Movie Info
Movie Name: Hellraiser: Revelations
Studio: Puzzlebox Films
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): March 18, 2011
MPAA Rating: R
Ouch…a little less knife-y
Steve Craven (Nick Eversman) and Nico Bradley (Jay Gillespie) are two friends on a trip to Mexico to get away from their families. When something goes tragically wrong, Nico and Steve don’t return…leaving their families questioning what happened a year later. At a gathering of the two families, a video of Nico and Bradley surfaces revealing their encounter with an antique puzzle box and demons known as Cenobites. Steven has come back and he intends to show the families the fine line between pleasure and pain.
Directed by Victor Garcia, Hellraiser: Revelations is the ninth film in the Hellraiser franchise. Following Hellraiser: Hellworld in 2005, Hellraiser: Revelations was the first film not to feature Doug Bradley as Pinhead and instead recast Stephan Smith Collins as Pinhead. The low budget movie was poorly received by critics and Bradley and Clive Barker (who originally created the series) have distanced themselves from it.
What you talkin’ ’bout, Nico?
Hellraiser was decent…Hellbound: Hellraiser II expanded the story, but after that it fell off the grid. In fact, after Hellraiser: Bloodlines, the Hellraiser stories were just other scripts forced into a Hellraiser format. I will give Hellraiser: Revelations credit in that it was at least meant to be a Hellraiser movie.
Just because the movie was actually written as a Hellraiser movie, it doesn’t mean that it is a good movie. The plot and story are kind of confusing with a ton of backstories involving the two families. The other part of the story involving the Cenobites feels like more of the same in a Hellraiser movie…guys find a box, box and Cenobites destroy guys, guys try to destroy others…it is nothing new.
Worse facelift…
It is a bit unnerving to change the lead Cenobite. Fortunately for Collins, Pinhead is in make-up and it isn’t extremely noticeable that they switched him out…and they tried to indicate that Pinhead possibly is a title held by many by turning Steven into a Pinhead. I also like the Steve Brand who doesn’t do a good job hiding his Scottish accent.
The visuals are what you’d expect from Hellraiser. They are bloody and gory. The movie starts out in a way that you think it is going to be a found-footage film (which might have spiced it up) but returns to a standard film (with occasional found-footage flashbacks).
Hellraiser: Revelations isn’t very good, but it is pretty comparable to other Hellraiser movies which also aren’t very good. I am glad they tried to at least tell a true, new Hellraiser story, but the story really needed some work since it was only 75 minutes long. I’m sure Pinhead won’t stay dead and we’ll see the horror of Hellraiser again.
Related Links:
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
