Hellraiser: Hellseeker - Huh?

[Greg1066]

***SPOILERS OF COURSE***

I thought Hellseeker was a good movie. I had at one point given up on the Hellraiser series after the seriously disappointing Hellraiser III (Hell on Earth) and the abominable Hellraiser IV (Bloodline). But Hellraiser V Inferno was a good movie, even if Pinhead's role made no sense at all given the earlier movies. Hellraiser VI too, was worthy of the franchise - I had heard that Ashley Laurence's acting had deteriorated, but I didn't find that at all.

However, there were some really weird plot holes. Thankfully, you don't get to see them until the end of the movie.

1. Why did the hero give Kirsty the box? If you plan to kill your wife, giving them an antique just because some guy gave it to is a really demented plan.

2. Why the *blazes* did Kirsty *open* the thing? That has to be the most inexplicable act in the history of moviedom. It is fifty times stranger than if she had decided to suddenly throw herself off a cliff for no particular reason.

3. Why is Pinhead so eager to deal with her? OK, she makes him a good offer and I can see him being convinced by some fast talking, but last time they met, he told her "no more deals" - this time she just says "how about a deal?" and he answers "interesting!" before she has even told him what it is.

4. Since when is Kirsty an expert hit-woman? Last time we met her, she was some kid who worked in a pet-store. Now she can waste five people in cold blood and never leave a trace for the cops.

5. Why is she psycho-mad enough to send her ex to eternal torture? Sure, I can see her being really, really mad. Heck - it isn't that much of a stretch to see her mad enough to kill, because a very few wronged spouses do do that. But torture is a bit much - people who want to go that far are rare enough to make the front page. To be fair, by sending him, she gets off the hook (if you will parden the expression) herself, but when we see her put a bullet in him, she isn't thinking about how nasty it would be if she got ripped up eternally - she's thinking about the way he had sex with other women.

OK, that's my bitch done. It was still well worth seeing.

[Cabrini Green]

Spoilers for Hellseeker


For the first question I think Trevor knew about Kirsty’s past involvement with the box. She says something along the lines of “How could you?” Like he knew what he was doing by giving her the box. He was so curious about opening it and She says, “So this is what you want” and she opens it to get back at him. Remember from past movies (Tiffany in Hellbound opens it for Dr Channard) its not the hands that open the box but the desire. I assume he couldn’t open it himself. By the time of their anniversary Kirsty already knew about his cheating ways. I think it is a combination of she saving herself and her anger towards her husband by giving Pinhead the required souls. I guess being to hell and back have made her tougher then the average person. I really can’t stand that cgi head coming out of the cop, but other then that this sequel has grown on me.

[pyscho dude]

Interesting theories. I found this to be the weakest of the series but it's still a good movie. Why does everyone hate part 3 and part 4 so much? I found them to be good and quite entertaining.

[thebloodfeaster]

Originally posted by pyscho dude
Interesting theories. I found this to be the weakest of the series but it's still a good movie. Why does everyone hate part 3 and part 4 so much? I found them to be good and quite entertaining.

Because they (3 was the worse offender of the two) degenerated Pinhead into a generic slasher villain.

[horrorfreak13]

What I don't like about Hellseeker is Pinhead is in the film for like 5 minutes and in Inferno he's in it for about the same amount of time.

I don't mind Hellseeker or Inferno. Bloodline seems like a completely differrent concept which wasn't too bad.

I felt this series should have ended with Bloodline.

[Greg1066]

Originally posted by Cabrini Green
Spoilers for Hellseeker
For the first question I think Trevor knew about Kirsty’s past involvement with the box. She says something along the lines of “How could you?” Like he knew what he was doing by giving her the box.

But if *that* is so, why would he think that she would open it?

He was so curious about opening it and She says, “So this is what you want” and she opens it to get back at him. Remember from past movies (Tiffany in Hellbound opens it for Dr Channard) its not the hands that open the box but the desire.

That is true - they do say that and go for Channard first - but they also go for Kirsty and whatshername. They took Julia in the original too, even though she didn't open the box. Also, they lied to her in Hellraiser II, telling her that everyone has an individual hell unreachable from the others, when in fact, she's sharing a hell with at least Frank.

I really can’t stand that cgi head coming out of the cop, but other then that this sequel has grown on me.

I liked it too. I still think that it slaughtered the character of Kirsty, but for the first time since Hellraiser 2, the character of Pinhead was more or less right.

[Greg1066]

Originally posted by horrorfreak13
What I don't like about Hellseeker is Pinhead is in the film for like 5 minutes and in Inferno he's in it for about the same amount of time.

I don't like that either, but Pinhead being in a movie only makes me happy if he is written like Pinhead. Sure, the makeup is cool, but it is the character that is interesting and III and IV didn't give me that. Neither did V to be honest, but at least it had some relatively cool cenobites in it, for the first time since Hellraiser II. Hellraiser VI had both good cenobites *and* a properly written Pinhead, so I was happy even though they weren't in it much.

The ideal Hellraiser movie would have lots of nice cenobites and lots of time spent with a properly written Pinhead. Failing that, I'd rather have quality than quantity.

I don't mind Hellseeker or Inferno. Bloodline seems like a completely differrent concept which wasn't too bad. I felt this series should have ended with Bloodline.

Horses for courses, but I regard Bloodline as the lowpoint from which the series has been recovering ever since.

[pyscho dude]

I personally found bloodline to be one of the better ones because it was entertaining, it explained about the origins of the box, and basically ended off the hellraiser series. Even though I liked part 5 I do think part 4 should've been it.

[XCoRyX]

i found this to be the best in the series (atleast out of the 3 I have seen and remember seeing...which were the first,bloodline,and this one)....this series as a whole is nothing but a letdown to me,but this sequel was pretty damn awesome..

[HannibalGuy]

Hellseeker is one of the best in the series. It was good to have Ashley Laurence back. Pinhead's role was ok, but I would have liked to see more of him. Here is my ratings of the Hellraiser films:

Hellraiser- 10/10
Hellbound: Hellraiser II- 9/10
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth- 5/10
Hellraiser: Bloodline- 6/10
Hellraiser: Inferno- 7/10
Hellraiser: Hellseeker- 8/10

[Greg1066]

Originally posted by HannibalGuy
Hellseeker is one of the best in the series. It was good to have Ashley Laurence back. Pinhead's role was ok, but I would have liked to see more of him. Here is my ratings of the Hellraiser films:

Hellraiser- 10/10
Hellbound: Hellraiser II- 9/10
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth- 5/10
Hellraiser: Bloodline- 6/10
Hellraiser: Inferno- 7/10
Hellraiser: Hellseeker- 8/10

The order in which you rank these films is almost exactly the order in which I rank them (I won't nitpick about actual number ratings). There is only one exception. You rank Hell on Earth Higher than Bloodline. Now we both agree that these are the bottom two, but I'd put Bloodline under Hell on Earth.

Bloodline and Hell on Earth both give us a Pinhead utterly unlike the original character, but I thought that Bloodline's Pinhead was sillier - he'd become some kind of James Bond villain and the fact that he had a pet dog is truly astounding.

The only reason I can think why one might rank Hell on Earth as worse is that it had some truly stupid cenobites, whereas the tranformed Angelica of Bloodline was rather decent. Is that why you rank it last?

Greg