Hellraiser: Hellseeker

 

My favorite of the Hellraiser direct to video sequels is one that combines nightmare logic with an unreliable narrator. There are still points in this film where I wasn't sure if it was a version of reality, a nightmare, or some loop the main character was trapped in. The flashbacks only distort that more in a good way and I'm never able to figure things out completely. While Pinhead and Kirsty are back, Kirsty after a long absence, both are given more than just cameo role. It was nice to see more of them than I remembered. If Hellraiser: Inferno was like a David Lynch movie mixed with Hellraiser this is is more like Carnival of Souls and Memento mixed with Hellraiser. The cinematography is about even with the last film but the locations are better looking. Dean Winters does a great job playing a character that starts sympathetic but as you learn more about him that changes. The biggest downfall of the film is the score which is mostly stock music, and some CGI effects that reek of direct to video budget restrictions. 

The film starts with Trevor (Dean Winters) riding in a car with his girlfriend Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) returning to the series after a long absence. They start to get cute in the car and he hits another car which kills Kirsty. The cops later say there was no trace of her body and that both doors were open when we see Trevor not being able to open them. Trevor has amnesia as a result of the event. After going back to his job Trevor finds everything isn't as it seemed. There are multiple women who seemed to have affairs with him because they make moves on him as if they had done it before. He keeps seeing mysterious blank-faced looking people. He wakes up from dreams after having headaches. Certain things like business cards trigger a flashback to when he bought a puzzle box. 

Throughout there are many moments where things aren't as they seem. The first time Trevor plays a video of Kirsty on their wedding night we see her getting ready to open her present. Yet some lapse happens and she is saying different dialogue when the video starts to replay. One of the psychologists he goes to see is later shown to be fake, as he talks to her within the view of someone else who says he isn't talking to anyone. One of his neighbors goes to his room to seduce him and does. She is later killed in his room and later he sees her in her room having no memory of doing anything with him and not seeming to know him at all. What I like about that is it gives three different possibilities. Obviously the woman is real which brings it into some sort of reality but we never know if she does actually know him, if that is in head or her dying is in his head. This happens throughout the film and those are the possible breaks from reality, combined with the unreliable narrator that makes this movie hard to figure out.

Spoiler Section

There are some practical effects and moments I like in this movie. After the opening Trevor has his head cut into and the surgeons highlight how close the brain's receptors are between pleasure and pain. The effects there are quite gnarly and possibly the place where they spent the bulk of their money and time on effects. The CGI effects such as a the creature coming out of his mouth and a Pinhead transformation scene are dated and look fake. The shot of Pinhead upside down because of the reflection in the water is a cool shot. I like the editing where Trevor sees the cenobite in the building across from him. I like how it cuts back to his reaction and then you see him looking up in the first person view. 

There are moments in this film I still can't figure out completely. By the end of the film we know Kirsty knows about Trevor's affairs and that moment from the beginning of the film was actually different. It does seem different for Kirsty to want to kill all of the people that Trevor had affairs with. Yes he had an affair with them but did they deserve to die? I can see Kirsty killing Trevor but not the others which seems like a character stretch, despite her life being on the line. For those who don't know she makes a deal with Pinhead for five souls to spare her life. Though I do like that it brings up the continuity from the first two films and it shows that Pinhead is a force you cannot escape. By the end of the film you know Trevor is actually a reprehensible guy, cheating on his wife and planning to murder her for her inheritance. I actually though that was a smart way to mention Frank and Larry as Kirsty got Frank's money.

Ashley Laurence looks incredible in this. As beautiful as she looked in the first two films she looks amazing with that straight hair. While only being in this for a little while I enjoyed her again. I still can't believe she didn't do more. I know she was in more than just the first two movies. I almost think she missed her moment and may have been a bit too young to be the it girl in some 80s comedy but that seems like a role she would have done well. 

The narrative with Pinhead shares similarities to Inferno but brings it more back to the roots and more in a direction I liked. While it seems Pinhead is still a little bit like the moral police officer he was in the fifth movie, he also goes back to the pleasure and pain stuff here. He even says to Trevor at one point what is the best part pleasure or pain? I think anytime someone opens the box that is a way for Pinhead to then bring them to a version of hell they are forced to live either before or after he kills them. Kirsty had probably all ready killed him before he entered this personal hell. The rules seem to be that once someone opens the box they are fair game an can be subjected to whatever Pinhead decides to do. 

To me Trevor isn't actually dead until the very end of this movie and the parts at the hospital are them trying to bring him back to life or doing morgue work on his body. The people from the beginning, including the psychologist are shown in that reality. So they must be real and I think Trevor is seeing versions of these people from the last moments of his life and the people he had affairs with. Instead of the time loop from Inferno, which could very well be that main character's version of hell, Trevor is actually living his hell out before actually going there. I could be wrong but it just seems more interesting that way. I think this does the pleasure and pain better than Inferno, especially with the Acupuncturist sending him into different spells. 

With so many classic horror movies now having legacy films where actors come back to reprise roles they haven't in a while, I'm surprised no one has done that for Ashley Laurence as Kirsty. I think she deserves it and the franchise does. While this is a pretty good version of what that end could be I still think someone could do one better. 

Rating; 7.5/10

Trivia: There was a gag order on this film that Ashley Laurence broke to Fangoria saying she was in a new Hellraiser movie when Dimension Films wanted to keep it hidden. Apparently that character was supposed to be someone else until Doug Bradley said why don't you just get Ashley Laurence and they probably made it Kirsty after that. 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqWjF8v1Aeo