It's not often I feel compelled to write IMDb reviews. Many times I've wanted to hop onto the site after having seen a movie to share my likes or dislikes about it, but for the most part this desire quickly fades and instead I just end up writing about a select few movies: Those for which I felt an extreme passion or extreme hatred. Usually the latter; in the case of Hellraiser: Revelations, the former.
Without saying too much on the plot-- the word count won't permit me-- this is the first Hellraiser since the fourth to be intended as a Hellraiser film (and not a hasty rewrite of an unrelated horror script) and the first since "Hellbound" to treat the Cenobites and their backstory the way Barker wrote them. Gone are the global-domination seeking, demonic Hellspawn that made a twisted mockery of the series; back are the sexually amorphous, amoral hedonists that made the characters interesting and frightening to begin with. Make no mistake-- the Pinhead here is a far inferior version of the previous entries', and Doug Bradley's presence is sorely missed; he brought a certain charisma to the character this is difficult to articulate, let alone replicate, and his absence from the movie is in fact its most glaring flaw. The return to true "Hellraiser" form, though, should please fans of Barker's originals: The characters who fall into the path of the box are not intrepid reporters but shallow, narcissistic perverts. Missing from many of the sequels was the idea that the box-- and by extension, the Cenobites-- sought prey for a reason, and that the fates that befell them were simply amplifications of what would have become of them in everyday life.
This all said, the movie is not completely devoid of flaws beyond Bradley's absence. The production had a notoriously short shooting schedule, and it shows in the super abbreviated running-time and its resultant pacing. The further the movie goes on, the more rapid and sloppy the pacing becomes, to the point that the climax of the movie rapidly falls apart, as characters start displaying traits that were only hinted at before and which needed more development for their actions to be taken seriously. It's a disappointment that such a strong feature fell apart so quickly, and in so glaring a way. Yet even this butchered pacing isn't the movie's biggest flaw.
Normally I shy away from addressing other reviews; however, because of the direct-to-video nature of most of the Hellraiser franchise, and the close-knit community created as a result, it's difficult to separate a review of one of the entries in the franchise from the fan reaction. In this case, the absence of Doug Bradley and his relative silence on the script, coupled with Clive Barker's vehement distancing of himself from the project, has led to near universal disdain for the film. Note that I haven't included anything about the movie itself; and here is where the biggest flaw of "Revelations" lies. Before the DVDs were even pressed, "Revelations" was doomed not because of its inherent value but because fans had decided already that this was going to be the worst Hellraiser ever (a difficult undertaking, considering that the last four entries were unrelated horror stories hastily doctored to include Pinhead, and three of which-- Hellseeker, Deader, and Hellworld-- were abysmal). And thus the prophecy was fulfilled; I've yet to read a review of the film that takes it seriously as anything other than a Hellraiser movie without Doug Bradley. The acting is criticized, when it was on par with the amateur theater quality of the previous entries; the cinematography is called "cheap" though it's the first entry since "Bloodline" that doesn't look like a made-for-TV movie; and... well, that's about all I've seen anyone have to say about this, so far, beyond "Where's Doug Bradley?" That's the biggest reason I came here to write this review. An honest attempt at a decent Hellraiser deserves an honest, decent review, and hopefully that's what I've done here. So if you're just looking for a Barker-approved entry featuring Doug Bradley, yes, this will disappoint you. If you're willing to look past that and return to the world of "The Hellbound Heart," this very well may become one of your favorite Hellraisers.
Without saying too much on the plot-- the word count won't permit me-- this is the first Hellraiser since the fourth to be intended as a Hellraiser film (and not a hasty rewrite of an unrelated horror script) and the first since "Hellbound" to treat the Cenobites and their backstory the way Barker wrote them. Gone are the global-domination seeking, demonic Hellspawn that made a twisted mockery of the series; back are the sexually amorphous, amoral hedonists that made the characters interesting and frightening to begin with. Make no mistake-- the Pinhead here is a far inferior version of the previous entries', and Doug Bradley's presence is sorely missed; he brought a certain charisma to the character this is difficult to articulate, let alone replicate, and his absence from the movie is in fact its most glaring flaw. The return to true "Hellraiser" form, though, should please fans of Barker's originals: The characters who fall into the path of the box are not intrepid reporters but shallow, narcissistic perverts. Missing from many of the sequels was the idea that the box-- and by extension, the Cenobites-- sought prey for a reason, and that the fates that befell them were simply amplifications of what would have become of them in everyday life.
This all said, the movie is not completely devoid of flaws beyond Bradley's absence. The production had a notoriously short shooting schedule, and it shows in the super abbreviated running-time and its resultant pacing. The further the movie goes on, the more rapid and sloppy the pacing becomes, to the point that the climax of the movie rapidly falls apart, as characters start displaying traits that were only hinted at before and which needed more development for their actions to be taken seriously. It's a disappointment that such a strong feature fell apart so quickly, and in so glaring a way. Yet even this butchered pacing isn't the movie's biggest flaw.
Normally I shy away from addressing other reviews; however, because of the direct-to-video nature of most of the Hellraiser franchise, and the close-knit community created as a result, it's difficult to separate a review of one of the entries in the franchise from the fan reaction. In this case, the absence of Doug Bradley and his relative silence on the script, coupled with Clive Barker's vehement distancing of himself from the project, has led to near universal disdain for the film. Note that I haven't included anything about the movie itself; and here is where the biggest flaw of "Revelations" lies. Before the DVDs were even pressed, "Revelations" was doomed not because of its inherent value but because fans had decided already that this was going to be the worst Hellraiser ever (a difficult undertaking, considering that the last four entries were unrelated horror stories hastily doctored to include Pinhead, and three of which-- Hellseeker, Deader, and Hellworld-- were abysmal). And thus the prophecy was fulfilled; I've yet to read a review of the film that takes it seriously as anything other than a Hellraiser movie without Doug Bradley. The acting is criticized, when it was on par with the amateur theater quality of the previous entries; the cinematography is called "cheap" though it's the first entry since "Bloodline" that doesn't look like a made-for-TV movie; and... well, that's about all I've seen anyone have to say about this, so far, beyond "Where's Doug Bradley?" That's the biggest reason I came here to write this review. An honest attempt at a decent Hellraiser deserves an honest, decent review, and hopefully that's what I've done here. So if you're just looking for a Barker-approved entry featuring Doug Bradley, yes, this will disappoint you. If you're willing to look past that and return to the world of "The Hellbound Heart," this very well may become one of your favorite Hellraisers.