2/5 Nice Set Up...Confusing Execution
  by The JuRK (Our Vast, Cultural Desert)
I watched HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER 2 last night and...it made about as much sense as the first time I saw it.

The opening was interesting and it was nice to see Ashley Laurence back, but the movie carries on with a conventional horror structure without thinking through the Hellraiser landscape.

Kirsty, Ashley's character, charges into the alternate universe to rescue her father. But armed with what? Everyone else is easily massacred but Kirsty is completely impervious to everything. Why? Does she have something special or has she tapped into some power to combat the evil? Not really. She's the lead character so she's never really threatened. And the reason she went charging in is pretty much discarded and never resolved.

There's a brief and disappointing "battle" between the Cenobites and the new Cenobite on the block, but it's over before you have any idea of what just happened. Looked cool.

Also good to see Clare Higgins back...but what exactly was she in this?

In the second half, I just went along for the ride since things happened that didn't make a lot of sense. These movies have a cool concept...but I don't think they've really thought things through. They think of cool images and scenes but they never really applied a lot of logic to them.

3/5 An Inferior Sequel
  by Joshua Miller (Coeur d'Alene,ID)
After Clive Barker's Hellraiser made a substantial amount of money at the box office and introduced a new horror icon in the form of Pinhead, a sequel was inevitable. The sequel, which is only executive produced by Barker, boasts increased production values, more blood, and more Pinhead. Unfortunately, it also has a weak plot and an embarrassing new cenobite.

The film opens with a quick recap of how #1 ended, before we see (briefly) how Pinhead came to be his nail-studded form. Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) from the first film is now in a psychiatric hospital after the carnage is discovered at her father's home. Kirsty tells the police and staff what happened, but not believes her of course. Soon, however, the malevolent Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham) who runs the hospital has succeeded in resurrecting Kirsty's step-mother Julia (Clare Higgins), who (like Frank from the first film) has no skin. Also along for the ride this time is Tiffany (Imogen Boorman), a patient at the hospital with a talent for solving puzzles. And, of course, Pinhead and his fellow cenobites have much more screen time.

Pinhead's entrance is so grandiose; it's almost comical...But, a worthy (second) introduction to the character.

Now, the makeup effects are much more gruesome this time around. Julie does look frightfully grotesque. I advise you not to eat while watching this movie. Seeing her does make one's stomach churn. Although, it's worth noting that nothing about this movie is disturbing, but much of it is disgusting.

There is some pretty good imagery in this film though and the set/art direction is certainly more finely crafted. Some of the visual effects are, however, incredibly 80s and as such have not aged very well.

As for the character's, Channard is a caricature. He has a foreboding voice and is instantly untrustworthy. When he appears in cenobite form, I shook my head a little. He looks like a cross between a Power Rangers villain and a creature from Beetlejuice.

With that said, I still find the cenobites to be some of the more unique creations to emerge from 80s horror. The fact that their whole existence is shrouded in mystery makes them all the more fascinating...And what makes it so disappointing that they had to dig deeper into the Pinhead character. He was such a menacing presence in the first film; I think the decision to expose his humanity wasn't very wise. It doesn't bring much depth to the character and succeeds only at making him less frightening and therefore less effective.

Overall, it's the plot that breaks this film. While the direction by Barker protégée Tony Randel is even-handed, Peter Atkins' tedious, extraordinarily weak plot struggles to fill its 96-minute running time. While not a complete failure it doesn't succeed as a sequel or even on its own merit. Yes, parts will satisfy the gore-starved horror fan of America and much of it looks pretty cool but all-in-all it's pretty inferior to its much better predecessor.

GRADE: C


5/5 Hellraiser 2 Hellbound
  by Mirsad Suljkanovic (Cringila Australia)
This is the sequel to the classic first Hellraiser flick and sees Kirsty Cotton battle the cenobites, Dr Chanard and her evil step mother....If you like Clive Barker you will like this...Have watched this with pleasure many a times and never grow sick of it....

5/5 Great Dvd
  by Ashley (Dullsville, Tennessee)
Bought this DVD for a present to a friend. Packaging was in good order, dvd was like new, shipping was fast and with no problems at all.

4/5 Why Torture Yourself?
  by Mark Eremite (Seoul, South Korea)
I like horror movies. Almost too much. Let's not go into the reasons why. There are too many. And some of them aren't pretty.

But I also like plots, character development, and complexity. After watching the first Hellraiser, I began to suspect that the series was created as an excuse to watch people get tortured with hooks. If you're not aware of the basic mythology, it is this: there is a box (called the Lament Configuration -- but you only know this if you've read the book) that, when it is opened, unlocks the gateway to another dimension filled with grotesque creatures called Cenobites who's only purpose is to inflict an eternity of endless suffering and pain on the person who opened the box.

I began to wonder early on why on earth anyone anywhere would ever create such a box, let alone open it. See, all of the Saw movies operate on the same basic principle -- "Let's kill a bunch of people in graphic and horrifying ways!" -- but the deaths are (at least partially) connected to a larger theme: cherish your life. The Hellraiser films are like the exact opposite. They function as visual sadomasochism, inviting you to cherish death. Or not even death, because the victims of the Cenobites never really die.

It's complicated, and I'm going somewhere with this. HELLBOUND picks up right where the first film left off. It even offers you a completely nonsensical recap at the beginning. This turns out to be unnecessary, because young Kirsty from the first film now finds herself in a mental institution, and she kindly spells out every little detail of the first film to her creepy psychiatrist, Dr. Channard. Channard, who is a closet Hellraiser junkie, is intrigued by her story and sets in motion events that will open for him the gates to the Cenobite world.

Why on earth? Why would someone do that? Is he mad? Yes, he is. But he is more than that.

When Channard finally visits the "fourth dimension" and sees it for what it is, he is horrified. Naturally. But then he begins to understand, and the nature of that world is made painfully clear. Why do I like horror movies? Why do insane psychiatrists insist on opening the gates to hell? It's really the same question.

This sequel succeeds in ways that the first could only dream of. Barker's sadomasochistic universe is lovingly realized, and captures not just the essence of Barker's twisted brain, but also the twisted essence of why horror movies exist to begin with. Whether you like a little spank with your sex, or enjoy the "burn" of an extra hard workout at the gym, or simply can't look away when you pass a particularly nasty car accident on the street, the basic point is that pain is almost never without pleasure. Pain releases endorphins, it fine tunes the mind, and Barker is fiddling with that visceral clarity that comes from watching something horrible happen to someone else. Horror movies, after all, are the result of a little sadomasochism in all of us, and HELLBOUND takes that point and expands on it until you have an entire universe built on the pleasurably painful line separating life and death.

It's not an easy movie to watch in many respects (and not just because both Ashley Laurence and Kenneth Cranham are some of the worst actors I've ever seen), but it finally answers some niggling questions and becomes more than just an excuse to watch torture. In fact, if you haven't seen the first film, I suggest you skip it and start with this one. If you like horror movies, you've got no excuse not to.