Hellbound: Hellraiser II --------> (6/10)

[Cyclonus]

Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)

Director: Tony Randel

Cast: Ashley Laurence, Clare Higgins, Kenneth Cranham, Imogen Boorman, William Hope, Doug Bradley

Screenwriter: Peter Atkins

Producer: Christopher Figg

A New World Pictures release


http://images.amazon.com/images/P/6304808917.01.MZZZZZZZ.gif


Looking back after nearly fifteen years, it's clear that Hellbound doesn't really hold up, especially when one compares it with it's semiclassic predecessor. The storyline and character motivations are muddled, to say the least, and there's little point to the affair. Truth be told, it was put together in a hurry to cash in on the original's success. From what I understand, the production was a stressful affair for all concerned. I suspect New World, on its last legs, was desperate for a hit.

Yet, if you just sit back and let it entertain you on its own terms, it actually has a certain weird appeal. It makes little sense by human standards of logic, but it's great to watch when you're drunk or stoned. (Preferably both.) If nothing, it works on a visceral level. The most graphic portion of the film concerns an act of self-mutilation, and a subsequent resurrection of a character from the original...minus her skin. It still has the capacity to disturb.

In keeping with giving credit where it's due, the performances are more than adequate given the circumstances. Kenneth Cranham is effective as an amoral psychologist, and his eventual transformation is a masterpiece of makeup technology. Doug Bradley seems more comfortable playing Pinhead, and Ashley Laurence likewise has a better grip on her role than she originally did.

Speaking of Pinhead, he receives more screen time than he did in part one, and his back story puts the Cenobites in a whole new light. One cannot discount the originality of Clive Barker's vision of Hell, although the time and budgetary constraints do hamper the effect to a degree. Nonetheless, the concept deserves credit for breaking away from the outmoded concept of sinners burning forever.


6/10.

[kubotakhan01]

Clive Barker is one twisted individual. And I love him for it. His vision of hell makes me want to become a saint. Not nearly as impressive a storyline as the first( which stands alone), "Hellbound" elaborates more on the "Pain/Pleasure Principle" ( having sex while getting the skin on your back ripped off.) and relies mostly on it's visual flare to captivate the audience. But it does work. Poor Doc Channard having his face wrapped in razor sharp piano wire as he is turned into a Cenobite is a painful thing to watch. The story is okay, although I could easily watch this film with the volume on my television turned off.

RATING 6.5/10

[APzombie]

HELLRAISER II: HELLBOUND

After renting it the other night, i witnessed a fairy tale, an alice in wonderland rather than a straight forward film with boo-scare after boo-scare and it entertained the hell out of (or into) me.

It answered my thirst for a good horror movie, the hellraiser series are indeed one of the most original and inovative branches in horror. This entry showed more of the origin of or beloved cenobitws, and they totally worked for me...

As i watched i thought the script could have used a bit of a touch up, esspecially in the direction the story was taking. Though now that i look back, the flow seems haunting...

Either way, a solid 7/10

[teenkiller]

I believe a double disc dvd featuring the first two Hellraisers has been released. Just a shame that it came out after I had already bought the first one. I want to own Part 2 but I don't feel like paying the $20 since I already own one of the movies. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[The Troll Man]

I found a huge difference between watching the cut and uncut versions of this film (especially with regards to the creation of Pinhead) as they affect the heavy symbolism and themes of Hell to people and as a result the coherence of the film as a whole. Also, I am not sure about the previous release but the double-pack tinset also includes a scene with Kirsty in her mother's room which helps the plot along with repect to her.

[The Claw]

I have to say, I found this movie to have a decent, somewhat intresting plot which just fell through half way into the movie. The only really good Hellraiser is the original and all the sequels aren't worth crap too me. I give this one a 4/10 seeing as it's probably the best sequel.

[DrLoomis]

HELLAISER 2 Hellbound in my opinion was a pretty solid film. I enjoyed the story as It carried on from the first Hellraiser which is one of my favourite films. The story id not as good as the first but still enjoyable. We also got abit f an insight into Pinhead and the other cenobites. A good film if you have watched the first and want to know what happens next.

7.5/10

[Gluttony]

Buying this film for only 3.33 dollars, I was figuring I could not disappointed, and I was actually very happy with the flick I got.

Lots of gore, style, interest, and was damn entertaining but yes the film is flawed heavily and only makes up for it because it keeps things going fast and hits hard with stunning visuals and creepy Cenobites. Sadly, it's not scary or disgusting.

3.5 / 5

[countchocula]

I actually prefer Hellbound to the original. Kirsty gets more screen time, the pace is quicker, the blood flows like Hi-C, and of course, the budget boost helped. The failed attempts to camp things up a bit were an impediment, though.

[teenkiller]

I can't see how a Hellraiser film could possibly get campy. Pinhead seems so damn serious, although I do hear that he starts to talk a lot more. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[countchocula]

Hellbound is slightly campier by way of Dr. Channard spitting out a few one-liners. It's not Pinhead's fault, although he gets a tad silly in Hell on Earth.

