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Hellraiser
(directed by Clive Barker, 1987)
[Exclusive Blu-ray review]
God, I love this movie.
On Blu-ray, my love for Hellraiser only expanded, like the universe. It's funny how the opposite happened with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Blu-ray.
The Hellraiser Blu-ray is one of the most gorgeous films I have seen on Blu-ray. I guess it was true what Pinhead, the creepy cenobite guy from the film said: "We have such sights to show you." It took 22 years for me to see Hellraiser like this: Blood so shimmering and red. Ooze and slime from a skinless man so wet looking, so in your face, so within reach.
Hellraiser is the bizarre tale of a family that is torn apart by lust and dark forces. A man and his quiet wife move into an old house that was, for awhile, being lived in by the man's brother, Frank. The quiet wife, Julia, has a terrible secret -- she made whoopy with Frank right before she married his brother! Frank seems to have disappeared, but he'll be back....
When he gets back, he's not quite himself -- he's a little skinless creature hiding out in the attic of the house. There's only one way for Frank to go out in public again: He needs to nourish himself with the vitamins and nutrients that only a living person can provide. This way, Frank can grow into a healthy, full grown human being again. Shockingly, Julia, who discovers him in the attic, is A-okay with luring men back to the house so she can hit them over the head with a hammer and let Frank feast. The sex she had with Frank when he was a normal, living guy was that good.
So, Hellraiser is basically the story of a woman who will go to great lengths to fix her sex toy. It could have been done different in a more PG way, with a woman who goes to CVS to buy batteries for her vibrator, but wicked minded Clive Barker envisioned something else, something darker, something unexpected.
Speaking of toys, there's a little puzzlebox in this movie -- a cube that you mess around with and when you touch it right it causes the gateway to hell to open, and these disgusting looking demons that wear leather and have pins and hooks going through their flesh appear and take you to hell. This thing sent Frank to hell. When he manages to escape, he's back in the attic again and that's when Julia starts work on her new household project.
A strange movie... very different from all of the other slasher, Freddy Krueger/Jason Voorhees type horror films that were so popular in the 1980's. Hellraiser has, so far, spawned 7 sequels and a remake has been in the planning stages for awhile. Many of the sequels suck. Only Hellbound: Hellraiser II has any real merit, as it's a direct sequel to Hellraiser that takes place only a few hours later.
I can't stop thinking about how marvelous this movie is. The Blu-ray transfer is really spectacular. Hellraiser is timeless. Roger Ebert hated it when it came out, but who cares? He can go sit on a puzzlebox.
(directed by Clive Barker, 1987)
[Exclusive Blu-ray review]
God, I love this movie.
On Blu-ray, my love for Hellraiser only expanded, like the universe. It's funny how the opposite happened with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Blu-ray.
The Hellraiser Blu-ray is one of the most gorgeous films I have seen on Blu-ray. I guess it was true what Pinhead, the creepy cenobite guy from the film said: "We have such sights to show you." It took 22 years for me to see Hellraiser like this: Blood so shimmering and red. Ooze and slime from a skinless man so wet looking, so in your face, so within reach.
Hellraiser is the bizarre tale of a family that is torn apart by lust and dark forces. A man and his quiet wife move into an old house that was, for awhile, being lived in by the man's brother, Frank. The quiet wife, Julia, has a terrible secret -- she made whoopy with Frank right before she married his brother! Frank seems to have disappeared, but he'll be back....
When he gets back, he's not quite himself -- he's a little skinless creature hiding out in the attic of the house. There's only one way for Frank to go out in public again: He needs to nourish himself with the vitamins and nutrients that only a living person can provide. This way, Frank can grow into a healthy, full grown human being again. Shockingly, Julia, who discovers him in the attic, is A-okay with luring men back to the house so she can hit them over the head with a hammer and let Frank feast. The sex she had with Frank when he was a normal, living guy was that good.
So, Hellraiser is basically the story of a woman who will go to great lengths to fix her sex toy. It could have been done different in a more PG way, with a woman who goes to CVS to buy batteries for her vibrator, but wicked minded Clive Barker envisioned something else, something darker, something unexpected.
Speaking of toys, there's a little puzzlebox in this movie -- a cube that you mess around with and when you touch it right it causes the gateway to hell to open, and these disgusting looking demons that wear leather and have pins and hooks going through their flesh appear and take you to hell. This thing sent Frank to hell. When he manages to escape, he's back in the attic again and that's when Julia starts work on her new household project.
A strange movie... very different from all of the other slasher, Freddy Krueger/Jason Voorhees type horror films that were so popular in the 1980's. Hellraiser has, so far, spawned 7 sequels and a remake has been in the planning stages for awhile. Many of the sequels suck. Only Hellbound: Hellraiser II has any real merit, as it's a direct sequel to Hellraiser that takes place only a few hours later.
I can't stop thinking about how marvelous this movie is. The Blu-ray transfer is really spectacular. Hellraiser is timeless. Roger Ebert hated it when it came out, but who cares? He can go sit on a puzzlebox.