This is the most mixed bag possibly of any of the Hellraiser movies. There are some interesting themes and most of them are only surface level because there isn't much to invest those themes in. I like production value and look of most of the different settings in this movie going from 1796 to 1996 to 2127. The problem is that going from setting to setting and character to character so fast never allows for anything consistent to invest in. The first Hellraiser movie worked because it was more subtle, never making you ask too many questions or giving you many answers. This tries to be way too big. At the same time you get the most Pinhead you ever get, though the decisions Pinhead makes in this one are baffling, almost never having any awareness that humanity could beat him at times when he should be smarter and it makes him lesser of a villain. At the same time this movie has fun moments and is well paced making the flaws easier to move past.
The movie focuses on the bloodlines of the LeMerchand and eventually Merchant family. The first Lemerchand (Bruce Ramsay) was the man who invented the puzzle box. The man me makes the puzzle box for apparently has it arranged so once solved it opens a gateway to hell. This is never explained why or how that happens. They summon a demon named Angelique (Valentina Vargas) who becomes the slave of one of the people who opened the box played by a young Adam Scott. LeMerchand goes back to steal the box but he is killed. At the same time he witnessed them opening the box he started drawing a design that would be passed down through his bloodlines.
In the 1990s John Merchant, once again played by Ramsay operates a building in the shape of the lament configuration. He is making the design that LeMerchand once had to close off the gateway to hell for good. Angelique attempts to seduce him after breaking her slavery from Jacques (Adam Scott). She tricks a security guard into opening the box which summons Pinhead. They clash as Pinhead prefers the more outright making people suffer method versus Angelique's long cons of seduction and trickery. Pinhead later kidnaps Merchant's wife and son and wants Merchant to reverse the puzzle box to open a bigger gateway. Eventually Merchant is killed and his wife uses the smaller puzzle box of Angelique's to send them back to hell.
In 2197 Paul Merchant has a space station and uses a robot to solve the puzzle box. The robot promptly explodes which is hilarious. Soldiers come to arrest him and are eventually taken out one by one by Pinhead and company. Somehow Merchant knows his whole family's history. He tricks Pinhead with holograms, beating him at the thing he hates and uses mirrors and lasers of the space station to fold into one giant puzzle box, thus completing the anti-Lament-configuration.
As I said before there are some technical aspects to this that I enjoyed. I liked how the lighting in the 1796 timeline looked natural and not electronic. I enjoyed the architecture on display in the 1996 timeline. The giant clock folding into the Lament configuration was really cool. The practical FX in this are great. There are two standout ones. The one where John Merchant is hit the chain bolt through his throat and out the other side and beheaded. The one guard who confronts Pinhead and has his face de-gloved is awesome too. There are some decent shots as well. I enjoyed the close ups on the twin security guard's eyes before they are killed. The one with Pinhead facing John Merchant down that overpass and the light going out as Pinhead talks about darkness was great.
There are some themes as I was talking about earlier. The recurring use of mirrors and doubles in some ways as well. The twins being an example. Angelique looking in mirrors and using them at one point to kill one of the guards at the end. The movie tries to contrast the idea of what fun and games are to certain people. Pinhead toys with his victims, Angelique plays sexual games of seduction with them, while the Merchants are all about building toys. The puzzle box in itself is like a game to solve. I like idea of Angelique and Pinhead clashing over which version of hell is better. The problem is Pinhead seems to not actually do what he says. Instead of letting Merchant's family live at all why not kill one of them to make him know how serious he is? Also why not hide that puzzle box so no one can use it against him. I like seeing more of Pinhead just his decisions are bizarre. The conflict of the movie actually should have been Pinhead and Angelique. I would have liked a whole movie more about that than anything about the origin of the puzzle box because I don't like thinking about the answers to why the puzzle box has anything to do with hell.
As I said before more Pinhead is fun and Doug Bradley has some memorable lines in this. It seems like pain and suffering were in his contract to say every other word.
"Pain?! How dare you use that word?!"
"Pain has a face allow me to show it to you."
Talking about the robot, "The remains of a most unsatisfying victim."
"There are more humans alive today than in all of its pitiful history. A garden of eden. A garden of flesh."
There are a lot of things I like about this movie, but the story is incredibly flawed. None of the settings really bothered me. Even the space stuff wasn't that bad. I actually think this movie's space sequences look better than Jason X or Leprechaun 4. The biggest problem in this movie is that I don't care about the puzzle box's origin, I don't care about any of the Merchant's bloodline characters, and Bruce Ramsay isn't strong enough of an actor to intrigue me. Like I said if Pinhead and Angelique were the A plot I would have liked this more. I also enjoyed Kim Myers play John Merchant's wife. He doesn't deserve her. I enjoyed hearing some of the classic Christopher Young cues again. Also considering Kevin Yagher was the original director for this it doesn't surprise me that the FX are decent.
Rating: 6/10
Trivia: Both Guillermo Del Toro and Stuart Gordon declined offers to direct this movie.
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