Halloween Countdown (Day 14: Hell To Pay)

Returning to the Hellraiser series while I'm almost back to my daily quota is the fifth film of the series, entitled Hellraiser: Inferno. I read that after the fourth film (which also happened to be the last one released theatrically) the next few films were derived from spec scripts which were rewritten into Hellraiser stories. While this sounds like a terrible idea, I have heard that this is one of the better sequels. Only one way to find out, and I'm not gonna quit anytime soon.

OH YES, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

99 minutes later.....

Well, it looks like I finally got the decent Hellraiser sequel I was looking for. Even from the opening credits where it said the executive producers were the Weinsteins, it gave me some hope. Much more than seeing the name "Alan Smithee" in the last one. Also I was taken aback by the different direction the film went in comparison to the previous films, going for more of a film noir crime story, voiceover included.

The fact that the story came from a spec script is now obvious but somehow works. The direction in terms of the actual story with its brilliant but flawed protagonist Joseph and his investigation into "The Engineer", along with appearances of the Cenobites making him question whether he is going insane while trying to crack the case, does manage to gel together. It makes for more interesting viewing than the dull sequel previous to this one.

Of course the film is not without its stupid moments. While the dialogue can be a bit redundant at times, the acting is solid enough for it to come off okay onscreen. The only scene so bizarre that it could be deemed laughable was when the detective ended up in a gambling den where he encounters a henchman dressed as a cowboy, while later he ends up getting beaten up by kung-fu cowboys.

Actually, Kung-Fu Cowboys sounds like a great spin-off.

Of course it wouldn't be a Hellraiser flick without Pinhead and The Cenobites. From the start of the series I did have my reservations about having Pinhead appear towards the latter half of the film. Now I'm starting to get used to the practice now, so it won't bother me the next time I watch the series. As the old saying goes: less is more.

While Pinhead is his usual menacing self, the rest of the Cenobites look really intimidating, especially when Joseph starts seeing them wherever he goes. The visual style of the film itself does feel like your average detective thriller movie, so the addition of scenes with the Cenobites makes for a more sinister feel to the film, especially as Joseph comes closer to the truth.

Verdict?

I have a feeling that from now on the rest of the films won't even top this flick. One aspect about the film I liked is that it can be viewed on its own without any knowledge of the previous movies, which helps if you watch any of the sequels out of sequence. Which could happen given that the series stopped numbering each film after the third one. Which also means that the ending itself doesn't leave any room for a follow up to this story, to the best of my imagination anyway. Which makes me even more curious as to what sights the series has to show. Granted they may be bad, but at least I got one decent sequel.

And on a final note.....

If there's one reason why I'm looking forward to the end of this month (aside from not feeling obligated to post an article a day) is the release of the Melvins' new album (and second one this year) Tres Cabrones. Granted nine of the twelve tracks were already released in one shape or form (which makes finding them on YouTube easier), but not only do I like having the physical copy in CD form, but I like to add it to the collection of the thirty plus CDs I own from the band.