The fifth film in the “Hellraiser” franchise also marked the beginning of the “straight-to-video era” of the series. “Inferno” through “Hellworld” all skipped theatrical releases in favor of more restrained story-telling and lower budgets. This, of course, lead to some fairly polarized responses from casual horror fans and “Hellraiser” enthusiasts. Save for perhaps “Hellworld”, I’m of the side which adores the “straight-to-video era”. And the new direction started out nice and strong with its first two installments, “Inferno” and “Hellseeker”.
Detective Joseph Thorne (Craig Sheffer) is a bad cop and an even worse husband. While investigating a crime scene of a gruesome murder, Thorne comes across a strange puzzle box and the severed finger of a child, whom forensics believes is still alive. The further Thorne digs into the case, the more he finds his personal life and those he cares about become involved. At the scene of each crime he discovers another finger and with each passing murder his grip on his sanity slowly fades. Strange mutilated creatures follow him wherever he goes, all leading up to his confrontation with the man behind the murders: the enigmatic “Engineer”.
In my discussions within the horror community, I’ve found that those who enjoyed “Inferno” had read the “Hellraiser” comic book series, while those who hated it had never even heard of them. A generalization, to be sure, but it seemed to come up a lot. The “Hellraiser” comic was an anthology series, all revolving around the theme of unwholesome desires leading people to summon the Cenobites through various puzzles (both literal and more metaphysical). Pinhead scarcely appeared in the series and the stories were far more personal and low-key than the rather epic scope of films such as “Hellbound”, “Hell on Earth” and “Bloodline”. The comic took more cues from the first “Hellraiser”, which was a very personal story about lust and infidelity. The “straight-to-video era” of the “Hellraiser” franchise essentially carries on the spirit of the comics, with very atmospheric and introspective horror stories. So naturally, they appeal more to the members of the fandom who have read the comics and less to those who are only acquainted with the very over-the-top and special effects driven movies.
From what I understand, “Inferno” was initially written as a film not even remotely associated with the “Hellraiser” franchise and simply wound-up with a few rewrites and the brand name slapped on it in order to make it sell. This may sound extremely sketchy, but it actually works. Our “protagonist”, Detective Thorne, is an all-around scumbag and rather hard to like. So you aren’t really left feeling much sympathy when terrible things begin to happen to him. I actually liked this approach, since it left me rooting for the Cenobites and other nasty things to get him. The progression of the story is great, as Thorne starts spiraling into his own mania, seeing a mysterious Cenobite taunting him at every crime scene. The reveal of the Engineer’s identity at the finale is nicely done, and while the morality lesson is a little heavy-handed, it holds up well with the purpose of the story.
As for the Cenobites, we have a really great line-up this time around. Firstly, don’t get too excited at the name “Engineer”. The giant worm-monster from the original “Hellraiser” is not the same as this Engineer, sorry. Pinhead (Doug Bradley) appears, as usual, though they seem to have messed up his vocal effects, not pitching it down as much as they’re supposed to (making his voice sound a bit off). Many complain that Pinhead doesn’t appear enough in this movie, but if you go back to the original “Hellraiser”, he may actually have more screen time here than he did there. Other Cenobites include the Wire Twins (Lynn Speier and Patricia Kara), two blind, leather-clad dominatrixes with wires connecting their chins to their chests. They’re actually a nice physical representation of the pleasure/pain parallel that’s a standard of the series. And maybe I’m just a weirdo, but they were pretty hot. Next, there’s my favorite Cenobite of the film, the chattering Torso (Mike J. Regan). Just to address any misconceptions, Torso is not supposed to be the Chatterer from the first two films. According to his bio, he was a creation of the Chatterer, though.
“Inferno” manages to weave a great supernatural murder-mystery into the tapestry of the “Hellraiser” mythos. Some might hate it because it isn’t a nonstop slaughterfest, but if you can get over the fact that it tries to be more of an atmospheric piece and less of a cornball slasher reject, you might actually enjoy yourself. Watch out for some rather irritating “Mtv”-esque moments and a pair of ridiculous ninja cowboys, though.
