead does to the principal characters is not nearly as important as what the principal characters do to each other. He is the final hammer when the characters have finished dragging each other down, and that is the way of all the best horror films. The real problem with Hellseeker is its lack of atmosphere. In the original, Barker takes his time to introduce each element, in particular the modest British family whose lives appear as regular as our own. Barker understood that relating to the victims, and even the victimisers to some degree, is a lot more important to an audience than a string of gruesome deaths. Rick Bota tries to provide similar setup, but fails. It has been a bit of a while since I saw Ashley Laurence in a film, and she is in fine form here. She could probably play this role in her sleep (at times, it almost seems like she is). One problem we have in Hellseeker is that some of the most important moments in her story are missing. In the original, when we saw her open the box, we grit our teeth in suspense as the very fabric of the reality around her dissolved, and her conversation with Pinhead ensued. In the original, these shots showing the cosmetic details of hell served a very important function. They created a sense of foreboding that gave the entire rest of the film foundation. Rick Bota, unfortunately, is not able to pace himself, nor does he have an instinct for when too much really is too much. Characters in Hellseeker behave in ways that telegraph to the audience that some kind of twist is in the offing, and while it is a good twist, it is just an example of the fact that up to a point, hell works best when it is subtle. Doug Bradley is back for the sixth time as everyone's favourite nail-headed character. Contrary to what some have suggested, I do not believe he is so much cashing a paycheque in this film. I think he is just on autopilot because he can literally play this devious character in his sleep. The sayings, mannerisms, and motions are as natural to him as eating and sleeping are to us. Nobody knows whether it was his idea or Doug's to portray the Satan character as he were once a dapper English gent, but Doug carries it off so well that he deserves an award. As seen in the third, and particularly fourth, films, everything can be going to ruin around him, and yet he will still effortlessly play this mannered gent who just happens to torture people as a job. The other cenobites do not get nearly as much screen time as was previously the case, however, and that also lets the side down somewhat. The sights of Chatterer and whatever that woman called herself really helped sell Pinhead as much as Pinhead himself at times. The other cenobites in Hellseeker are truly token appearances. They say your hero(ine) is only as good as your villain, and that is certainly the case here. Dean Winters is a great villain, partly because he portrays the character so well, but also because it takes a while for his status as the true villain of the piece to become apparent. One of Clive Barker's great touches in the original is that, to an extent, every victim deserves what happens to them. Most of the film is taken up with establishing why Winters' character deserves what he gets, which makes the final twist of the film especially satisfying. It reestablishes Pinhead as a just, if somewhat peculiar, referee of hell. Seriously, watch parts three, then four, then this one, and try to reconcile each one with the statement made in the second: it is not hands that call us, it is desire. The whole conceit of The Hellbound Heart was that bored lowlifes seeking what they thought of as the ultimate in pleasure sought this box, and opened it only to find that its inhabitants' definition of pleasure varied drastically from theirs. Unfortunately, not every aspect of the film is well done. The special effects that closed the original Hellraiser were as fake as hell, but the audience bought them because by that time, the film had drawn the audience in. The problem in Hellseeker is that it takes its sweet time to hook the audience, and thus the head-split routine that looks like something I could have done with an old Amiga 500 goes down as one of the funniest effects in horror. It comes at exactly the wrong time, producing laughs when what we needed was to be immersed in the Hellraiser atmosphere a little deeper. Normally, a laugh can be a good thing, especially when it comes at a time when the script or story could use it, but if ever there were a bad time, this is it. With the exception of Laurence, Winters, and especially Bradley, the acting is also high school drama level at best. The loose women, the work colleagues, the doctors, the general passers-by in the street, they all act as blank and vacant as Paris Hilton trying to feign having something relevant to say. When all is said and done, Hellseeker is a seven out of ten. It is not nearly in the league of the first two films, but it is a massive improvement over three and four. Give it a chance, stop expecting Pinhead On Elm Street, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

• -- The Best Sequel since Hellbound --

  dem0nic2004-07-05

  It's a shame to see this sequel being slated for being different. Hellseeker moves away from being another low budget, direct-to-video Hellraiser installment and instead provides an original spin on a dying franchise. This sequel doesn't need cheap gore effects to create a good Horror atmosphere, it also shows Pinhead doesn't need to physically harm his victims to make them suffer, at least not straight away ;) this makes Pinhead a more calculated character, watching him toy with his victims emotions! highly recommended!

• Flawed mess

  chaugnurfaugn-269-830122012-02-02

  Other reviewers (at least the ones I read) must have watched a different movie to me. What I saw was certainly an effort at originality, and yes, it was better than some of the other sequels to the franchise, but that said it was still a below par screenplay, borrowing heavily from other, cleverer, more original films. Ironically Hellraiser:Hellseeker shares some of the same flawed plot concepts as the movie it borrows most heavily from: Jacob's Ladder. There's the same two tier story running consecutively and along different, mysterious time-lines, both of which fail utterly to fuse into a single coherent time-line at the end of the film. There's the same solipsist nightmare: how can one truly discern between reality and dreams when the dream state feels as 'real' as reality itself? The second movie from which Hellseeker shamelessly borrows is Angel Heart, a masterpiece of cinematic horror featuring Mickey Rourke before his face went to hell (as a result of high living, screwed up plastic surgery and boxing, not Pinhead) and Robert DeNiro. Where Angel Heart is innovative, Hellseeker is simply repetitive and boring. Where Mickey Rourke excels as the confused protagonist in Angel Heart, Dean Winters sleep-walks his way through the role in Hellseeker, and where DeNiro gets all the best lines, poor Pinhead gets some of the most forgettable I've ever heard him utter. Granted, compared with the other Hellraiser sequels (all bar Hell on Earth, which I have to say I enjoyed more than I or II) this tries something different, and maybe with a better lead role there'd be something there worthy of a couple more stars. But ultimately the confused mess of a plot destroys itself, irrespective of Winters' deadpan portrayal. I give this rubbish one star for effort and one for the inclusion of Ashley Laurence who, lets face it, should really be above all this by now. Another star for Doug Bradley as Pinhead who never fails to send chills down my spine with his black 8-ball eyes and his tendency to drag nine inch nails out of his own skull. Ultimately though, Doug needs to share that last star with Clive Barker without whom the world would be a much duller place.