1. “Hellraiser IX: Revelations” movie review

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    You know, having reached the final (and most reviled) entry within the Hellraiser franchise, I realize that I am holding my own metaphorical Lament Configuration. Except instead of a puzzle box, it's a DVD copy of “Hellraiser: Revelations”. Instead of opening it, I place it into my DVD player and instead of Pinhead and his cohorts appearing and ripping my flesh into pieces, I had to endure an awful movie. But much like Pinhead's victims, deep down I wanted “Hellraiser: Revelations”. I wanted to satisfy some sadomasochistic urges, or at least the film equivalent of sadomasochism. I knew this would suck, yet it was my discovery that this film existed which inspired me to do “Hellraiser Month”. Clearly, deep down, I enjoy the torments of bad movies.
  2. “Hellraiser VIII: Hellworld” movie review.

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    “Hellraiser: Hellworld” is awful. Not awful in an amusing way like “Hellraiser 3”, nor was it a (somewhat respectable) misfire like “Hellraiser 6”. It is just bad. Every idea it produces backfires, either being an awful concept to begin with or it's executed so poorly that they might as well have been lame ideas to begin with. I guess I have to respect that they tried to make it different than the previous films, but by different I mean they decided to make it like every other horror franchise that ever existed. It's like the filmmakers took a good look at the franchise and determined that the Hellraiser films had become too conventionally unconventional, so the only way to remain unconventional was by becoming conventional itself.....
  3. “Hellraiser VII: Deader (2005)” movie review.

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    Whatever hopes for the franchise that had been born from “Hellraiser V: Inferno” had died a tragic death with the mundane “Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker”. I approached “Hellraiser VII: Deader” with caution because the reviews were all over the place. Some thought it was good, some thought it sucked, some thought it was on the same level of quality as its predecessor. The director had also done the previous film too, although that didn't sink my hopes because I believe it was the script that sunk the movie, not the direction. I also thought the subtitle was rather silly, but in a dull kind of way, so expectations remained low. But I opened this puzzle box to see what horrors lurked inside and honestly? I thought “Hellraiser VII: Deader” was okay.
  4. “Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker (2002)” movie review.

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    “Hellraiser 5: Inferno” had left fans either fuming or glowing, and I happened to be one of the latter. It made me feel everything it wanted me to feel, even if it was far from the conventional Hellraiser entry. It's even more shocking considering its bizarre back-story, that should spell out "epic failure". “Hellraiser 6: Hellseeker” had a similar back-story in that the studio took an acquired script that had nothing to do with the franchise and converted it into the next Hellraiser entry. You can see that the filmmakers tried to recapture that same surreal energy of its predecessor, but it fails. It fails badly.
  5. “Hellraiser V: Inferno (2000)” movie review.

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    “Hellraiser V: Inferno” is probably the most polarizing entry in its franchise. Regardless of its final impact, there is no denying that no one expected a lot from it. Horror was in a decline and the failure of “Hellraiser IV: Bloodline” proved that while Pinhead had an audience, he wasn't in league with Jason, Freddy or even Michael when it came to box office returns. But since money could still be made off of him, they chose to go the “Leprechaun” route and release the films direct-to-DVD. But instead of delivering a cheap(er) imitation of the previous films (like one would expect), “Hellraiser V” ended up being a tense, psychological thriller. It wasn't anything like we had seen before in the franchise and that's where opinions on this entry differ. Was the change in...everything...a good thing or a bad thing?
  6. “Hellraiser IV: Bloodline (1996)” review.

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    I can only imagine that the studios looked at the (amusing) abomination they created in the form of "Hellraiser 3" and realized they may have lost a potential cash cow with their half baked entry. Like or hate "Hellraiser 4", there is no denying the effort put into it. It's ambitious, sometimes even innovative. However, during production, the studio clashed with the director, who left the project and ended up using the dreaded Alan Smithee pseudonym in place of his own. His film ended up being chopped apart before they even finished the shoot! I'm not sure the movie would've been a classic had the director been around to express his vision, but the pieces that are left of his work are still surprisingly effective.
  7. “Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth (1992)” review

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    "Hellraiser" month has begun! Why Hellraiser? Why March? My Birthday is March 10 and as a birthday present to myself, I've decided that every March I will exclusively watch everything that I wish to watch. The reason why "Hellraiser" gets to be the theme is it's one of the few horror franchises that I haven't fully explored. I pretty much stopped when they sent Pinhead to space and the rest of the films toiled in the hell known as 'direct-to-DVD'. Much to my surprise, after that is when things started getting interesting for Pinhead. So I decided that it was time for me and Pinhead to get chummy again. Although granted, maybe starting off with "Hellraiser 3" was a bad idea.