Hellraiser
One of the ways in which Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser” changed the game from the slasher films that opened around it was in providing a framework for its protagonists to seek out the slashers, in a way of speaking. But the Cenobites are not villains in the same way that Jason and Freddy and Michael Myers are- in reality, they are a cult that seduces people who seek them out with promises of pleasure, while reveling in their pain, which is the natural flip side of that coin. I have never gone beyond the first sequel, “Hellbound,” but the world of “Hellraiser” does feel ripe for exploration in a way that most horror franchises are not.
In his reboot of Barker’s world, director David Bruckner (“The Signal,” “The Night House”) starts with a man who is thirsty for power, and ends with a woman looking for peace. In between is nearly two hours of narrative that moves in fits and spurts before ramping up in the second half of the film. What helps hold our interest is the performance by Odessa A’zion as Riley, a woman struggling with addiction, who finds herself obsessed with learning the secrets of the puzzle box she was coaxed into stealing by her new boyfriend.
Six years prior, a Serbian woman acquires the puzzle box from a person selling it. She is acquiring it for Voight (Goran Visnjic), a businessman with a particular interest in the sights it has to offer. The woman meets a young man, Joey (Kit Clarke), whom she tells to go to a grand room in the mansion. The box is there, but in a different form. Voight has Joey complete it for him, and his wish is granted.
Riley is out of rehab, and in Serbia, as well, with her brother and friends. She meets a man, Trevor (Drew Starkey), who uses her to help break into a warehouse of Voight’s old things. All that remains is the puzzle box, which Trevor gives to Riley since, it has no value to him. Her curiosity about it leads to a new configuration cycle, and lots of questions.
The main problem with the screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski is that it has to develop two different narratives- that of Voight, and then how Riley gets the puzzle box. Bruckner can only do so much to not make the first half of the film feel like an exposition slog, but it helps that A’zion is a compelling heroine as Riley. She’s trying to go clean, but that struggle is never easy. Trevor is very much a set up of the “bad boy who enables her” as a character, but in a way, he also represents her salvation in how he will offer her a way out of the situation he puts her in. Her other friends, and her brother, are basically fodder to be sacrificed- hers is handily the most compelling character in the film, and we follow her every step of the way.
One of my favorite things about this version of “Hellraiser” was how visible a part of the narrative the Cenobites were. As Pinhead (aka The Priest), Jamie Clayton is a striking presence, creating an ominous air whenever she’s onscreen, and helping us see what is to fear on the other side of the puzzle box. There were also some good visual effects in the film, and a score by Ben Lovett that doesn’t forget Christopher Young’s iconic score. I don’t think it stands as tall as Barker’s original, but I dug it enough to where I wouldn’t mind seeing more of them from this creative team.
