Hellraiser: Hellseeker 2002 Buena Vista   Buy It Now

Not many movies are both eagerly anticipated and duly feared as the new films in the Hellraiser franchise.  Fans are never quite sure what they are going to get.  And for such identifiable and beloved characters, any director must surely be shaking in his boots when deciding how to approach a Hellraiser film.  It is not just fans that cringe at the thought of another Hellraiser, but the original creator, Clive Barker, as well must peek through his fingers at what his original tale has set in motion.  Thus, when I heard that when shown the director's cut of Hellraiser: Hellseeker, Mr. Barker had kind words to say about it, I began to look forward to this sixth installment a little more.  And I was definitely not disappointed!

Hellseeker is what I could best describe as a "return" to the first two films.  First, I noticed the extreme darkness and moodiness of the films settings and cinematography.  Hellseeker is "dirty" looking and visually suggests a seedy side to every scene.  Also brought back is the use of a hospital as a key location.  Hospitals, which we all expect and count on being sanitary, safe and bright, deliver quite a punch when they are dark, dirty and horrific.  This was used to great effect in the earlier films and was no doubt a major influence in Dupre and Bota's work here.

Most importantly is the return of the pleasure and pain dichotomy.  In every Hellraiser film we hear Pinhead spout off a bit about pleasure and pain, but in recent films, this core material has all but been left out of the films plotlines.  It is a treat indeed to see our beloved Cenobites getting their hands wet for the purpose that was originally intended since Barker's early written work, "The Hellbound Heart".  These returns to the basics of what made Hellraiser such a great franchise are at the soul of what makes Hellraiser: Hellseeker a long overdue success (of course the return of Kirsty couldn't hurt either!).

It has been many years since Kirsty last faced off with Pinhead, and in that time it seems she has gotten on with her life.  But tragically it seems that life is about to end.  Kirsty and her husband, Trevor, are in a terrible car accident and Kirsty is killed.  Trevor survives, but is plagued by horrible headaches and delusions from his injuries and the medication.  These visions and sudden scraps of memories are driving him mad, and we are taken along for the ride.

It seems that Trevor has not been entirely faithful to Kirsty over the course of their marriage.  Or has he?  It seems that the police think that he may have had something sinister to do with the car accident.  But he didn't...did he?  And when people around Trevor turn up dead, he surely doesn't have anything to do with it?  Or does he?  And are they really turning up dead? 

You get my point.  I don't want to delve too deeply into the plot because this movie has more twists, turns, misdirection and straight out confusion than I can possible explain here (I don't want to give things away!).  And it is well crafted!  I have read quite a few statements about this movie in which viewers say that it was "confusing" or "didn't make sense".  I have a theory that these are the same people that won't watch a movie if it is subtitled because their brain is too small to process both picture and text based images at the same time.  The confusion thrown at you in Hellseeker is structured perfectly to keep you guessing and to pull your loyalties back and forth as to who you should see as the hero or the villain.  Kudos to writers Dupre and Day for this effort!

And of course the Cenobites are back in full force, only we see again a return to the original concepts of their design.  These Cenobites work with madness, deception and trickery instead of throwing remarkably sharp CDs around a crowded club.  The look has altered a bit from what we are used to as well.  I think director Rick Bota says it best in his audio commentary when he notes that the Cenobites were becoming "sexy, female monsters", instead of "creatures of indulgence" as they should be.  Hellseeker's Cenobites are a return to the earlier mentioned themes of pleasure and pain and the excesses of the flesh.

All in all, I think fans that have been a little jaded against the most recent Hellraiser sequels will finally have reason to get excited.  Hellraiser: Hellseeker is here and has brought with it a resurrection of the series' greatest strengths.  This one really got it's hooks into me.

-aaron-

 

Directed by: Rick Bota   Written By: Carl Dupre & Timothy Day   Based on Characters By: Clive Barker   Cast: Ashley Laurence Doug Bradley Dean Winters Ken Camroux William S. Taylor Trevor White

DVD Features: Widescreen Presentation Dolby Digital Sound Deleted Scenes With Commentary Audio Commentary With Director Rick Bota Visual Effects Walkthrough With Jamison Goei