[doggyboyuk]

overall a solid film of what i can remember. Its i nice continuation from the first and it works. YOu find a bit more about Pinhead and the other cenobites which is good. I have watched it more than once so i must like it :)

7-8/10

[Cronos]

Although not as good as the original (9/10) it comes very close at times, there's more gore in Hellbound which was a lot of fun and mostly looked very good. the addition of more cenobites was also cool, the idea of "hell" shown in the film was also very interesting, the only real problem i have with it is that some of the acting isn't good.
all in all Helbound is a solid horror film and a great sequel

9/10

[ERIN_LoJ]

I also prefer this to the original. Less Julia and frank and more Kirstie/pinhead and the original cenobite cast. The setting was great, very ethereal like, non-stop action, not boring at any point. There were some scenes I didn't like, but overall my favorite of the bunch.

[Greg1066]

To my mind, Hellraiser was a brilliant (though seriously flawed) movie, Hellraiser 2 much much worse but still lots of fun, Hellraiser 3 was much worse than that but still fun, and everything since has not been worth watching.

In Hellraiser 2's favor:
1. A visit to hell.
2. More time with the cenobites
3. It improves on the original by not trying to interest me in banal old murder when there are far more interesting things going on.
4. The creepy guy who thinks he has bugs on him.

On the downside:
1. Cenobites are already starting to come accross as plain old cartoon evil, as opposed to "angels to some, demons to others". Even as it is revealed that cenobites used to be human, their complexities are abandoned.
2. Dr. Channard isn't a very interesting character, and giving him kewl powers doesn't make him any more so.
3. The one liners are getting silly and forced. "The doctor is in".
4. Kirsty too quickly forgets that her dad may be getting tortured in hell.
5. The cenobites' Hell is no longer presented as a place that might be a lot of fun for uber-masochists and is also a lot less horrific than we were lead to expect. Hellraiser seemed to imply that Frank spends his time getting ripped up in horrible ways - terrible for most folks, although possibly a good time for someone who is seriously into pain. When we get to see Frank's prison, it seems to consist in nothing more than being denied nookie. What a letdown.

Greg

[ERIN_LoJ]

I hated the guy who thought he had bugs on him. I always fast forward through that part. Seriously disturbs me for some reason, and I don't get disturbed easily.

As for Frank's torture, I believe they would each end up in what would bother them the most. As Pinhead told Kirstie, her father was in his own hell, and she was in hers (or a crossroads of it). With Frank, he seemed to be a sex maniac. He slept with his own brother's sister when he came to meet her for one thing, and I dont think he seemed to be that interested in her in the first place. That probably was pretty bad torture for him. And they may also have been doing other stuff to him periodically, we'll never know ;)

I didn't like the dr. either, and didn't like some of the one-lines either.

[Odd Emu]

The acting in Hellraiser II was so-so. The gore was gruesome. If you can actually tell what is happening during this movie, you should be building spaceships or working impossible math equations...not reading this. Overall I give it a 5/10.

[KillerKlown]

I like this film up to a certain point, until the new cenobite appears and then I just lose interest.

[thedarklamb]

Excellent sequel, rivals the first. If you put elements of the first two films together it would be the ultimate indie horror film.

Kirsty wakes up in a mental hospital, and doesn't know how she got there. She talks to a detective about the things that happened to her father, of course they don't believe her, that's insane right?

Well, just when you thought Julia was more evil than Pinhead, you'll find out that Kirsty's mental health doctor, Doctor Channard is even more evil than Julia and Pinhead put together. He knows all about "the box" and has tons of information and he even owns 3 boxes. He uses Kirsty's information to save the bloody mattress that Julia died on while opening the box at the end of Hellraiser.

Dr. Channard decides to take one of his very disturbed mental patients to his house and proceeds to give him a straight razor to bloody himself up on the mattress. Blood is flowing on the mattress and therefore revives Julia into a skinless mess. History repeats itself, and he falls for Julia and brings her bodies to feed on. After Julia becomes herself again, together, with the help of Tiffany, a puzzle-obsessed young girl that Dr. Channard has been keeping captive in the hospital, they give her the puzzle box to open the door to "Leviathan"

Pinhead and his fellow Cenobites know that she didn't intend on opening the box for the right reason, so he kindly lets Kirsty and Tiffany "explore" Leviathan. While they run though the many mazes dodging creepys, Julia and Dr. Channard go directly to the heart of Leviathan. Julia pushes Channard into a Cenobite creating machine and he becomes all powerfull. Pinhead & the Cenobites catch up with Kirsty and Tiffany and they want to play. No more games, he's serious this time. Well, Dr. Channard crashes Pinheads party and ultimately kills Pinhead and his three Cenobites. It's really sad when you see what they look like in human form.
Now Kirsty and Tiffany have to defeat the evil Julia and Dr. Channard by solving the Lament Configuration into another puzzle that's shaped like Leviathan. It ends on a sequel type ending where movers are in Dr. Channard's home and they come across the mattress. A mover gets pulled into the mattress and a huge sculpture rises from it.

