This film I have to say perplexed me a bit when I first saw it. I’ve attempted to watch it a couple of times, but may have been under the influence or just not in the frame of mind to give this its dues. The film made no sense to me. Now time to give this another attempt and see if it is any good or not.
The Plot
Hellraiser 2 starts off with a scene where the Pinhead in his original earthly form (an archaelogist) finds the original Lament configuration and opens it only to be agonisingly dragged to hell. Whats really cool about this is the fact we get to see Pinhead / Doug Bradley in original form. The film itself is set after the events of the original film where Kristy is now in a mental home amidst the clean up of the first film. Kristy is convinced that the Cenobites could come back through the bloodstained mattress that is still residing at her old residence. Of course no one believes her. There are some serious “Nightmare on elm street 3” vibes up until this point.
Kristy does attract the attention of one the head psychiatrists, Dr Charrard who delves into her story. He then goes and retrieves the mattress to resurrect Julia (the evil bitch from the first film) when he invites an unwitting mental patient to bleed out on the mattress. Julie then sets out on a mission to slaughter others to maker herself whole.
Theres also another girl in the asylum, Tiffany Whom the above mentioned psychiatrist brings to Julie. Tiffany has some sort of affinity with the cube. Not sure if she’s the only one that can open it (I guess there’s really no other point in her being in this story) but she does. This of course summons the Cenobites, much to Dr Charrards delight.
Things get strange
This is where things get a little abstract, the visuals a great. It however didn’t make sense how all these people got trapped in a labyrinth. I think the cube dragged them to hell, rather than the cenobites into the real world. How did Ashley get caught up in all this? Some sort of unfinished business, I’d wager. A desire to find her father. Some of the visuals are quite nightmarish. Once you get over the sudden change in direction this is quite a trip. Some of the visual creations are quite random, but they sure would have been a sight on the big screen!
The Verdict
Hellraiser was a legendary horror film (even in hell) and it deserved the full attention of a proper follow up. It grossed reasonably well at the box office (especially for an underground film) and a well done sequel could have really propelled this into the mainstream. Hellraiser 2 wasn’t bad at all I think, just a few aspects made it fall short of the sequel it could have been. Still, definitely worth your time to check out, and some great and quite disturbing horror effects, make this well worth the ticket price.
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