Once one of horror's top franchises, the 'Hellraiser' series has slipped into direct to video hell thanks to a series of lack luster installments. While not quite a renaissance, 'Deader' shows some promise.
After viewing what appears to be a snuff film which concludes with the victim returning to life no less, a reporter (Kari Wuhrer) starts sifting through the details to uncover the truth. The trail eventually leads her to a cult called the Deaders who seem to have some kind of connection to the Lamet puzzle box and even the cenobites themselves.
After the abysmal 'Inferno' and the better-but-still-bad 'Hellseeker', the series was in real trouble of slipping completely off the radar. One more bad movie would have sealed the deal. Fortunately what is found is a competent horror piece. Director Rick Bota shows a flair for dark set pieces and controlled lighting, giving the film the proper dreary look. He also controls the camera well and makes good use of a limited budget.
The show stellar though is Kari Wuhrer. She is so willing (to the point of enthusiastic) to be covered in blood, shriek her lungs out and generally be terrorized and traumatized that it makes every thing kind of come together around her. This is most important with the nature of the script, which (while not bad by genre standards) is kind of ridiculous and not particularly evolved or compelling. If Wuhrer had been any less interested in her role the whole film would have come crashing down, but she instead carries the film quite nicely.
A couple of side notes: the film bucks the trend for white-washed PG-13 fare that has been flooding the horror genre as of late and really earns it's R-rating for a change. And I am sorry to report that much like the last two entries in the franchise there is precious little footage of Pinhead (Doug Bradley) or the other cenobites. This can be accounted for in the fact that the script was originally written as an unrelated piece and only changed to a 'Hellraiser' film shortly after production began; maybe in the next entry.
While not a classic by any means, it's a definite step up for the series that I would like to see continue.
7/10
After viewing what appears to be a snuff film which concludes with the victim returning to life no less, a reporter (Kari Wuhrer) starts sifting through the details to uncover the truth. The trail eventually leads her to a cult called the Deaders who seem to have some kind of connection to the Lamet puzzle box and even the cenobites themselves.
After the abysmal 'Inferno' and the better-but-still-bad 'Hellseeker', the series was in real trouble of slipping completely off the radar. One more bad movie would have sealed the deal. Fortunately what is found is a competent horror piece. Director Rick Bota shows a flair for dark set pieces and controlled lighting, giving the film the proper dreary look. He also controls the camera well and makes good use of a limited budget.
The show stellar though is Kari Wuhrer. She is so willing (to the point of enthusiastic) to be covered in blood, shriek her lungs out and generally be terrorized and traumatized that it makes every thing kind of come together around her. This is most important with the nature of the script, which (while not bad by genre standards) is kind of ridiculous and not particularly evolved or compelling. If Wuhrer had been any less interested in her role the whole film would have come crashing down, but she instead carries the film quite nicely.
A couple of side notes: the film bucks the trend for white-washed PG-13 fare that has been flooding the horror genre as of late and really earns it's R-rating for a change. And I am sorry to report that much like the last two entries in the franchise there is precious little footage of Pinhead (Doug Bradley) or the other cenobites. This can be accounted for in the fact that the script was originally written as an unrelated piece and only changed to a 'Hellraiser' film shortly after production began; maybe in the next entry.
While not a classic by any means, it's a definite step up for the series that I would like to see continue.
7/10