I just watched the OG Hellraiser last night for the first time with some friends who had also never seen it. The overall consensus among all four of us was: wtf did we just watch.
And not in a good way lol
I'm also not saying that because it's older and cheesier effects. We can all appreciate that.
The plot and concept was just goofy and didn't make sense to a single one of us, and that made it unenjoyable. Unless they come out and announce the house as being based on a different one of the movies, I don't foresee myself ever watching any of the others lol
All that said though, we did agree and acknowledge there are definitely things that would translate well into a house, and we're excited about seeing the costuming in the unannounced-but-likely house!
I hope you read this and it helps - if so, please send it to your friends to see what they think too. lol
-Enter Frank, a hedonistic thrill-seeker constantly trying to one-up his sado-masochistic game to a new level of freak. He hunts down a mythological puzzle box said to house a realm much like that of hell ruled by similar horny-freak-demons named Cenobites that relish in testing the limits of PAIN and PLEASURE and how far one will go to chase that fix. Color Frank Pikachu-surprised-face when he opens it and gets exactly what he wants. The horny demons actually show up and turn him into their new plaything, where he realizes pretty darn quickly that these things don't have a safe-word. They end up killing him and sending him to their realm to exist in an immortal state of never-ending torture.
-Enter Frank's brother Larry, who finds out that Frank went missing and moves into his old house for three reasons: one) to clean up after Frank because the dude tends to leave messes wherever he goes (
some more literally than others), two) to try and start over with his problematic wife Julia and, three) to be closer to where his daughter is going to school. Larry has no idea that the reason his wife is being problematic is because Frank was having an affair with Julia before they were married. Julia's feelings for Frank still linger and she only came because she secretly hoped to find out what happened to Frank and why he went missing in the first place. While moving their furniture in, Larry cuts his hand, and -unbeknownst to him- the blood from his wound brings Frank back to life; Think of it as the first-drop in the dark-ritual bucket that will become Frank’s resurrection. It's one-part the fact that the same blood that runs through Larry is the same blood that runs through Frank, spilled within the same domain Frank was sacrificed to the Cenobites, and one-part the desire deep in Julia's heart to find Frank that brings him back (
The Power of Love intensifies).
**And, C'MON, the special effects here are UNREAL. The scene where Frank partially reconstructs himself is showcasing LEGENDARY work from Bob Keen and his team.
-Enter Julia, who get what she wants when she finds Frank trying to reassemble himself in the attic. He reveals to her what made all this dark magic ritual ish possible - the Lament Configuration (the puzzle box) where he basically brags that he's the only one who has ever beaten it because he was able to escape from the horny demons and their realm of eternal punishment. He tells her that he is back thanks to her and Larry but he now needs to steal more blood and organs Imhotep-style to make himself whole again. Julia matches Frank's freak, bringing home desperate dudes to sacrifice to him, and he begins to grow more and more back to his original state (minus the skin that was taken from him by the Cenobites - cause that's like, a big part of their schtick with all the hooks and chains).
-Enter Kirsty, Franks daughter from his first marriage, who never really liked her stepmother to begin with. She sees Julia being all shady, bringing strange men home, and decides to follow her but instead finds Frank. Before he can have his way with her, she steals the Lament Configuration and escapes. Drawn to the box and its freak energy, she unwittingly opens it and releases the horny demons. They introduce themselves boy-band style, explain their S&M fashion, and attempt to claim her as their new plaything. Sounding familiar to Frank's kink, she tells them that Frank got loose, that he got back to the real world somehow and is lowkey bragging about it. They don't believe her but they make her a deal: If Frank confesses to her, they will recapture him and she will be spared.
-Kirsty goes home to try and warn her father about Julia and Frank. When she gets there, she finds Julia who purports to have killed Frank and left the body in the attic. When Kirsty goes to check it out, the Cenobites show back up and say 'hey, yeah, uh, this isn't Frank' which confuses Kirsty, so she tries to find out what happened. When she finally runs into her Dad, he's acting really strange, and by strange i mean incestuous, which reminds her of creepy Uncle Frank; Then it clicks. Frank killed Larry and stole his skin, now pretending to be him. When Frank sees that she figured it out, he tries to kill Kirsty but accidentally kills Julia instead. Frank, unbothered by it, chases after Kirsty only to end up back where it all began - back into the attic. Kirsty get him to highkey brag about beating death, and that lands him back into the hands of those horny demons. They do their favorite thing with hooks and chains, and Frank is claimed once more. However, being the horny demons they are, they renege on their deal with Kirsty and try to take her too; As there's always room for dessert. Kirsty, not trying to kink-shame, simply says 'no thanks,' and closes the box in the reverse way she opened it because
of course it’s that easy - sealing the horny demons back within their realm. When she tries to discard it, it summons a messenger to take it back to its original 'owner' who -again- sells it to another fetishist seeking the ultimate pleasure-cruise.
Roll credits.
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Listen, i know Hellraiser is not everyone's cup of tea. The first time i watched it, i was a virginal 13 year old and didn't understand sado-masochism in the slightest. I actively disliked this film (outside of the monumental special effects work) as it simply didn't make sense to me. Now, 20 years later, with a much more nuanced understanding of kinks and how pain-and-pleasure can overlap for a lot of people, i now understand the various concepts on display. I think Frank’s ‘
even if it kills me’ S&M-addiction is hard for a lot of people to wrap their heads around at first, but once you get past the
50 Shades of Grey of it all, there’s really nowhere else to go with it except maybe hell – where we get into the much cooler, Faustian side of Clive Barker’s mythology, which I find
so much more interesting.
If
THAT is the part of it that you ALSO find interesting, and you don’t think it would deter you from going in further, watch HELLBOUND (part two) because it continues right where we left off. It shows Kirsty getting committed for trying to talk to people about what happened in the first movie and everyone thinks she’s nuts. Her psych gets his hands on the Lament Configuration, Julia becomes the new Frank with her own glow-up, and -the best part IMO- you get to actually go into their realm (hence the
HELLBOUND part of the title) to see how the sausage is made… And by sausage I mean Cenobites.
EDIT: I do think there's more than a 50% chance that the HHN house (much like the upcoming videogame) takes us to the Cenobite dimension/nether-realm/hell because it's literally a MAZE called The Labyrinth, so there's that going for part two as well.
Part three is less interesting in those regards, being a crappier combination of the first two movies for the 90’s era. HOWEVER, part FOUR might be of interest to you as it shows how the Lament Configuration was even made in the first place (in the 1700's)… while also taking place in space (in the 2100's); Jason X,
eat your heart out.
Thank you for coming to my Pin-TED TALK.