Hellraiser (1988)

August 22, 2018

Directed by: Clive Barker

Written by: Clive Barker

Starring: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence

Budget: $1,000,000

Quote: "I thought I'd gone to the limits. I hadn't. The Cenobites gave me an experience beyond limits. Pain and pleasure, indivisible."

Trivia: The Chatterer and Butterball Cenobites had dialogue in the original script. However, when their make-up made coherent speech impossible, their lines were given to the Female Cenobite and especially Pinhead, which helped to cement his reputation as the film's trademark character.


I remember first seeing Hellraiser at my friend Josh's house who lived across the street when I was way too young. The monster Frank was terrifying to me. But it was the scene at the end when he is laughs to himself "Jesus wept" before his head is torn apart by chains that has been forever burnt into my mind.

There is really nothing that I can write about Hellraiser that has not already been written a thousand times before so I'm going to skip what happens in the film and make this one short and hopefully sweet. I have seen this movie a dozen times before but wanted to watch it for two reasons. First, Joe Bob Briggs hosted this movie on his now famous The Last Drive In and I love his commentary and insights. Second, my wife has never seen any of the Hellraisers before and I felt it was part of my marital duty to make sure she doesn't go through life without seeing this gem. The movie is bad ass!

Some Thoughts:

• I actually think the sequel is even better. Don't get me wrong, this one is awesome, but bringing the story out of the house and into the whole world works a bit better. Also, that scene with the guy cutting himself on that mattress before Frank comes out and tears him apart was brutal.
• I love that Julia is still obsessed with Frank even after seeing his masturbatorium: his filthy mattress (?) with pornographic decorations
• I still don't get how the Cenobites could be angels for some and demons for others. They are just demons right? It seems pretty black and white to me.
• "Come to Daddy" still makes my skin crawl whenever Frank says it.
• The scene where Frank's skeleton reassembles itself after having blood dripped on it is absolutely amazing! It looks like all practical effects (which is almost always better... I know I sound like a broken record with my obsession for practical effects) and the entire film's budget was only a million bucks. I don't know how Clive Barker did so much with so little.
• If you watch closely, you can see the moment at the end when the filmmakers ran out of money.
• You can see both the cart and the guy pushing the car in the scene where the hell monster chases the girl down the hall towards her hospital room.
• What's up with the vagrant guy? Was the cricket eating scene there just because it is creepy or was it a reference to John the Baptist (who was supposed to be unkempt with a bear full of crickets which was one of his favorite foods).
• The dragon skeleton at the end was lame.
• I love the cenobites! Their designs are so creative and I love the idea that hell has a group of monsters whose job it is to say ominous catch phrases and to deal out pain and torture to special cases.
• I really wish the latter sequels were better (I haven't seen them in a long time but from I remember, they get bad real quick after the third one).