Like a lot of horror movies that have a lot of sequels, somewhere the series will usually take a down turn for the story. Well, I think with the Hellraiser series, it started with Hellraiser Inferno. It took a completely different turn which I don't mind, because I like when sequels don't try to copy cat off the original formula. You can only take the same story so much and it becomes very tiresome. Pinhead is back and wants to raise hell even more than the last time and is now just playing with your head. Questioning the line between reality and fantasy, Inferno is messes with your head and doesn't let go. In some ways it's clever, but not with the proper finances and lousy actors, this is where the series took a turn for the worst. I'm pretty sure Clive Barker did not have Inferno in his mind when he was writing the story for Hellraiser and wouldn't be surprised if he was angry with these sequels.
Joseph Thorne is an intelligent, yet shady Denver police detective. One day, he comes across a series of bizarre, brutal, and ritualistic murders and is driven into obsession with the puzzle box associated with the crimes, known as the Lament Configuration, eventually solving the puzzle. Upon solving the box, he becomes obsessed with unmasking the mysterious figure connected to the crimes, known only as "The Engineer". When discovering that "The Engineer" has kidnapped a child, he begins hunting for the figure, who in turn taunts him, killing off many of his friends, leaving one of the child's fingers at every crime scene. Eventually, he is driven into insanity while working on the case, and is subjected to various psychological torments for much of the film, such as brutal hallucinations, and soon discovers that this is only the beginning of his punishments for the cruel life he led.
I actually didn't mind the idea at all with how we didn't know what world Joe was in. Was he crazy or was the situation around him crazy or maybe even a little bit of both. But the way the story was written, it felt like the script was finished and then they added Pinhead in. I found the lead character to be a bit too unlikable, even though there is this side to him where he is trying to save this child and is so determined to make things right, he's so arrogant and not to mention he cheats and leaves his family all the time when he knows there's a chance they might not be safe. The effects are pretty decent, there's this moment where Joe sees his wife and child frozen in Pinhead's world and it's just horrifying to watch them spin around on the pillar frozen. While I think the movie has some major flaws, I do give credit to it for trying something different, the only thing is maybe it's a little too different. I love Pinhead very much, but it seemed like his presence wasn't necessary. The story in itself is actually scary, we could've used another demon or at least have Pinhead leading some cenobites with him to show the bigger picture of Hell. Inferno is over all an OK movie but needs some major work in order to be a great horror picture.
4/10
Joseph Thorne is an intelligent, yet shady Denver police detective. One day, he comes across a series of bizarre, brutal, and ritualistic murders and is driven into obsession with the puzzle box associated with the crimes, known as the Lament Configuration, eventually solving the puzzle. Upon solving the box, he becomes obsessed with unmasking the mysterious figure connected to the crimes, known only as "The Engineer". When discovering that "The Engineer" has kidnapped a child, he begins hunting for the figure, who in turn taunts him, killing off many of his friends, leaving one of the child's fingers at every crime scene. Eventually, he is driven into insanity while working on the case, and is subjected to various psychological torments for much of the film, such as brutal hallucinations, and soon discovers that this is only the beginning of his punishments for the cruel life he led.
I actually didn't mind the idea at all with how we didn't know what world Joe was in. Was he crazy or was the situation around him crazy or maybe even a little bit of both. But the way the story was written, it felt like the script was finished and then they added Pinhead in. I found the lead character to be a bit too unlikable, even though there is this side to him where he is trying to save this child and is so determined to make things right, he's so arrogant and not to mention he cheats and leaves his family all the time when he knows there's a chance they might not be safe. The effects are pretty decent, there's this moment where Joe sees his wife and child frozen in Pinhead's world and it's just horrifying to watch them spin around on the pillar frozen. While I think the movie has some major flaws, I do give credit to it for trying something different, the only thing is maybe it's a little too different. I love Pinhead very much, but it seemed like his presence wasn't necessary. The story in itself is actually scary, we could've used another demon or at least have Pinhead leading some cenobites with him to show the bigger picture of Hell. Inferno is over all an OK movie but needs some major work in order to be a great horror picture.
4/10