Believe it or not, "Hellraiser: Deader" (2005) surprised me at first for being unexpectedly good for the seventh film in a franchise. We've got a detailed, original, creative horror story setup, we've got some quite good makeup effects, and we've got Romania as a great atmospheric location. I was having a good time.
Just past the halfway mark, however, this movie descended into confused plotting and incomprehensibility, half-heartedly depicted by bland directing and bad acting. (The lead actress here illustrates for us that not every pretty girl can be an Oscar contender.) Fans of the franchise take note — this is only a putative "Hellraiser" movie. The iconic "Pinhead" makes a couple of perfunctory appearances; the other "Cenobites" appear once, I think, in background. A quick check of Wikipedia confirmed my suspicion — this was originally a standalone horror movie script, into which these characters were inserted (and pretty tenuously in terms of plot). Clive Barker had no creative involvement whatsoever.
I'd give this movie a 3 out of 10 for an interesting first half, and I'd recommend you skip it.
You know what? Go watch "From Within" (2008). That's a good horror yarn that gets too little press.
Just past the halfway mark, however, this movie descended into confused plotting and incomprehensibility, half-heartedly depicted by bland directing and bad acting. (The lead actress here illustrates for us that not every pretty girl can be an Oscar contender.) Fans of the franchise take note — this is only a putative "Hellraiser" movie. The iconic "Pinhead" makes a couple of perfunctory appearances; the other "Cenobites" appear once, I think, in background. A quick check of Wikipedia confirmed my suspicion — this was originally a standalone horror movie script, into which these characters were inserted (and pretty tenuously in terms of plot). Clive Barker had no creative involvement whatsoever.
I'd give this movie a 3 out of 10 for an interesting first half, and I'd recommend you skip it.
You know what? Go watch "From Within" (2008). That's a good horror yarn that gets too little press.