Monday, June 6, 2011

Hellraiser: Inferno Blu-Ray Review

Rated R (Strong Violence and Gore, Language, Sexuality and Drug Use)

Running Time: 1 Hour & 39 Minutes

Cast:
Craig Sheffer-Detective Joseph Thorne
Doug Bradley-Pinhead
Nicholas Turturro-Detective Tony Nenonen
James Remar-Dr. Paul Gregory
Noelle Evans-Melanie Thorne
Lindsay Taylor-Chloe
Nicholas Sadler-Bernie
Sasha Barrese-Daphne Sharp
Matt George-Leon Gaultier
Michael Shamus Wiles-Mr. Parmagi
Ray Miceli-The Faceless Killer/The Engineer
Lynn Speier-Wire Twin Cenobite #1
Patricia Kara-Wire Twin Cenobite #2
Mike J. Regan-Chatterer Torso Cenobite

Directed by Scott Derrickson

Savor this moment because this is all you'll see of Pinhead in "Hellraiser: Inferno."
When I look at what has become of the “Hellraiser” franchise, all I can do is just sigh and hang my head in shame. Apparently, it had sunk to such low depths after the fourth installment that Dimension Films decided it just wasn’t worth releasing to theaters anymore, yet that hasn’t stopped them from making sequel after sequel, with the series barely surviving on the straight-to-video shelf. Instead of just letting it die or doing a full reboot, The Weinstein Company rushed a ninth film into production last August, titled “Hellraiser: Revelations,” with an estimated budget of $300,000 and cobbled together in two weeks since they were faced with expiration of the film rights. Doug Bradley himself even declined to participate in the film, commenting that ‘this does not seem to me to represent a serious attempt to revive the Hellraiser franchise’ but being a good sport, he wished everyone involved with the production good luck. Essentially, it is an ‘ashcan’ film, made only to retain the legal rights and not meant to be distributed. A famous example is the low-budget 1994 film “The Fantastic Four,” produced by Roger Corman. “Revelations” was released in one theater in Los Angeles, California this past March. “Hellraiser: Inferno” is the fifth installment of the “Hellraiser” franchise and the first to be released straight-to-video. Color me surprised when I discovered that it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be (my expectations were really low) but it does not change the fact that it is still a mediocre effort. While it does attempt to try something new by being more of a psychological thriller, “Inferno” tends to drag with only a few bits standing out. Disappointingly, Pinhead, despite being displayed so prominently on the Blu-Ray cover, only appears for a mere three minutes, leading me to believe that it wasn’t meant to be a “Hellraiser” film to begin with. 

Joseph Thorne (Craig Sheffer) is a brilliant but corrupt detective serving at the Denver Police Department. He steals confiscated money and drugs from the evidence locker, spends precious little time with his wife and daughter and instead prefers to sleep with prostitutes while snorting cocaine. He narrates: ‘I believe in fidelity, I understand the concept. Most men just leave. If doing this keeps me coming back [to my wife], then who's to say what's right and what's wrong?’ While investigating a crime scene involving a bloodily dismembered corpse, Thorne discovers the victim to be an old high school acquaintance. He also finds a severed child’s finger embedded in a candle and the puzzle box known as the Lamont Configuration. Strange occurrences begin to take place after he solves the box as the people in his life start turning up dead, with more severed fingers being found at each of the crime scenes. Thorne becomes increasingly paranoid and obsessed with solving the case as he hunts for a killer known as ‘The Engineer,’ leading him to a deadly confrontation with the diabolical Cenobite Pinhead (Doug Bradley)! 

Most fans will be disappointed to discover that “Hellraiser: Inferno” has absolutely no links to the previous films and functions as an irrelevant, stand-alone tale that should’ve been called “A Day in the Life of Pinhead.” It eschews the sadomasochistic themes that made the series popular and is more of a psychological thriller. While I commend writer/director Scott Derrickson’s attempt to explore a new direction in the franchise, I just wish it wasn’t such a bore half the time. The first hour wouldn’t feel out of place from a standard police procedural, leading me to speculate that the film wasn’t meant to be part of the “Hellraiser” series to begin with but the script was altered in order to justify slapping the title on the video cover. The second hour is more interesting as we see Thorne’s hallucinations become more and more severe as he questions his grip on reality. Taken as a whole, “Inferno” is like a twisted morality tale of a man forced to confront his sins but must endure an eternal lifetime of suffering because of them, which is a nice touch and went beyond what I expected of a mere straight-to-video release. While Pinhead himself had too much screen-time in the previous film, here he has too little. In fact, he appears for a grand total of three minutes but it’s certainly the best three minutes out of the entire film! Again, he just stands there and yaps but the dialogue he recites in this film is a lot stronger compared to “Bloodline” and fits into his cold and calculating demeanor. There’s a really strong nightmare scene after Thorne solves the Lamont Configuration and finds himself back in his childhood home. He meets these lithe, female Cenobite twins who start fondling his body and licking him with their serpentine tongues. This is as close as it gets to the sex and sadism of Clive Barker’s original but alas we never get anymore scenes like this one. The gore is kept to a minimum to emphasize the atmosphere and suspense, something I admire as well, but we do get to see the grisly aftermath with bodies skinned of their flesh or hung on chained hooks. “Hellraiser: Inferno” has some nice ideas but the execution only yields a few compelling bits while the rest of the film ends up grinding along trying to fill up the necessary running time. 

As this is a straight-to-video release, I recognize absolutely no one in the cast. Well, there’s James Remar and Sasha Barrese but they’re hardly household names. Craig Sheffer sleepwalks most of the time but actually manages to muster a convincing performance when his character begins to lose his mind, although his screams of agony are way overacted! Everyone else, from Nicholas Turturro (of “NYPD Blue” fame) to James Remar is slumming for a quick paycheck to cover next month’s rent or to put food on the table. Doug Bradley, despite his minimal screen-time, is excellent as always but I just wish he appeared more often. “Hellraiser: Inferno” arrives on Blu-Ray as part of a double-feature bundled with “Hellraiser: Bloodline.” Being a straight-to-video release, picture and audio quality are adequate but sorely lacking. While day scenes offer some nice clarity and textures, nighttime scenes end up looking murky and shadows lack depth. On the sound front, everything lacks oomph and sounds tiny, necessitating you to really turn up the volume. There are absolutely no extras or subtitles besides the menu that the back of the box proudly advertises. 

Released on VHS (remember those?!) and DVD on October 3, 2000, “Hellraiser: Inferno” seems to have received middling reviews from what I’ve managed to dig up, although some fans do swear by this film. The production budget was an estimated $2 million but I cannot provide any info on whether it broke even in video sales but two years later, a sixth installment, “Hellraiser: Hellseeker,” was released straight-to-video and featured the return of Ashley Laurence in her role as Kirsty Cotton from the first two films. Of course, more sequels would soon follow. The attempts at taking the franchise in a new direction are admirable (and desperately needed) but “Hellraiser: Inferno” never really rises to the occasion and suffers from the lack of Pinhead or any thematic ties to the previous films. While it’s certainly not a total loss despite its straight-to-video status, the whole affair ends up drudging along and fails to offer a compelling tale.

Final Rating: 2 out of 5

“It's all a puzzle, isn't it, Joseph? Like a game of chess, perhaps. The pieces move, apparently aimlessly, but always towards one single objective: to kill the king. But who is the king in this game, Joseph? That is the question you must ask yourself. Don't you recognize your own flesh, your own spirit?”