| Hellraiser: Revelations | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Víctor García |
| Written by | Gary J. Tunnicliffe |
| Based on | Original characters: Clive Barker |
| Starring | Steven Brand Nick Eversman Tracey Fairaway Sebastien Roberts Devon Sorvari Sanny Van Heteren Daniel Buran Jay Gillespie Stephan Smith Collins |
| Music by | Frederik Wiedmann |
| Cinematography | David A. Armstrong |
| Editing by | Matthew Rundell |
| Studio | Puzzlebox Films |
| Distributed by | Dimension Extreme |
| Release date(s) | March 18, 2011 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $300,000 (estimated)[1] |
Hellraiser: Revelations is a horror film written by Gary Tunnicliffe and directed by Víctor García.[2] It is the ninth film in the Hellraiser film series, and the first entry in the series since Hellraiser: Bloodline to be based on an original script, instead of incorporating series antagonist Pinhead into an unrelated horror story. The movie draws heavily from the source material for the original Hellraiser film, Clive Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart.[3] It follows the fates of two friends who discover a puzzle box that opens a gateway to a realm inhabited by sadomasochistic monsters known as the Cenobites.
The film was produced in a matter of weeks due to an obligation on Dimension Films' part to release another Hellraiser film or risk losing the rights to the franchise. Due to the quick turnaround time, series star Doug Bradley declined to participate, making this the first entry in the series in which he does not play Pinhead. It was released in a single theater for a crew screening that was open to the public, then released to DVD in October 2011.[4]
Contents |
Best friends Steven Craven and Nico Bradley inexplicably run away from home and travel to Mexico. They film themselves engaging in several days worth of drunken partying until one night they are attacked in their room by a man with pins driven into his skull. The boys disappear, and the Mexican authorities ultimately turn over their belongings to their parents, including a videotape made by Steven that apparently documents their final moments.
A year later, Steven's family-- parents Ross and Sarah, and sister, Emma-- gather for dinner with Nico's parents, Peter and Kate. Tensions raise when Emma, who had been dating Nico, demands that the families acknowledge the news that a private investigator was unable to turn up any evidence of the boys' fates. Emma question her mother about the contents of Steven's camera, which she has been obsessively watching in private. Later, Emma sneaks into Steven's room and finds the camera. Watching the video, she finds footage documenting Steven and Nico picking up a prostitute in a Tijuana bathroom. A flashback shows that Nico casually murdered her during sex, and that Nico later blackmailed Steven into continuing on their "vacation" together by threatening to implicate him in the crime.
Continuing to go through Steven's things, Emma also finds a gold and black puzzle box visible in the final moments of the video. Playing with it causes Steven to materialize out of thin air, covered in blood that does not appear to be his own. The families prepare to rush him to the hospital, only to discover that all of the vehicles have disappeared from the driveway. Attempting to dial 911, they discover that the land lines and cell phones are receiving interference and no outgoing calls can be made. As they are four miles away from the nearest main road and it is the middle of the night, they decide to wait until morning and then seek help. Steven tells the families that he has escaped "The Cenobites," a word that Emma defines as members of a monastic community.
Another flashback shows Steven and Nico sitting in a bar when they are approached by a Vagrant who seems to know about the murder of the prostitute and offers them the puzzle box, telling them that it will expand their horizons of sensual pleasure and allow them to experience physical and psychological states of euphoria inaccessible to most people. When Nico attempts to buy it from him, the Vagrant gives it to him, telling him that the box has "always" been his.
In the present, Emma plays with the puzzle box again, causing her to experience intense arousal. After coming on to Nico's father she brings soup to her brother and the two have an intensely close conversation about Emma's sexual maturation, culminating in the two passionately kissing and fondling one another. As Steven caresses her breast, Emma has a vision of a realm filled with chains and mutilated bodies, causing her to draw back.
Downstairs, Nico and Steven go outside and are confronted by the Vagrant, who warns them that "he's here." A drunken Peter shoots the Vagrant with a shotgun, causing the Vagrant to attack and kill Peter with a bizarre knife. As Ross carries Peter's body inside, Steven comes downstairs, retrieves the shotgun, and holds everyone at gunpoint.
A final flashback reveals that after Nico opened the puzzle box, he accessed the realm of the Cenobites, extra-dimensional sadomasochists lead by Pinhead, who offered him the ultimate in sensual experience. While Steven fled, Nico agreed, and was taken to the Cenobite's realm to be subjected to extreme torture and mutilation. Sometime later, Steven's having rough sex with a prostitute near the box allowed Nico to communicate with him, begging him to kill the prostitute so that he could receive nourishment from her blood. Steven bludgeoned the woman to death with the box, the resultant blood giving Nico enough energy to escape the Cenobite realm as an emaciated, skinless monster. Now pursued by the Cenobites, Nico needs more blood to reinvigorate himself. For an indeterminate amount of time, Steven hires prostitutes and then murders them, feeding their blood to Nico; Nico's body slowly regenerates until all he needs is human skin. When Steven refuses to kill anymore, after Nico kills a woman and her baby, Nico attacks and skins him, putting on Steven's flesh as a "suit." As Nico leaves, the dying Steven grabs the puzzle box and summons up the Cenobites; they accept him into their ranks and transform him into a partially skinned creature similar to Pinhead, with nails driven into his skull.
