Sexual deviant Frank (Chapman) inadvertently opens a portal to hell when he tinkers with a box he bought while abroad. The act unleashes gruesome beings called Cenobites, who tear Frank’s body apart. When Frank’s brother (Robinson) and his wife, Julia (Higgins), move into Frank’s old house, they accidentally bring what is left of Frank back to life. Frank then convinces Julia, his one-time lover, to lure men back to the house so he can use their blood to reconstruct himself.
- Based on the novel The Hellbound Heart.
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When looking for iconic horror movies, there are a couple that stand out that created iconic villains: Friday the 13th had Jason, A Nightmare on Elm Street had Freddy Krueger, Halloween had Michael Myers – and Hellraiser had Pinhead. When I saw that last one available, I just had to give it a re-watch, as I remembered the first one was a lot different than the sequels. But, after all these years, would it still be worth a watch?
This first film stars a bunch of people who aren’t really remembered today for anything but this film. But, at least nowadays – with the exception of Andrew Robinson, who also popped up in the classic Dirty Harry and, later on, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV). Still, they are pretty good in Hellraiser, giving the film some depth almost in spite of itself.
The story is, at its heart, a twisted love story – not something the viewer might expect when heading into the film. Unfortunately, that love story is between a married woman – and her husband’s dead brother. That’s disturbing enough – and it gets worse from there. That gives the film a depth that most of the other slasher flicks out there at the time lacked.
While viewers were starting to get used to people getting hacked up on screen by the time this film arrived, Hellraiser takes it up a notch, delivering some gruesome images that are still shocking today. It pushed the boundaries of how disgusting a horror film could be (which, unfortunately, lead to horror films trying to outdo each other with their gore factor, rather than concentrate on their story). The effects, while somewhat dated and flawed (yes, they have the 80’s lightning effect that was so popular – and so cheesy) by today’s standards, still help to convey the creep factor the film is always aiming for.
It’s the overall tone, however, that makes Hellraiser a gruesome classic. Sure, the actors aren’t fantastic, and some of the special effects feel very dated, but the overall tone keeps the viewer hooked. Even though it feels like something you should turn away from, you can’t until the end. Sure, the film makes you feel a little slimy, and that stays with you even after the end credits – but its ability to produce that feeling raises it above most of the other horror flicks then or now. While newer films like Hostel try to copy its twisted and sadistic vibe, they just can’t beat the original.
