Hello everyone. Here we are once again with more of Such Sights To Show You. We have managed to close out one chapter. Now, we are beginning a whole new chapter. It's one that is more of an anthology approach that I have mentioned before. Each film here on out for the next four or five films roughly are stand alone stories.
After Bloodline, the Weinstein were ready to do another Hellraiser film. They had looked through various pitches. If they had gone through various pitches, what was stopping them from going forth with any of those? Well, they were apparently more expensive than they would have liked. And at this point, it seemed like the next entry would only be released as a direct-to-video. However, they had come across a pitch that they thought would work. It was from Scott Derrickson. Oh yes, that Scott Derrickson. So, the story goes that Weinstein gave Derrickson money to film a scene as proof of concept. Once that was done, it was off to the races.
At this point, I really like Scott Derrickson. He did a phenomenal job with The Black Phone earlier this year. Doctor Strange was a very unique entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Derrickson was a large reason why. He also gave us The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Deliver Us From Evil, and Sinister. He has done such a phenomenal job with his films. It's really easy to see why he has been moving through the ranks as a solid director.
So when I first saw that Derrickson was involved with Hellraiser: Inferno, I was excited. It's very early in his career that he had the chance to direct it. For those interested in what Inferno is about, the film follows a detective that becomes involved with the Lament Configuration and the serial killer known as The Engineer. Now, when I initially had heard about The Engineer - I did a bit of a double take. What? That's not Hellraiser. Hellraiser has Pinhead.
So, I started the film. Within the first half hour, I wasn't sure what I was watching. How was this a Hellraiser film? I mean this is a 100 minute film that moves pretty damn fast. Everything's moving so damn fast that it just feels like an absolute fever dream of a film. With that in mind, it does work to an extent. It definitely places us in the shoes and mindset of our detective (played by Craig Sheffer).
For the most part though, it's very much in the vein of a noir detective story. Whole murder mystery. I mean there's even a voice over from time to time with Sheffer. I guess we are supposed to at least understand the Detective. But for the most part, I don't understand how we can like him. He's not a good guy. He has a wife and a daughter, but spends his nights with a call girl you could say. It's very apparent that this isn't his first rodeo either. He also has a bit of a problem with a certain controlled substance. So, we are following someone that can't just get behind.
By this point, we also have some cenobites. However, they are not really any that we have seen before. Something that I will attribute the design of the cenobites is to the fact that this is a psychological film. So these cenobites reflect the Detective's mindset throughout the film. After he has a moment with the call girl, he comes across twin cenobites that were a bit more siren like. We do see a version of Chatterer - a more half body one. The design of the Engineer also manages to reflect the vibe of these cenobites as well. And we do a moment or two with Pinhead, not as much as one would like though.
I wanted to like Hellraiser: Inferno. I went in with very much an open mind. It does have so much psychological aspects to it that it makes a bit hard to follow. It feels so much like Inferno was an original idea before elements of Hellraiser were added. If it had been released in its original form without the Hellraiser ties, it probably could have been more successful. One thing is that it does feel very topical nowadays, especially with its showcasing of a Detective abusing his power. Overall, it just feels like there was something holding things back. It's definitely probably due to Weinstein having involvement. It's a bit of a missed opportunity honestly. Not a good start to our anthology chapter of the Hellraiser franchise.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
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