Crimson peak
Good suffering, soon to be wasted…
It’s not even from my butt-hole,” tweeted a fuming Clive Barker in 2011, lest anyone thought that year’s excremental ninth Hellraiser movie came from “the mind of” the series’ forefather. Arrow’s lavish box-set of the first three ’Raisers is a reminder of the quality canyon between early highs and later lows, and a warning of the perils of pursing more for more’s sake.
Even the American-dubbed voices in Barker’s 1987 original can’t sully its subtextual depths. An infidelity in a grotty north London house between pervy Frank (Sean Chapman) and shoulder-padded stepmom Julia (Clare Higgins) offers the anchoring stuff of domestic drama: it just so happens that Frank needs new skin, after his lusts led him to open the box on Doug Bradley’s lattice-worked S&M Cenobite (not yet called Pinhead) and friends.
With Barker summoning still-startling visions and Ashley Laurence tackling the young role with intensity, ’Raiser offered thrilling departures from staid Brit-horrors and teen slashers. The sequel, Hellbound, followed suit – until it didn’t. As Kenneth Cranham’s knowledge-hungry Dr. Channard raises Julia from her sex’n’death bed, director Tony Randel honours Barker’s meeting of mundanity/malevolence: white cotton sits on flayed flesh like hell’s own Persil ad.
Such good suffering is wasted when Randel visits hell itself, an overwrought reminder that less is often more. But Hellbound is high art beside Hell On Earth. Third time round, Pinhead stalks Manhattan clubs and becomes a cackling, pun-packing self-parody. The money-driven aim to go ‘total Freddy’ is miserably transparent.
The best of the voluminous extras here remind us that Hellraiser originated as a passion project. Barker’s pains were horror’s gains: the long-mooted reboot
Kevin Harley should look to the source. Extras › Making Ofs › Book › Commentaries › Documentaries › Shorts › Interviews › Galleries › Storyboards › Poster › Art Cards