A woman discovers the newly resurrected, partially formed, body of her brother-in-law. She starts killing for him to revitalize his body so he can escape the demonic beings that are pursuing him after he escaped their sadistic underworld.
When Kirsty's father, Larry, and stepmother, Julia, move into Larry's childhood home, Kirsty and her boyfriend take a room nearby. Unfortunately for all involved, Larry's house is already occupied: before the family's arrival, Larry's disreputable brother, Frank, used a supernatural puzzle box to summon a gang of other-dimensional demon sadists. Now, Frank requires a series of blood sacrifices to escape the clutches of Pinhead and the cenobites.Written by
mrosesteed
Dread Central named the Female Cenobite as one of their Favorite Sexy Badass Female Horror Characters. In ranking the character fourth in their list of ten best Cenobites, Shock Till You Drop praised both actresses' acting and said that she brings "a charming nastiness" to the films. See more »
Goofs
(at around 23 mins) One of the characters at Julia and Larry's housewarming party (Bill) fluctuates between having an American and an English accent (Possibly a dubbing error). See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Asian Merchant:
[the Asian Merchant greets Frank]
What's your pleasure, Mr. Cotton?
Frank Cotton:
The box.
See more »
Alternate Versions
Cut in Sweden for cinema by 4.5 min. When shown on a Swedish subscription TV channel, it was uncut. See more »
Hellraiser may not be an incredible work of horror genius, but it certainly is one of the more inventive and engagingly dark and twisted horror films of the 1980s, when horror films were almost all dull, poorly made, recycled, and absurd. Hellraiser's themes include sadomasochism, in an intriguing concept of the slasher figure in the story, which is a Gothic- looking antique puzzle box that summons ruthless demons to victimize the person in possession of it by subjecting them to a world of debilitating eternal pain. It also involves a femme fatale on the level of a chiller that does not involve fantasy, played brilliantly in an extremely acute performance by beautiful Clare Higgins. There is the layer of plot surrounding her that inhabits late-thirties, early-forties married and adulterous life with her almost frustratingly naive and unsuspecting husband, which is invaded by the devilish embodied soul of her ex-lover, brutalized by the demons of the puzzle box. Finally, at the core of the story is the pivotal character, as her fill of screen time patiently awaits to the point where she is revealed to be so, and she is the teenage stepdaughter, played by Ashley Laurence, one of the sexiest actresses I have ever seen. Everything from her voluptuous body to her scream-bloody-murder portrayal of the stepdaughter makes me wonder why her career never went any higher than this.
So yes, the movie is more urbane than the vast majority of other horror films in that decade. It's even set in England. It's interesting that no one has an English accent in England, according to this movie, but nevertheless the locale serves the film with a dark atmosphere of sophistication and antiquity, which suits a story that surrounds an age-old puzzle box. This feel of the movie that I speak of is interrupted, quite inexplicably by beer-drinking, dirty-T-shirt-wearing American furniture movers, which I didn't know they had in England.
Hellraiser is quite an enormous entertainment despite its 1980s-style inconsistencies that I suppose it just couldn't help but have. It's especially enjoyable during autumn, mainly during Halloween time.
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Hellraiser may not be an incredible work of horror genius, but it certainly is one of the more inventive and engagingly dark and twisted horror films of the 1980s, when horror films were almost all dull, poorly made, recycled, and absurd. Hellraiser's themes include sadomasochism, in an intriguing concept of the slasher figure in the story, which is a Gothic- looking antique puzzle box that summons ruthless demons to victimize the person in possession of it by subjecting them to a world of debilitating eternal pain. It also involves a femme fatale on the level of a chiller that does not involve fantasy, played brilliantly in an extremely acute performance by beautiful Clare Higgins. There is the layer of plot surrounding her that inhabits late-thirties, early-forties married and adulterous life with her almost frustratingly naive and unsuspecting husband, which is invaded by the devilish embodied soul of her ex-lover, brutalized by the demons of the puzzle box. Finally, at the core of the story is the pivotal character, as her fill of screen time patiently awaits to the point where she is revealed to be so, and she is the teenage stepdaughter, played by Ashley Laurence, one of the sexiest actresses I have ever seen. Everything from her voluptuous body to her scream-bloody-murder portrayal of the stepdaughter makes me wonder why her career never went any higher than this.
So yes, the movie is more urbane than the vast majority of other horror films in that decade. It's even set in England. It's interesting that no one has an English accent in England, according to this movie, but nevertheless the locale serves the film with a dark atmosphere of sophistication and antiquity, which suits a story that surrounds an age-old puzzle box. This feel of the movie that I speak of is interrupted, quite inexplicably by beer-drinking, dirty-T-shirt-wearing American furniture movers, which I didn't know they had in England.
Hellraiser is quite an enormous entertainment despite its 1980s-style inconsistencies that I suppose it just couldn't help but have. It's especially enjoyable during autumn, mainly during Halloween time.