[Requiem-for-a-Dream]

Hellraiser 2- 10/10

This is equally as good as the original Hellraiser (10/10). After this sequel, the rest couldn't live up to the series. They were still good, solid entertaining movies but they didn't have that dark and hellish feel to them.

Hellraiser- 10/10

Hellraiser 2- 10/10

Hellraiser 3- 7/10

Hellraiser 4- 7/10

Hellraiser 5- 6/10

Hellraiser 6- 8/10

Matt

[X-Nightcrawler]

After part 1, I just wanted to see more of the twisted events Hellraiser delivered and I can see my wishes were heard. This sequel was just so fun to watch and felt like relive part 1 (see…I saw the movie like 5 years after I saw the first one) but in a whole new level, now, instead of just having the gore and twistedness in a house, It falls on much larger number of souls…and in a scarier setting, a creepy ass hospital…and hell itself! It also explores more deeply the concepts given in part 1 (Personal hells, the cenobites…)

This flick was a visual treat, the effects are greatly used and handled well. On another technical level, the directing is all about tricks! The director goes all out and delivers a great deal in visuals and the creepiest atmosphere of the whole long-running series (minus part 5 that is...:D), the labyrinth itself seemed like a twisted ride and the landscape shot was worth the rental.

I want to add the whole sick scenes since Kirsty and Tiffany enter the labyrinth, the idea of the personal hells is explored further showing each character's twisted hell (Tiffany's was impressively scary). Also in the cenobite climax, I loved the confrontations between Pinhead and Kirsty, their deals and everything. (I even enjoyed how Pinhead turns "good" for a moment). All the characters in this flick seemed ok, all of them were develpoed and the acting was fine, I loved the Tiffany chick, it was great to see Kirsty dealing with Pinhead again.
Again, this flick comits the same mistakes that struck the original Hellraiser and furth it away from perfection: the script wasn't tight! Plotholes, unnecesary and goofy dialogue almost the entire movie seemed boring at one point, when they enter the Labyrinth all that happens (Apart from terrifing imagery) is the main characters running across hallways and running across skinless people (fun stuff).

But if you can put that aside, the movie, preety much like part 1, is a scary and nightmarish ride.

[Could Be Worse]

I consider Hellraiser 1 and 2 2 parts of one movie. I love both so much that I can't choose between them (similar to NOES and New Nightmare, but they are separate). I love the cenobites, Kirsty, Channard, Hell....I'm a very happy Hellraiser 1/2 fan. I thought 2 had great ideas-the skinless Julia, the creation of a new Cenobite, the backstory of the old ones, a returning heroine....like I said, I'm happy. I think I'll go pop it into my DVD player right now.

[horrorfreak13]

Hellraiser 2 is a solid sequel to the original and I give it 8.5/10 interesting how they show how he becomes Pinhead.
The original is better.

[Could Be Worse]

I think that to really enjoy this movie, you have to be a fan of the original as well. Though Clive Barker did not direct Hellbound, it's got a definite Barker vbe going or it. Personally, I think Barker is a great writer as well as director. He heavily inflenced the sequel, and you can tell that this was partly his vision, which is why I find it such a great horror film. Some say the cenobites aren't as creepy as in the first film. I say they may not be as mysterious, but anyting that has nottop chattering teeth, pins through the head, morbidly obese with stitched up eyes, and has a nail on chalkboard voice are pretty damn creepy. As far as character development goes, the four main characters (Kirsty, Julia, Channard, Tiffany) are explored prett well. I'll admit, for some of the supporting characters (Kyle) we aren't given a solid backround, but this is forgiveable considering they don't have much screen time. Also, I really enjoyed the brief backstory of Pinhead, and seeing what the cenobites looked like before the transformation. Speaking of transformation, Channard made one kickass cenobite (all about those weird hands and that connection on his head to Leviathan) and I really enjoyed the confrontation between him and he cenobites. I also enjoyed the confrotation between Kirsty and the cenobites (mainly Pinhead)< I sensed a really cool familiarity thing going on the confrontation between Kirsty ad Pinhead was also one of the only thing I enjoyed in Hellraiser: Hellseeker) Ashley Laurence and Doug Bradley play off each other real well, and was almost a father daughter type feeling (now that she is an orphan and all) So, to conclude, if you're a fan of Hellraiser or Barker, I htink that you'll be overly pleased with this flick

[teenkiller]

After seeing Hellbound I can say that I was extremely pleased. It started off slow but once we get to hell... well let's just say the visual are stunning. Unfortunately I feel this was the last truly great installment in the franchise, from what I have seen at least. Not quite as great as the original but still pretty kickass! Oh, if only Hellraiser hadn't sunk to the depths of mediocrity with Hell on Earth... Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.