Hellraiser: Bloodline

(1996) ***
This is Hellraiser #4, by the way. Did anyone notice when it became vogue to leave the number of the sequel out of the title? Personally, I think it's obnoxious.

I've only ever heard bad things about this movie, and as a result I was pleasantly surprised. The first selling point is that it's about the puzzlebox itself, and I've always found the box to be one of this franchise's more interesting bits. It starts with a buzz-cut dude on a space station being arrested by some Space Marines moments after Pinhead and Co are summoned and flit away into the recesses of the station. Buzzcut appeals to the team's shrink to hear him out before everybody gets hooked.

Flash back to the box's inventor, who is played by Buzzcut but with a lot more hair (see above). He makes the puzzle box for an occult-loving nobleman, then peeks in the window and sees the box get used in a bloody ritual that summons a demon and sticks it into a recently-deceased body.

At this point I was furrowing my brow at the movie, since it was utilizing pentacles and other traditional occult garb that the Hellraiser series always seemed too cool to use. Having watched a couple of these movies I wondered about the cosmology at play -- are the Cenobites actually from Hell? Maybe this is more of an "other dimension" kind of thing. The elements of God, Heaven etc. are never mentioned except as an occasional quip. Clearly they have some connection to the afterlife, but is that necessarily Hell? The pentacle would say yes, but I figured this was just sloppy storytelling.

And while I'm griping, couldn't they have found a more attractive actress to play the Seductress from Hell? This woman has a face like a hammer.


Anyway, it turns out being the "best toymaker in France" doesn't make you sneaky, and while trying to steal the box back the dude gets caught and killed. It takes a couple centuries before his particular Hell-box talents awaken in one of his decendants. This is where HR #4 shows off a nice bit of responsible continuity; HR #3 ends with Terry Farrell dumping the box into a building's foundation, and then a shot of the lobby done up with puzzlebox designs. Now we're seeing that building's architect's story, which involves Hammerface spotting an article about him and digging the original puzzlebox out of the foundation. She uses her hammery charms on a fat, comically horny guy and tricks him into opening the pesky old gateway to Hell. Enter Pinhead, who's first line tied the movie together in a way I didn't think possible. Greeting Hammerface, he says "Hell has grown far more ordered since your time, princess." Ahhhh...so it IS Hell, and it's subject to the same kind of vanity and upheaval as the fashion industry. Gotta admit, that's kind of cool.

However, this chapter contains the flick's weakest parts. A new Cenobite is formed, and it's just as ridiculous as those dorky ones from Hell on Earth. The ending of the chapter involves a lot of wind and bad special effects and Pinhead going "NOOOOOOOO" but it's not clear at all what's going on. I guess the good guys win.

Moreover, it was at this point that I found within me a sensation of immense apathy towards the motifs of this franchise. Pinhead looks over there, and from that dark corner...out come the chains with hooks! Then he looks over into that dark corner, and you get the idea. Gross, sure, but boring.

As the puzzlebox building starts taking on the aspect of Hell, stuff like this is everywhere. C'mahhhn, these are props from a honkytonk carnival's haunted house. This is meant to be Hell we're dealing with. "Ordered" or not, it should be more interesting.

Finally we're back to the future, and naturally the Space Marines start getting picked off. Dr. Buzzcut is freed to try to spring his demon trap, one based on designs his long-haired ancestor drafted back in France. Pinhead gets another good line, as he's mocking our good scientist for having hope. "What do you have, fiend?" "Nothing" says Pinhead, "I am so exquisitely empty."

See? While never presenting us with a solid through-and-through winner, the Hellraiser series does shape itself a good idea or moment sometimes. This one's got enough game to earn it three stars.