Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) Review
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
When you can’t tell the difference of passion and pain, you’re definitely gonna do more harm than good.
PLOT
Hellbound: Hellraiser II takes place after the events of the first film. Kirsty Cotton has been sent to a psychiatric hospital authorities don’t believe her of the Cenobites killing her stepmother Julie Cotton. Doctor Philip Channard is the only one to believe her due to having a secret obsession over the same Lament Configuration puzzle box that opens the labyrinth world of the Cenobites. He brings the mattress to his home and convinces a patient to harm himself. Cutting his body via razor blade would summon a now skinless Julia who consumes him for energy. His assistant Kyle Macrae comes by hoping to investigate Kristy’s claims, but he leaves in shock discovering Julia resurface without getting himself detected. At the hospital, Kirsty meets a mute lady named Tiffany who has an aptitude of puzzles and is later awakened by an entity she presumes to be her father Larry, leaving a message to save him from Hell. When Kyle returns, he tells her he believes her and he takes her to Channard’s home to show her what he saw. There, they find Julia absorbing more patients to complete her regeneration. As Julia spots Kirsty and knocks her unconscious, she then kills Kyle before she & Channard abduct Tiffany and force her to open the box that unleashes the Cenobites. The Cenobites spare Tiffany when aware that it was Channard’s desire to summon them and not her’s. Inside the labyrinth does Julia find a giant elongated diamond of an entity dubbed the ‘Leviathan’ that she deems the god of flesh, hunger & desire. As Kirsty is allowed by the Cenobites to explore, Julia betrays Channard for Leviathan thus turning him into a Cenobite as well. Kirsty then finds her uncle Frank (Sean Chapman) who admits to have lured her to the labyrinth and before he can kill her, Julia kills her first. As Kirsty is able to escape during that moment of conflict, Julia is then sucked into the labyrinth. When the final girl finds Tiffany, she is able to ensure the Cenobites spare them when finding a photograph from Channard’s studies, confirming the leader He’ll Priest aka Pinhead was once human and his name was Elliot Spencer who once opened the box all the way back in the 1920s. When Channard emerges in a serpent-like Cenobite form, Tiffany regains her voice and the other Cenobites die protecting the ladies. As each one dies. They return to their human forms. Cornered, Kirsty puts on Julia’s skin as a distraction for Tiffany to reopen the box in reverse. As this traps him in Hell, the girls escape the hospital. The film would end in a cliffhanger when two moving men are tasked to remove Channard’s belongings, but one is pulled inside the mattress and the other sees a pillar full of fused faces emerge asking him of his pleasure.
THOUGHTS
Hellraiser really brought the suspense back in body horror whereas half of the zombie movies at the time were taking it unserious despite great makeup effects. With Clive Barker not around to direct, he still has involvement as original writer and producer to make sure the source material done right and boy was it ever. If you watch it right after the first, it’ll feel like you haven’t left and that’s the best thing you can ask for when it comes to becoming a strong sequel. With Christopher Young back to compose something hauntingly stunning and the new set pieces of the unpredictable labyrinth, you just know you’re in for a ride. The biggest strength like before is gonna be the fantastic makeup effects for the Cenobites. It’s even still appropriately unsettling to see all the peeled flesh With Geoff Portas leading the makeup team, we’re able to get a great balance of old and new. How so? Channard’s overall Cenobite form is quite insane due to all tentacles that come out of him, but the re design on Chatterer that show off his eyes was quite an interesting detail. It’s even a great twist by new head writer Peter Atkins to establish all the Cenobites were human in past lives. Chatterer is arguably the greater twist with the reveal of being a child that was likely innocent when finding the box. Although different actors were stand ins for the human versions of the Cenobite team, Doug Bradley is still the hedonistic Hell Priest and his cynical human counterpart Elliot Spencer. Seeing this as well as Kenneth Charman play both forms of the curiosity disturbed Channard does help Director Tony Randel bring things full circle that obsession of any kind will always lead to self destruction. As long as you remember you don’t have to push your own boundaries whether or not you know you can, you’ll find enough content in the life you have now. That’s definitely the case when following Kirsty again because as the horror continues for her, she still does right by protecting Tiffany even when she doesn’t know her enough and just knows she doesn’t deserve a trip to Hell. Lord knows where her boyfriend Steve went, but at least the sincere Kyle tried having her back in the given time he had as portrayed by William Hope. When entering levels of hell and back literally, Ashley Laurence maintains her likability due to preferring resilience over fear. I mean it’s pretty damn smart of her to use her stepmom’s skin to outsmart Channard. Speaking of which, Claire Higgins makes an impressive return by maintaining the roots of Julia going from lustful to just hungry for power. The fact she moves on from Frank by ripping out his heart that gives him a final death, her experience in death has changed her for the worst. Nevertheless, she got stopped before it can get any worse. Lastly, it’s fair to have a soft spot for Tiffany because Imogen Boorman shows her vulnerability is embraced from her observance hence her interest of puzzles. Reversing the puzzle is equally smart from what Kirsty does because I don’t think anyone has ever done that for any puzzle for that matter. The only reason that interest was expanded for her due to Channard forcing it on her after killing her mother, so it’s a relief she won’t need to put things together anymore after her sole threat being dealt with. While it’s safe to assume the girls will try to steer clear of such a dimension, it should be a given to say that Hell always has different plans in mind. Despite enjoying this sequel, there were still a few things that confused me when looking back. Like it’s one thing to wonder how did Channard pull off taking Julia’s mattress when that should be criminal evidence, but he definitely could’ve kept his cover from being blown if he had closed the door because Kyle would’ve not known what he was up to from that simple decision. Speaking of which, it was kinda on Kyle to open the door the moment he saw Julia return because that sealed his fate. Other than that, this sequel delivers in terms of quality. In short, Hellbound: Hellraiser II is in fact an excellent horror sequel for keeping the right pace afloat and giving enough of an expansion to be surprising. If body horror is still your jam, check this out.
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