Hellraiser Review: Fairly Safe Remake
Remakes of well-known works are commonplace these days, but there are some pieces that are genuinely due for a second chance. In the humble opinion of this critic, one of them is the 1987 film Hellraiser. Although the Clive Barker novel that gave rise to a horror trilogy is positioned as a genre staple, it is a frustratingly uneven film with some startling concepts and imagery - it's perfect for a fresh filmmaker to take another stab at realising its full potential. By providing both a narrative engine akin to Final Destination and actual, understandable rules regulating its supernatural entities, David Bruckner's new Hellraiser fills in the gaps in the story's framework and makes it simpler to enjoy.
In Hellraiser, Menaker (Hiam Abbass), a lawyer, buys the notorious puzzle box from the series for her employer, mysterious billionaire Mr. Voight (Goran Visnjic). Voight gets a young man into figuring it out at a party on his property. He is cut by a concealed sword, and the box gladly sips his blood. The owner of the box wants an appointment with a "god," as if he has suddenly earned the right to do so, as hooked chains shoot out of thin air to seize him. After six years have passed, Riley (Odessa A'zion), the main protagonist of the film, is approaching a turning point in her life.
She is sober and residing with her well-mannered brother Matt (Brandon Flynn), who disapproves of her relationship with Trevor (Drew Starkey), a man she met via her 12-step programme who appears less dedicated to his sobriety than Matt would like. Trevor promises to cut Riley in on a potential score, a shipping container he knows through his employment has been abandoned by its wealthy, anonymous owner. In actuality, Trevor is in considerably more difficulty than Matt thinks. Of course, they break in and only find the Lament Configuration in a safe within a safe. Riley, the less likely culprit, holds the items while Trevor locates a fence, causing a journey that is much more unpleasant than she anticipated.
However, despite the demons' horrifying deformation of human bodies, there is something somewhat subdued about this Hellraiser. In a way that feels like a line has been crossed, Barker's original mashes together studies of pain as a sexual experience and a religious one. It is very purposefully nasty and obscene. Although thematically significant, the Cenobites play a less role in this feeling of provocation than its human characters, particularly Frank, the warped human antagonist who spends the most of the movie as a regenerating corpse. After all, it is a movie about a sadistic uncle who literally wears the data-face of his victimised niece in order to seduce her.