Current Events > Are the Hellraiser movies respected horror films, or something else?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've watched the first 3 of them now. They are so weird. Somehow I don't consider them to be scary, although the subject matter is as grotesque as it gets. It feels more just like some very weird fantasy of Clive Barker's of getting pleasure from the pain.

Is that what these movies are?

Yeah pretty much.

The biggest issue with the Hellraiser films is the mythology has always been better than the execution of the films themselves. They're not good movie in the traditional sense. Most of the acting is bad, the dialogue and character motivations are a mess, and plots are basically nonexistent.

But the cenobites and the mythology around them is cool, and the effects aren't bad, especially given the budget and when the movies were made.

which of the hellraiser movies is the best in the series?

i was thinking about giving one of them a try the other day. i saw them a couple times on TV as a kid and i'm feeling nostalgic
---

I don't know of anyone who finds them scary, but it's well respected if only for set design, character design, and lore.
---

The first one for sure, then it wanes considerably.
---

Sharpie posted...

which of the hellraiser movies is the best in the series?

i was thinking about giving one of them a try the other day. i saw them a couple times on TV as a kid and i'm feeling nostalgic

Just watch the first 3 and then be done.

TheDarkCircle posted...

Sharpie posted...

which of the hellraiser movies is the best in the series?

i was thinking about giving one of them a try the other day. i saw them a couple times on TV as a kid and i'm feeling nostalgic

Just watch the first 3 and then be done.

I want to see what happens though. 3 was the best one yet I think.

The first three are respected. The fourth depends on who you talk to, after that they took generic scripts and put Pinhead in them.

KazumaKiryu posted...

TheDarkCircle posted...

Sharpie posted...

which of the hellraiser movies is the best in the series?

i was thinking about giving one of them a try the other day. i saw them a couple times on TV as a kid and i'm feeling nostalgic

Just watch the first 3 and then be done.

I want to see what happens though. 3 was the best one yet I think.

You can.

That one dead guy from the war in 3 is actually the same actor as Pinhead, right? He sounds the same but I'm not sure.

The first three a good, the rest of the series is pretty much trash. The first movie is probably one of my favorite horror films.
---

I've actually never seen a full one through, but they sound more disturbing than scary.

The concept that you can spend eternity in hell, being tortured for the sexual pleasure of others.
---

ShadowElite86 posted...

The first three a good, the rest of the series is pretty much trash. The first movie is probably one of my favorite horror films.

I like how fragile it makes human skin seem. Like it all starts with a nail sticking out of the wall and it just completely rips the guy's hand open and blood pours out of it. So unreal.

s0nicfan posted...

I don't know of anyone who finds them scary, but it's well respected if only for set design, character design, and lore.

I've watched them all, or pretty close to all of them, and I agree with this. It was pretty much why I watched past the first three, even though everyone says the rest weren't that good.

I even got some of the Pinhead and Hellraiser comics put out by Marvel under their Epic imprint back in the 90's, because I found the characters, especially the cenobites, more entertaining than the actual movies themselves.

I did like Hellraiser: Inferno. It had a bit of a different plot to me, and the acting was pretty well done.
---