TheRetroCritic

I love the Hellraiser movies. After sitting through Hellraiser III , which was certainly a big step down from both previous films, and learning the next movie was directed by Alan Smithee... I was expecting something exceptionally bad. Hilariously bad, even. Like Leprechaun IV: In Space type nonsense. Weirdly, Hellraiser IV: Bloodline got my attention very quickly and held it all the way until the end. It actually starts in space which... I did not really expect. But then we're told what happened ages ago with the inventor of the infamous box and how the bloodline led to Pinhead actually trying to take over the world! It's crazy stuff but it's fun. The acting throughout is pretty bad but not distractingly so, Hellraiser movies were never known for their Oscar-nominated performances anyway. It's an ambitious sequel to say the least but it handles its goofy ideas surprisingly well, althewhile peppering the whole thing with the occasional bloody lols. And Hellra

Clive Barker's cult franchise was always going to aim higher and higher. After all, this was a crazy-ass concept with endless possibilities and a lot of potential for creative, far-out developments. The first Hellraiser took place mostly inside this one house but the claustrophobic aspect of the story worked really well. Its sequel, Hellraiser II: Hellbound , followed a slow build-up with some neat sequences taking place inside the demon Box itself. It was a great way to expand that world and I personally couldn't wait to see more of that in the second sequel. So what's all this shit?! You've got Pinhead and co stuck inside some pillar statue, some boring douchebags with problems we really couldn't give two shits about and a first half so dull I felt like putting on the awesome Phantasm quadrilogy instead to balance things out. Granted the first couple of scenes are fun and the second half picks up promptly but it never becomes good: only sillier, more ridi