Halloween Countdown (Day 4: It's A Madhouse)

And now onto Hellbound: Hellraiser II. After being pleasantly surprised by the first Hellraiser movie, I was actually looking forward to seeing what the sequel had in store. Now I've heard different opinions of where the series started to go wrong, and got progressively worse, but I couldn't imagine that this would happen within the first three films, which are apparently the most popular from what I'm told.

OH YES, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

97 minutes later.....

I quite enjoyed the movie, although I had a feeling that unless the third film pulls off something amazing, the series may take a nosedive sooner rather than later. While it did have a similar feel to the first film, at the same time it got a little too bizarre at times to take it as seriously as its predecessor. The acting is atrocious at times and dialogue is littered with forced exposition (especially from that guy from Aliens), but again it comes off as cheesy, in which there is some comedic value to the film.

I liked how the story continues after the events from the first movie, where Kirsty is in a psychiatric hospital (albeit without her boyfriend, who is casually dismissed within the first few minutes), although the whole recap of the first movie through the police interrogation scene is a drag for those who have seen it already. And of course it's all too convenient that one of the staff, Dr. Channard, just so happens to be a collector of Cenobite related documents and objects, including the magic puzzle boxes, and wishes to unleash their power, via a patient who is a mute girl who is able to solve puzzles. But hey, I can let it slide.

While I do like the setting of the film, and the story does have that creepy tone similar to the first one, the problem I had with the movie was the third act. It's nothing to do with the fact that the Cenobite world was at times a mixture of A Nightmare On Elm St. meets Tron, which may look pretty silly nowadays, but because it's shot in such a trippy way, I let go any nitpicks to the limitations the film had in terms of set design.

The third act is a bit of a mess with a mixture of plot threads that are never properly wrapped up (how the mute girl was able to break her silence before the final confrontation), implausible actions that have no explanation as to how they work (Kirsty setting fire to Uncle Frank and the whole room), motivations of some characters that are questionable due to the fact that they're not fully explored (why Dr. Channard wanted to find the other world, and why he attacked Pinhead & co), and good ideas thrown in at the last minute instead of being saved for the next film (the revelation that the Cenobites were human once).

That last point is even more evident by the fact that their appearance is again brief, and I was looking forward to seeing them onscreen again (even with the goofy spinning profile shots). And once again they are easily disposed of, this time while trying to protect Kirsty from the Cenobite Channard. Why they decided to protect her I'm still not sure. I'm not sure why they wouldn't want to change her into a Cenobite, unless it's something to do with discovering a glimpse of the humanity they once had.

Verdict?

While the ending is open ended for the remaining characters either leaving/running away from the hospital, while they are either presumed dead or in pursuit by the authorities, there is end scene that teases a sequel with the Pillar Of Souls coming out of the bloody mattress with the face of the homeless guy from the first movie talking to the camera, asking us "what's your pleasure sir". A little bit cliched and forced, but since it was an enjoyable enough flick with more flaws than the first one, I would be looking forward to the second one.

But if the series starts to go sour in the next flick, then my soul will very likely be torn apart.

And on a final note.....

Besides the whimsical and bloated score of the film at times, there are some parts of it which enhances the mood onscreen. While watching the film, what came to find was this track by one of my favourite bands, The Melvins, collaborating with Lustmord. Hmm, I'd love to see The Melvins do music for a film. It's probably the only thing they haven't done in their career so far.