Hell Raiser: Bloodline (1996)

Directed by: Kevin Yagher, Alan Smithee, Joe Chappelle | 86 minutes | horror, science fiction | Actors: Bruce Ramsay, Valentine Vargas, Doug Bradley, Charlotte Chatton, Adam Scott, Kim Myers, Mickey Cottrell, Louis Turenne, Courtland Mead, Louis Mustillo, Jody St. Michael, Paul Perri, Pat Skipper, Christine Harnos, Wren T. Brown Tom Dugan, Michael Polish, Mark Polish, Jimmy Schuelke, David Schuelke

Films in which the origins of a horror icon are explained usually do not score that high. For example, did we really need to know how Michael Myers became the psychopath he is? In ‘Hellraiser IV: Bloodline’ we go back in time to see who actually made the iconic Lament Configuration puzzle box. In ‘Hellraiser’ and the two films that followed, this was not considered at all and its existence was simply assumed. Also pleasant. Because whether this knowledge is really indispensable remains to be seen. Whether that statement makes for an entertaining film, by the way.

The making of this film resulted in quite a few artistic disagreements. Producer Miramax disagreed with director Kevin Yagher’s version and asked Joe Chapelle to redo some scenes. Yagher was so dissatisfied with the end result that he demanded that his name be removed from the project. Enter Alan Smithee! (the fictitious name used in Hollywood when a filmmaker turns his back on the film). It was also the last film to receive a theatrical release, all subsequent ‘Hellraiser’ films would be released straight to DVD. In addition, this was the last ‘Hellraiser’ involving Clive Barker as an executive producer.

It’s 2127. Location, how could it be otherwise: a space station, where Dr. Paul Merchant (Bruce Ramsay) tries to open the well-known puzzle box and release the cenobites, then take them out forever. Before he can finish his job, however, he is overpowered by a group of soldiers: they do not trust his behavior. His task is to convince his unbelieving colleagues: demons from hell? Yes, right. Paul tells his colleagues that his family has been plagued by the cenobites for generations. And voilà, the screenwriter has created an opportunity to look back in time and explain how the damned box came about.

France, sometime in the eighteenth century. An innocent toy maker, Phillip L’Merchant (again Bruce Ramsay, because Paul’s ancestor, so very similar to his descendants centuries later) makes a puzzle box at the behest of a magician. This magician is up to no good and uses the cube to open the gates of hell. He frees Angelique, but kills himself. Angelique does not look like a cenobit, but is a femme fatale whose job is to make the cube exist. She accidentally discovers in 1996 that the Merchants are still alive and travels to the United States to meet this John (you guessed it, played by Bruce Ramsay). John Merchant appears to have designed the building in which the cube ends in part three, so there is a link with the previous film, albeit a weak one. Other than that, this storyline doesn’t add much. Anyway, this fourth ‘Hellraiser’ has only a fraction of the atmosphere from the first two movements, in which the cenobites represented the thin line between pain and pleasure.

The continuous jumping in time doesn’t make ‘Hellraiser IV: Bloodline’ any better. It’s a mess, with the audience completely unable to get a grip on the characters because of the limited screen time they get. Gore fans will have some fun with the film, but it never gets scary or creepy. Pinhead himself hardly impresses either, he only has a handful of nice one-liners. A bad horror film should in any case instill fear, but ‘Bloodline’ doesn’t even succeed in that.