Hellraiser: Hellworld

Very, very boring “sequel” that has nothing to do with the previous episodes of the series. The twist is something that I could appreciate in another film, but the build-up in this one was so weird that I couldn’t enjoy it much. It’s clear again that the problem of the latest Hellraiser sequels are the screenwriters, who come up with some sort of twist that they force into an hour of nonsensical story, and poor Rick Bot has to direct that. The planned remake of the original Hellraiser is perhaps the only hope to get this franchise back to prominence, because I can’t imagine anything serious could follow Hellworld. My ranking: H1, H5, H2, H7, H3, H4, H6, H8 (31.03.2008)

Hellworld is, without exaggeration, an absolute delight. It’s Hellraiser excellently spliced with the self-irony poetics of Scream and other postmodern teen horror films. The drama builds beautifully, with Lance Henriksen and Katheryn Winnick giving excellent performances. It’s raw, and disgusting, but also smart and sexy. This is almost the best film of the series for me. The top three spots of my ranking are actually pretty even: Hellraiser 8, Hellraiser 5, Hellraiser 4, Hellraiser 7, Hellraiser 2, Hellraiser 6, Hellraiser 1, Hellraiser 3, Hellraiser 9. (24.02.2011)

I didn't expect that the movie "Hellraiser: Inferno" would be good, but that it would be so bad and that it would overall crush the world of Cenobites is truly outrageous. I almost think that it's best to stop with the series when you finish the fifth installment, because that one is one of the best. What follows after it is just suffering and a steep decline in quality almost to the very bottom. (30.07.2015)