Other Titles • Clive Barker's Hellraiser (1987) • Hellraiser - Das Tor zur Hölle (1987) • Sadomasochists From Beyond the Grave (1987)
Synopses for Hellraiser (1987)
1.
This is a UMD title that is currently only playable on the Sony PSP portable system. In a place between pleasure and pain, there is sensual experience beyond limits. And in a world between paradise and purgatory, there is a horror that feeds the souls of evil. Welcome to the singular vision of Clive Barker and his landmark horror opus, Hellraiser.
(25 votes)
2.
Having made his reputation as one of the most prolific and gifted horror writers of his generation (prompting Stephen King to call him "the future of horror"), Clive Barker made a natural transition to movies with this audacious directorial debut from 1987. Not only did Barker serve up a chilling tale of devilish originality, he also introduced new icons of horror that since have become as popular among genre connoisseurs as Frankenstein's monster and the Wolfman. Foremost among these frightful visions is the sadomasochistic demon affectionately named Pinhead (so named because his pale, bald head is a geometric pincushion and a symbol of eternal pain). Pinhead is the leader of the Cenobites, agents of evil who appear only when someone successfully "solves" the exotic puzzle box called the Lamont Configuration--a mysterious device that opens the door to Hell. The puzzle's latest victim is Frank (Sean Chapman), who now lives in a gelatinous skeletal state in an upstairs room of the British home just purchased by his newlywed half-brother (Andrew Robinson, best known as the villain from Dirty Harry), who has married one of Frank's former lovers (Claire Higgins). The latter is recruited to supply the cannibalistic Frank with fresh victims, enabling him to reconstitute his own flesh--but will Frank succeed in restoring himself completely? Will Pinhead continue to demonstrate the flesh-ripping pleasures of absolute agony? Your reaction to this description should tell you if you've got the stomach for Barker's film, which has since spawned a number of interesting but inferior sequels. It's definitely not for everyone, but there's no denying that it's become a semiclassic of modern horror. --Jeff Shannon
(25 votes)
3.
Clive Barker's feature directing debut graphically depicts the tale of a man and wife who move into an old house and discover a hideous creature--the man's half-brother, who is also the woman's former lover--hiding upstairs. Having lost his earthly body to a trio of S&M demons called the Cenobites, he is brought back into existence by a drop of blood on the floor. He soon forces his former mistress to bring him human sacrifices to complete his body... but the Cenobites won't be happy about this. One of the best horror films of the 80s, based on Barker's novel THE HELLBOUND HEART and followed by 3 sequels.
(25 votes)
4.
In 1986, critically acclaimed and celebrated author Clive Barker directed his first feature film which has since become a horror classic. Clive Barker's Hellraiser introduced some of the most frightening and sophisticated images of horror to ever grace the silver screen. No film has ever gripped the imagination so shockingly nor presented such nightmarish characters, deeds, monsters, and ideas which go so far beyond the realm of horror fimmaking and fiction. From beyond the Outer Darkness. From the nightmarish realm of the imagination. From teh mind of the horror-master extraordinare, Clive Barker, comes Hellraiser- there are no limits.
(25 votes)
5.
Hellraiser
In a place between pleasure and pain, there is sensual experience beyond limits. And in a world between paradise and purgatory, there is a horror that feeds the souls of evil. Welcome to the singular vision of Clive Barker and his landmark horror opus, Hellraiser.
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
For Kirsty Cotton, the nightmares never end. Still fresh in her fevered memory are her father's skinned corpse, the evil machinations of her Uncle Frank's reanimated body, and the unspeakable perversity of the Cenobites. But for Kirsty, the worst is yet to come. From beyond the Outer Darkness, from the darkest regions of the imagination comes Hellbound: Hellraiser II.
Between this world and the next, between extreme pleasure and excruciating pain, between salvation and utter horror there is Hellbound: Hellraiser II.
(25 votes)
6.
The Definitive Version Of Clive Barker's Masterpiece!
In a place between pleasure and pain, there is sensual experience beyond limits. And in a world between paradise and purgatory, there is a horror that feeds the souls of evil. Welcome to the singular vision of Clive Barker and his landmark horror opus, Hellraiser.
Now for the first time ever, experience this horror classic in an all-new version, fully remastered in state-of-the-art Dolby Digital 5.1 supervised by THX and packed with extras personally compiled by writer/director Clive Barker. This is Hellraiser as you've never seen or heard it before. Now there truly are no limits.
7.
The first three entries in the Clive Barker-originated series are presented in Hellraiser: The Collector's Edition, a box set which includes Barker's 1986 original, and the first two sequels, Tony Randel's Hellbound and Anthony Hickox's Hell on Earth. Watching the films run together, you can see the process whereby a twisted original vision from the British writer-director is gradually hammered out into the stuff of an American direct-to-video franchise. Even the first film suffers slightly as a story written to take place in London is rendered puzzling by the decision to dub minor players with American accents, and by the time of the third film there is only the odd flash of s&m imagery to distinguish the series from the Elm Street or any other franchise.
Along the way, there are a few great and many good things: the nasty little family drama of the first film, played by Andrew Robinson and Clare Higgins, as a marriage is literally torn apart by the bloody, skinless brother-lover in the attic, and the still-striking look of the series' major demons, the Cenobites. Part II is a mess, but has a certain grand dementia and Part III at least gives the films' poster boy, Doug Bradley's Pinhead, centre screen as he bids to become the Freddy Krueger of the body-piercing set.
On the DVD:Hellraiser: The Collector's Edition presents parts I and II in anamorphic widescreen, while III is cramped at 4:3 full-screen: the transfers are okay if not sumptuous, a little soft if aptly gloomy. Region 1 releases have director and crew commentaries and retrospective documentaries that are sadly not included here--though completists note: this edition boasts on-set cast and director interviews (five minutes apiece for I and II) which are not on the American set. I and II also have trailers (and II has a printable stills gallery and a pointless extra which consists of extracts from the film grouped together as "sub-plots"), but III is strictly no-frills. --Kim Newman
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