Hellraiser 8: Hellworld
THIS is where the Hellraiser Franchise finally was starting to lose its legs out from under it. Admittedly the premise is catchy, and not unlike Wes Cravenâs New Nightmare, where the main characters are all fans who are familiar with Pinhead and the Hellraiser mythos, albeit through an online interactive game they play. But much of it falls apart through the explanation of what was actually going on in the end, plus a main twist that one can see from a mile away. Among the positive aspects include the usual high production values and the stylish directing by Rick Bota (on his third straight entry in the series), along with the smart casting of the legendary Lance Henriksen in one of the lead roles. The plot involves a group of teens (which includes future Superman Henry Cavill and the ever increasing horror clichĂ© of the token black guy who can just never get laid) who are mourning one of their own for taking the online game âtoo farâ (yet still continue to play it themselves), receiving an invitation through the website for a âHellworld Partyâ, where all kinds of decadence and debauchery are promised in advance. Once arriving, they find the party is run by a mysterious Host (Henriksen), who appears to be the worldâs leading expert on Cenobite lore, and soon realize that the party itself is literally an invitation to Hell itself, with Henriksen assuming an almost God-like presence and the occasional appearance of Doug Bradleyâs Pinhead when it is each of their turns to die. Part of the problem is that the teens are not very interesting or likable (with the exception of the gorgeous Katheryn Winnick as the lead girl) and the rather mundane ways in which they are killed (at one point Pinhead literally just takes a meat cleaver and beheads somebody!) turns the entire thing into a bad teen slasher movie instead of the gothic, twisted visions of the earlier films. In many ways Hellworld is at least not the worst of the series, as that âhonorâ would go to the stupendously awful Part 6: Hellseeker, but what literally takes the whole thing down is the incredibly dumb and completely implausible explanation that the teens were drugged early on and buried alive (with tubes that allowed them to breathe) while Henriksen placed cell phones in the caskets and had them experience what was happening via âsubliminal suggestionâ i.e. all their horrific experiences were a figment of their imagination as manipulated by Henriksen. Granted, a possible nod towards the VR technology of the early 90s would have helped this make sense, but the idea of doing so with mere cell phones destroys any credibility the story may have had and worse, opens one up to seeing the TONS of plot holes after the fact, most notably the way that the teens were still interacting with each other even though in reality they were well separated from one another. Regardless, the film tries to redeem itself in the end with an appearance from the ârealâ Pinhead even as it shows the two survivors (who had no interest in each other the whole movie) suddenly âbeing in loveâ and traveling together at the end, thus finishing the once great franchise on a rather sour noteâŠ
5/10