Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005)

Directed by: Rick Bota | 90 minutes | horror | Actors: Katheryn Winnick, Khary Payton, Anna Tolputt, Henry Cavill, Christopher Jacot, Lance Henriksen, Doug Bradley, Magdalena Tun, Gavril Patrv, Desiree Malonga, Catalina Alexandru, Victor McGuire, Costi Mirica, Gary J. Tunnicliffe, Mike J. Regan , Carl V. Dupre

One of the most legendary horror icons, next to Freddy Krueger from the ‘Nightmare’ series and Jason Voorhees from the ‘Friday the 13th’ series, is Pinhead, so affectionately known by the fans. The likeable actor Doug Bradley makes good money from this character, because in addition to the franchise, he also regularly trots out at horror conventions to hand out pictures with autographs. In the films after ‘Hellraiser’ and ‘Hellbound: Hellraiser II’, however, he is not in the picture much, much to the dismay of the fans. ‘Hellraiser: Hellworld’ is now the eighth film around the character Pinhead and is no exception. Rick Bota took directing for the third time in a row and Joel Soisson came up with the story.

The universal theme in all ‘Hellraiser’ films is the morality of the victims under stress and fear and the boundaries of sado-machosism, the twilight world between hellish pleasure but above all hellish pain. The Cenobites, of which Pinhead is the leader, are summoned by opening a puzzle cube, the Lament Configuration. The one who summoned them is then in for a ‘world of pain’ and will continue to suffer forever.

In ‘Hellraiser: Hellworld’ there is also enough blood, but it doesn’t want to be really scary. The film also differs considerably from the first few films, but will perhaps appeal to more young people as a result. The end product is a perfectly normal teenage slasher film.

The film begins when a group of young people attend the funeral of one of their friends who committed suicide under mysterious circumstances. He apparently took the game too seriously. The female heroine, Chelsea (played by Katheryn Winnick), still has nightmares about his death, but she’s still addicted to the game, though she won’t admit it to her friends. When the group of friends receives an invitation to the secret Hellraiser party, Chelsea is initially hesitant, but she agrees. The host is played by Lance Henriksen (‘Aliens’, ‘The Terminator’) and it’s so clear that the five friends can’t trust him.

The party is already in full swing, you see so many partygoers that you wonder how secret the party really is. The friends get numbered cell phones, with which they can play a kind of dating game. The host shows the group of friends around the old house, and explains that the house used to belong to the creator of the Lament configuration. It was also an insane asylum and a monastery, several murders were committed. Now the house functions as a Hellraiser museum, ideal for displaying some body parts in spirits. From that moment on, basically everything you think will happen. And this middle part is the least interesting part of the film. The five friends see – or are they hallucinating? – Cenobites and weird phenomena wherever they look.

Allison is the first victim, she sprays perfume in her eyes (“Oh God, that stuff stings” – Duh!), opens a door that says “Keep Out” and then sits down in a wooden chair with arm clamps for fun. Are we surprised if she gets beheaded? New. Does it make us hot or cold? No not really!

The film only becomes interesting again when only two are alive, Chelsea and Jake (this is hardly a spoiler given the story). The explanation that the host gives to what happened suddenly makes a lot clear (while also conjuring up plot holes) and a number of surprising scenes follow.

‘Hellraiser: Hellworld’ is not a good horror film and many a ‘Hellraiser’ fan will be disappointed. The acting is mediocre, although Lance Henriksen and Katheryn Winnick were not bad, the story is thin (except for a few liked scenes) and the Pinhead prominent on the front of the DVD unfortunately hardly has a role. The advantage is that the film only lasts an hour and a half, so unlike the victims in the film you are not locked up in hell forever.