Welcome back! I hope everyone had a good weekend. When Hellraiser was released, it was a success but not nearly as big of a success as everyone was hoping. I mean looking back at it with it's $1 million budget and then making $14.5 million is pretty solid. So like most things in the 80s/late 80s, it made sense to deliver a sequel.
However, this go around would see Clive Barker in a more executive producer/writer role than director. From what I've gathered, Barker hadn't had a good experience making the first film. Thankfully, it wasn't the last time that we saw Barker direct a film as he would go on to handle Nightbreed. Tony Randel was brought in to direct this sequel. He had worked with Barker on the first film.
Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a sequel that honestly surpasses the first film. It is one of those rare sequels where lightning did strike twice. It was also made at a time where studios would make sequels tie in to previous entries. Personally, I love it when films will pick up where previous entries would leave off. It's a fantastic set of continuity and makes the world feel lived in. Before we get into things, we should probably go over the synopsis. The most simple synopsis goes like this:
Kirsty is brought to an institution after the horrible events of Hellraiser (1987), where the occult-obsessive head doctor resurrects Julia and unleashes the Cenobites and their demonic underworld.
First off, I want to say that bringing back Kirsty was one of the best things that Hellbound could do. Like I said in my look at Hellraiser, that first film wasn't necessarily Kirsty's story. Yes, she's in the film. However, that was Frank and Julia's perverse tragic love story. With Hellbound, it allowed us to spend some time with Kirsty. We were able to see how the events of that first run in with the Cenobites had affected her. She has tremendous PTSD from it. And of course, it doesn't help that her boyfriend from the first film, Steve, was seemingly nowhere to be found. He had been sent home by the police. So, Kirsty is on her own in this mental institution.
By placing Hellbound in a mental institution, it changes the film and helps it stand apart from the first film. While that had been a tragic perverse love story, Hellbound ultimately is a film about mental health under the twisted fairy tale scope. Kirsty is told by the doctors and the police that her story is crazy. So, she's faced with confronting exactly what the hell had happened that tore her family apart. Our Snow White and heroine that we strive to see succeed.
Then we have Dr. Channard, who is supposed to be helping. However, he has his own agenda. He's seeking to find out what else is out there. In one sense, I'd compare Channard to Scarecrow from Batman as he's performing his own twisted experiments on patients. This is someone that is supposed to help people heal, yet for his own twisted pleasure enjoyed his experiments. He is extremely pretentious, cold and obsessed with the occult. It is a bit similar to Frank as he lets his obsession run rampant. And wonderfully sets the stage as to who exactly is the villain in Hellbound.
Joining Kirsty from the first film is the reappearance of Julia. In a twisted flip of the script, Julia is just muscle. One question I had is how long does time pass in hell? If it's by Supernatural TV rules, then a lot of time has passed for Julia. It helps to explain Julia's progression from the first film to the second. While at first, she was a bit hesitant about committing acts of violence in the first film. In Hellbound, she's changed her tune. She knows exactly what she needs to do to survive. Even going as far to wrapping her little finger around Channard and manipulating him to her own ends.
Tiffany and Kyle are two interesting characters. Tiffany is someone that has been in the institution for the past six months. She's quiet and reserved, yet strives to solve puzzles. Whatever puzzle is placed in front of her, she is able to sit down and solve. In one sense, Tiffany reminds me a little of Newt from Aliens. She's our innocent. She's the one that we will do whatever it takes to protect her. Kyle is also a bit of an innocent. Though, he has all the personality as Neal from Dream Warriors. He's someone that could have helped Kirsty if he hadn't fallen to Julia.
Another big hit with people from the first film were the Cenobites. Thankfully, they do return with a bit of a bigger runtime as well. Pinhead, the Female Cenobite, Chatterer and Butterball all return with a vengeance. The biggest stand out of them would become Pinhead, honestly for good reason. While I enjoy Pinhead, I enjoy the other cenobites as well. It's the way that they interact with one another that makes their performances truly spectacular. It's also interesting that we get a glimpse of what Pinhead was before his damnation as a cenobite. Yeah, it'd be further developed and answered in the third installment, but this glimpse was just enough. I don't know if we needed more about Pinhead. Sometimes less is better.
The gothic fairy tale atmosphere continues on from the previous installment. While we received a small glimpse of Hell in the first film, we spend more time. It left me floored and not knowing what is going to come around the next corner. But Hell is just so creepy. It truly is a place that you don't want to spend more time in it than you'd have to. Yet the architecture just expresses that this isn't of this Earth. Then things become more maze like when Channard accepts his position as the new Head Cenobite. It's more methodical and labyrinthine - heightened by his work as a Doctor.
Everything about Hellbound is bolder. It knows exactly what it's trying to do with almost a precision. Yeah, I have seen the Leviathan: Making of Hellraiser and Hellraiser II. But with what they were able to bring to the screen, it is a solid continuation. It is almost a perfect companion to the first Hellraiser like Halloween II is a worthy companion to Halloween '78. It beautifully establishes more of Kirsty and she comes into her own. She stands against those who would damn the world and protecting Tiffany. It also holds replayability as each viewing, you can discover something you may not have noticed before.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
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