Grade: B+ (as in “’Banging hookers will lead you straight to Hell’ is the moral of this story. Didn’t the Bible teach you people anything?”)
Detective Joseph Thorne (Craig Sheffer) is a bad cop and an even worse husband. While investigating a crime scene of a gruesome murder, Thorne comes across a strange puzzle box and the severed finger of a child, whom forensics believes is still alive. The further Thorne digs into the case, the more he finds his personal life and those he cares about become involved. At the scene of each crime he discovers another finger and with each passing murder his grip on his sanity slowly fades. Strange mutilated creatures follow him wherever he goes, all leading up to his confrontation with the man behind the murders: the enigmatic “Engineer”.
In my discussions within the horror community, I’ve found that those who enjoyed “Inferno” had read the “Hellraiser” comic book series, while those who hated it had never even heard of them. A generalization, to be sure, but it seemed to come up a lot. The “Hellraiser” comic was an anthology series, all revolving around the theme of unwholesome desires leading people to summon the Cenobites through various puzzles (both literal and more metaphysical). Pinhead scarcely appeared in the series and the stories were far more personal and low-key than the rather epic scope of films such as “Hellbound”, “Hell on Earth” and “Bloodline”. The comic took more cues from the first “Hellraiser”, which was a very personal story about lust and infidelity. The “straight-to-video era” of the “Hellraiser” franchise essentially carries on the spirit of the comics, with very atmospheric and introspective horror stories. So naturally, they appeal more to the members of the fandom who have read the comics and less to those who are only acquainted with the very over-the-top and special effects driven movies.
From what I understand, “Inferno” was initially written as a film not even remotely associated with the “Hellraiser” franchise and simply wound-up with a few rewrites and the brand name slapped on it in order to make it sell. This may sound extremely sketchy, but it actually works. Our “protagonist”, Detective Thorne, is an all-around scumbag and rather hard to like. So you aren’t really left feeling much sympathy when terrible things begin to happen to him. I actually liked this approach, since it left me rooting for the Cenobites and other nasty things to get him. The progression of the story is great, as Thorne starts spiraling into his own mania, seeing a mysterious Cenobite taunting him at every crime scene. The reveal of the Engineer’s identity at the finale is nicely done, and while the morality lesson is a little heavy-handed, it holds up well with the purpose of the story.
As for the Cenobites, we have a really great line-up this time around. Firstly, don’t get too excited at the name “Engineer”. The giant worm-monster from the original “Hellraiser” is not the same as this Engineer, sorry. Pinhead (Doug Bradley) appears, as usual, though they seem to have messed up his vocal effects, not pitching it down as much as they’re supposed to (making his voice sound a bit off). Many complain that Pinhead doesn’t appear enough in this movie, but if you go back to the original “Hellraiser”, he may actually have more screen time here than he did there. Other Cenobites include the Wire Twins (Lynn Speier and Patricia Kara), two blind, leather-clad dominatrixes with wires connecting their chins to their chests. They’re actually a nice physical representation of the pleasure/pain parallel that’s a standard of the series. And maybe I’m just a weirdo, but they were pretty hot. Next, there’s my favorite Cenobite of the film, the chattering Torso (Mike J. Regan). Just to address any misconceptions, Torso is not supposed to be the Chatterer from the first two films. According to his bio, he was a creation of the Chatterer, though.
“Inferno” manages to weave a great supernatural murder-mystery into the tapestry of the “Hellraiser” mythos. Some might hate it because it isn’t a nonstop slaughterfest, but if you can get over the fact that it tries to be more of an atmospheric piece and less of a cornball slasher reject, you might actually enjoy yourself. Watch out for some rather irritating “Mtv”-esque moments and a pair of ridiculous ninja cowboys, though.
Grade: B+ (as in “’Banging hookers will lead you straight to Hell’ is the moral of this story. Didn’t the Bible teach you people anything?”)
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