In the present, "Steven" reveals himself to be Nico in Steven's skin. After shooting Ross in the stomach with the shotgun, he reveals that he and Steven ran away to Mexico on a quest for nihilism after discovering that Ross was having an affair with Kate and coming to the conclusion that their parents' lives-- and therefore their own-- were devoid of meaning. Nico taunts the families with the shotgun before finally demanding that Emma retrieve and open the puzzle box for him: Having lived in fear of the Cenobites for so long, he intends to offer up Emma to take his place in their realm, thus ensuring his own freedom.
Emma opens the box at gunpoint and the Cenobites-- including Steven-- appear. Pinhead recognizes in Emma a dark sexual desire and is prepared to take her when she tells him that it was in fact Nico who forced her to open the box. Chains emerge from the walls, ensnaring Nico. Ignoring Pinhead's admonition to remain silent, Kate repeatedly screams, causing Pinhead to tear her throat out. As the Cenobites prepare to leave, the dying Ross shoots Nico the chest, declaring that only he should have the satisfaction of revenge. An angry Pinhead tells him that the tortures the Cenobites would have enacted on him should have been revenge enough, and that they are now bereft a victim. Chains emerge from the walls and ensnare Sarah, as Pinhead tells Ross that he will die knowing that his own need for wrath has caused his wife an eternity of torment.
Pinhead, the Cenobites, and Sarah all vanish. Ross apologizes for everything he's done before dying in Emma' arms. Emma reaches out for the puzzle box and begins stroking it as the movie ends.
Facing expiration of their rights, The Weinstein Company, while still apparently working on the long announced remake of the original film,[5] decided to rush a ninth sequel into production; essentially a cinematic Ashcan copy.[6] The film was announced on August 20, 2010.[7]
It was confirmed that Doug Bradley, who portrayed the character Pinhead in the previous Hellraiser films, would not return as Pinhead. Bradley was quoted as saying "I know that many of you will have caught up with the sudden burst of Internet chatter about a new Hellraiser film going into production, and will be keen to know whether I’ve been approached to play Pinhead again, so here’s the deal...I have been approached just in this last week (w/b 16 August) regarding a proposed new Hellraiser film. This is not the ‘remake’ which has been endlessly discussed for the last three years: with the working title Hellraiser: Revelations, it will be the ninth film in the series. I would stress that I have had no contact from, or negotiations with, anyone from Dimension Films: rather these contacts have been by way of private discussion with individuals involved with this project... Following these discussions, and after reading the script and giving it due consideration, I have decided not to participate. The ink is barely dry on the script, and it is scheduled to be in front of the cameras in two weeks time and in the can by the middle of next month (September 2010). The shooting schedule is more than matched by the budget...Whether or not this means that somebody else will be stepping up to play Pinhead, I have no idea. I guess we can watch this space together...One way or another, this does not seem to me to represent a serious attempt to revive the Hellraiser franchise. However, I wish everyone who will be directly involved in the making of this film, good luck with it."[8]
Instead, Pinhead will be played by Stephan Smith Collins.[9]
Images of Pinhead from the film were leaked; however, the film's director Victor Garcia said they did not convey how Pinhead will look in the film.[10]
The film was shot over the course of three weeks in Los Angeles for Puzzlebox Films.[11]
The film was released to a single theater in California on March 18th.[12] Dimension Extreme was set to release the film on DVD on August 30th, 2011, but the date was pushed back to October 18th, 2011.
The film has received almost universally negative reviews.
The film received a negative review from Dreadcentral.com stating "Not only does this entry make all the other sequels seem great in comparison, you could easily confuse this for some Hellraiser mockbuster from the folks at The Asylum."[12] A second review criticized the new 'pseudo-pinhead', saying "Pinhead doesn't appear to be doing much with his free time but stroking bloodied chains and making sinister faces... it's a farcical twist on the Austin Powers mini-me."[13]
Scott Weinberg called the film a "contractually-mandated piece of intentional garbage that exists for no other reason than pure, simple greed...This is amateur hour stuff all the way, and it'd be almost endearingly, stupidly enjoyable if this witless cinematic refuse wasn't dancing on the grave of a true classic of the genre." [14]
Clive Barker and Doug Bradley have made no official comment on the film. Barker's only comments have been in response to ad copy that the film comes "from the mind of Clive Barker;" he posted on his Twitter feed, "I want to put on record that the flic [sic] out there using the word Hellraiser IS NO FUCKIN' CHILD OF MINE! have NOTHING to do with the fuckin' thing. If they claim its from the mind of Clive Barker, it's a lie. It's not even from my butt-hole."[15]
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