Hellraiser: Judgment [Blu-ray]

Great ideas do not necessarily make great films. Great ideas, awful execution. I mean… it’s passable as an almost interesting bad horror film if you’ve never seen a Hellraiser film.There was a time when Hellraiser films had substance and depth, building a dark mythology around the perceived reality of its tempters, tempted and victims. Right around Hellworld (2005) and Revelations (2011) this notion was cast aside like a crushed Miller Lite can on Daytona Beach after Bike Week.So much anticipation had built up before I finally got to see this. And, you know what, there were a lot of great ideas here. But that’s where it stops… ideas. Not execution; not follow-through; not synthesis. This film is a love letter to the franchise, and it’s a love letter written by a deeply passionate heart—but this love letter was written by someone who couldn’t write, and they kept crumbling up their discarded drafts, and then someone gathered those frayed balls of paper from the floor and gleaned the ideas from them and mashed them into a film with no sense of development.Emerging from a heavy make-up department background (Piranha 3DD, Apollo 18, Hellraiser: Revelations/Deader/Bloodline/Hellseeker/Hell on Earth, The Collector, My Bloody Valentine), writer and director Gary J. Tunnicliffe clearly loves the franchise and tries his damnedest. For that much, I admire and appreciate his efforts. But despite this obvious passion the writing, characters, dialogue and story run stale. You find yourself constantly wanting to like what’s in front of you, but the weak set design and uninspired lines strip any possible joy from it. That, and the sophomoric use of the bethonged, big breasted bimbos of Hell that get way too much screen time. Apparently, Hell is big on plastic surgery and lingerie to complement the crass blood-dousing of naked women as if a fifteen-year-old had crossed his notions of damnation with a wet dream.But despite some of these cheaper tactics, attempts (all inspired yet completely failed in execution) were made again and again to be thoughtful and provocative. Such notions as eating ones scribed sins with a gravy of children’s tears, then regurgitated and judged by infernal mistresses… Lord, what am I even writing? See how that idea started okay and then…? I mean, this is curiously entertaining, but nothing worthy of comparison to the franchise.We truly feel the meager $350K budget in the special effects. Skin peeling and flaying have never had a weaker screen presence in the series, and none of the gore or effects occur on-screen. In terms of effects, I think I was more impressed with the equally budgeted Revelations (2011). But to Judgment’s credit, Paul T. Taylor fares well as Pinhead—if we can look past the script and focus on his presence and delivery.But again, the delivery simply wasn’t there for the most integral components of the mythology. Was the Puzzle Box there…? Sort of. Were there hooked chains? Yes, but they sucked. How about Cenobites? Yes…but they served no purpose.Was this a brave endeavor? Sure. But were any of the requisite skills present in the filmmakers? No. Not beyond bravado. This is a terrible Hellraiser film, but perhaps a passable bad horror movie. Temper your expectations accordingly.

Ok, I will get this out of the way first, this is not as good as the first 2 films. This was largely made so that Dimension Films can keep the rights to the property in general (they have to do something with it every now and then, or the property rights will be lost). So, it is low budget, with only a few locations, and a limited cast, why do like it?This is the first Hellraiser film in quite some time that did not feel like it was some random story that Pinhead was shoehorned into so that it could be called a Hellraiser film. The story almost had a feeling like this is what Pinhead is doing when chilling out a bit. Like, his side line hobby, sort of looking at the more simple times when he is not off trying to take over stuff. And, he is trying to solve a problem he is having, which is that the old way of getting out into the public (via the Lament boxes) just is not cutting it in the 21st digital century.There are issues with the film. I think more due to budget than anything else, sometimes the film turns to gross instead of horror to try to shock, which was unfortunate, and I think the story tried to take on a metaphysical layer that I am not too sure the overall Hellraiser 'universe' is really meant to undertake. I know, I know, they are "Demons to some, Angels to others", but I do not think that was meant to be taken literally. I always thought of them as being from another dimension, and the film even takes a stab at that angle as well. So a bit too much big picture stuff in a lower budget film to try to support on its own, but, I do appreciate that there are some new ideas being introduces, and could be built upon. Who knows, I am sure a deft writer could put it back into a proper context.

Hellraiser: Judgment is a notable step up from the several previous installments in the franchise. It establishes some interesting new elements to the mythology of the series (that sadly look like they won't be picked up on) and creates a story that keeps your interest throughout. The new Pinhead is WAY better than the Pinhead from the previous film (Hellraiser: Revelations). While nobody can fill the shoes of Doug Bradley, Paul T. Taylor does an admirable job and comes pretty close. Recommended!

NO MORE HELLRAISER movies. HELLRAISER I & II were horror masterpieces, escpecially the second one, HELLBOUND. HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH was an absolute turd of a film, followed by more or less equally bad sequels and botched experiments. Things just got worse with HELLWORLD and REVELATIONS, the latter replacing Doug Bradley with some weird looking dude who doesn't even come close.HELLRAISER: JUDGMENT brings in a new Pinhead, who when the lights are dim and the angle is right somewhat resembles Bradley's Pinhead. Doesn't matter though, he's not in the movie very long.However, this is a very very cheap production and it shows: it looks atrocious. The story is weird to say the least, I wouldn't even know this was supposed to be a Hellraiser film if it wasn't in the title. So how do you hide cheap production values and a bad script? That's right: gore galore. Except, the gore does not live up to its hype. I thought this was supposed to be the bloodiest, goriest and sickest HR movie they made? Nope. A lot is done off-screen again.Bottom line: JUDGMENT is garbage, too. And I mean garbage. Not so-so, not so bad it's good, not Ed Wood bad, this is just unwatchably bad.

Read a few of the other reviews and I think I disagree with a lot of them. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. There are some stomach-churning moments but no what you might think- no spoilers but less to do with the gore than 'the process of finding the guilty'. Good storyline, made sense, good casting, not sure why Heather Langenkamp gets such a big billing, she's only in one scene and hardly recognizable. The guy playing Pinhead did a good job- Doug Bradley is a hard act to follow and there are similarities in his performance. I think this film holds up on its own, certainly had me squirming at times.

I don't understand how people in the uk are complaining about it not playing but the uk is region 2 where as usa and canada is region 1. I have my pc set to region 1 for this very reason. It states clearly it wont play on uk players. Got it working,no problems at all. The guy did a good job of Pinhead but as usual he is not in it enough for my liking. Unusual ending. I don't think Doug Bradley would be too disappointed. Quite like him as well. Good enough movie,though I did get slightly confused at times

Well, not a lot to say on this really as the saying goes "seen one, you've seen them all". It just showed more of what "Pinhead" has the power to do, although the gore was quite impressive as usual it was not anything that you would't expect.

The disc will not play in the UK due to region coding. I have bought many blu rays from the USA before and they always play. I know dvd have region coding , not seen it on a blu ray disc before.