A shady L.A. detective, (Craig Sheffer) finds himself lost in a darkly nightmarish world of evil when he solves the mysterious puzzle box that releases the diabolical demon, Pinhead. As those around him begin to meet tragic fates, he sets out to conquer the horrifying Pinhead and escape eternal Hell. Read more
| Starring | Craig Sheffer, Nicholas Turturro, James Remar |
|---|---|
| Director | Scott Derrickson |
| Genres | Horror |
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A shady L.A. detective, (Craig Sheffer) finds himself lost in a darkly nightmarish world of evil when he solves the mysterious puzzle box that releases the diabolical demon, Pinhead. As those around him begin to meet tragic fates, he sets out to conquer the horrifying Pinhead and escape eternal Hell.
| Starring | Craig Sheffer, Nicholas Turturro, James Remar |
|---|---|
| Director | Scott Derrickson |
| Studio | WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 36 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Horror |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 11 Oct 2004 Production year: 2000 |
| Format | DVD |
The signs dont look good for Hellraiser: Inferno - although not titled as such this straight to video release is effectively Hellraiser 5, and now the only remaining link to the original films is Doug Bradley as Pinhead. Rather suprisingly then, this actually turns out to be the best Hellraiser film since Hellraiser 2:Hellbound. Wisely the film is very continuity light, so can be enjoyed without knowing the ins and outs of the previous 4 films. The basic storyline concerns a morally dubious detective investigating a murder, and his quest to save the life of a child takes him on a trail from the Lament Configuration puzzle box to a mysterious entity known as 'The Engineer'. The first half of the film is well shot but rather slow for series regulars, as the detectives investigations only uncover material about the Cenobites that we already know. The second half is better though, as the story gradually turns from a run of the mill serial killer investigation into a character study of the detective himself: this film is less about Pinhead and co slicing through a bunch of teens, and more an examination of one man's journey into hell - a cautionary tale that cuts to the heart of the Cenobites philosophy of physical gratification at the expense of humanity. It's not perfect, but it's refreshingly un-formulaic for a low budget horror sequel, has some great cinematography, effective new Cenobites, and a distinctly David Lynch (notably Lost Highway) feel. A worthy sequel.
I have to admit to being abit of a Hellraiser fan, so it's with sadness that I have to write about how bad this latest sequel turned out, in my opinion.
It looks like we have about run the series course, as, in a similar vein to the Hammer/Dracula series, where you saw less & less of old Drac' with each film, so we have the same situation here.
Despite him appearing on the cover, I think Pinhead only appears about 2 or 3 time thru-out the film. The producers seem to have totally forgotten that we went into the future with the previous film, this one mainly concerns a bent copper coming up against a new crop of Cenobytes, which he sees from time to time...or is he just imagining them? It's one of those irritating kinds of storylines.
It's all kind of explained in the end, but all in all, this is not very satisfying. I don't know if there are any more of these in the pipeline, if there are, they will have to do a lot better. It wouldn't have surprised me if this didn't go straight to video/DVD when it was released here.
The producers of Batman Begins and the upcoming Superman Returns, Legendary Pictures, are turning their attention to more highbrow material, according to the Hollwood Reporter and Variety. John Milton's epic 1667 poem, Paradise Lost, is going to get the Scott Derrickson treatment in the Legendary pictures production, that will be written by a team of four writers including Byron Willinger and Phil DeBlasi. The literati will be hoping that Hollywood will show some reverence for such a treasured... Read more