Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98323 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-27
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Formats: PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Synopsis
The spine chilling tale of a man brought partially back to life by the blood of his brother. He befriends his sister-in-law who agrees to supply the blood he requires to live, but he is still haunted by the evil forces which held him captive in death.

Adapted from his own novel. 'Hellbound Heart', HELLRAISER marked the directorial debut of British horror writer Clive Barker. Barker's direction—which comes across like the perfect fusion of the themes and aesthetic sensibilities of Dario Argento and David Cronenberg's best work—is assured, and the film permeates with a unique combination of the perverse and macabre. A modest success at the time of release, HELLRAISER spawned a slew of sequels and would elevate its villain, Pinhead, to the pantheons of classic horror monsters.

Customer Reviews

In the immortal words of Pinehad, "It's time...to play..."
It is surprising when you go back and watch "Hellraiser" again, after having steeled yourself for the experience because this time you know exactly what is coming, that Pinhead, the leader of the Cenobites, has so little screen time. Of course, this shortcoming has been rectified by the various sequels to the original, but even if there had only been one "Hellraiser" the image of Pinhead would remain one of the most disturbing images of contemporary horror films.

However, even without Pinhead, "Hellraiser" has plenty of intensely disturbing images. We begin with the compelling little Lamont Configuration, an exotic puzzle box that opens a door to Hell, which is what poor Frank (Sean Chapman) discovers just both the Cenobites rip his body to pieces. But when Frank's brother Larry (Andrew Robinson) and his second wife Julia (Clare Higgins) move into a new house and Larry rips his hand open on a nail, the blood brings Frank (well, part of him, anyway) back from the Hell dimension. It seems that Frank and Julia had been lovers, and she had promised to do "anything" Frank wanted. Julia was looking for something in the area of sexual deviancy we assume, but Frank now has something else in mind as he holds Julia to her word, namely, seducing men to come back to her house and up to the attic where their life's blood can help further regenerate Frank's body. By the time poor Larry and his daughter Kristy (Ashley Laurence) have a clue what is happening upstairs, it is pretty much too late.

Writer-Director Clive Barker does not pull any punches in his first film when it comes to putting as much raw horror on the screen as he can cram into this 94 minute film. "Hellraiser" rewrites the rules in terms of how far you can go and what you can try to do to the poor viewers of your horror film. The key thing is that as gross as things get on the screen, there is an intelligence and a creativity behind the horror that can neither be ignored nor easily dismissed. You can imagine Barker saying, "What? You WANTED to see a movie that would give you nightmares, didn't you?" This is not a particularly polished film, but I really think that adds to its effectiveness. "Hellraiser" is a primal horror film, operating on a raw level that is as innovative as it is disquieting. If they had rated this film "X," I probably would have agreed with the judgment. Not for the squeamish (or their neighbors).

Is it any good?
Well...last week I found an old VHS big box copy of this in a charity shop for only 50p! As an old school horror fan (maniac,halloween,EVIL DEAD, brain damage,Texas Chainsaw Massacre,Shivers) I thought I should really have seen this movie...so I splashed out! ***was it worth every penny?*** NO WAY!!! It's just shockingly bad...not even amusingly so...it's simply a very POOR watch...1 star is being a little too kind.

citizen kane of horror films
There are a lot of contenders for the best horror film ever made, but this film stands out from them all due to the sheer imaginative power and intelligence behind it. The concept of the Cenobites and the vast mythology that is only just hinted at in this film makes the imagination salivate for a long time after you have watched it. This is a brutal film, but by the standards of the mindless torture porn provided today (for an equally mindless audience that wants its horror as basic and simple as possible) it is no longer as brutal as it seemed back in 1987. Visually striking, imaginative and atmospheric, it is the Citizen Kane of the horror genre. Like Kane no other film in its genre (other than The Shining) is as inventive in its visuals or as thick with ideas. Added to the fact that it is Barker's first film (again, like Welles) it is a masterpiece of the genre. Watch only if you want a horror film that is so much more than just a piece of genre blood-letting.