Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996) Review
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Death and pain can go on for generations when you let it.
PLOT
1996’s Hellraiser: Bloodline begins in 2127 follows engineer Paul Merchant who seals himself in the Minos space station he designed. When armed guards come for him, he summons a robot to solve Lament Configuration puzzle box, destroying it in the process. The leader Rimmer apprehends Merchant who then explains his motivations to capture Hell itself. Through flashbacks, he discusses the origin of his ancestor Philip LeMarchand, who back in 1796 was a toy maker that made the box for aristocrat Duc de L’isle. With L’isle’s specifications however, the box was able to open the portal to Hell. Once it opens for the first time, he sees him and his assistant Jacques sacrifice a peasant girl to summon the demon Angelique. This inspires LeMarchand to make a secondary box that can neutralize the effects of the first box. As Paul further explains his bloodline carried the puzzle box designing their box without knowing it, the story transitions to the 90s and focuses on architect John Merchant who designed a skyscraper resembling the puzzle box. He’s been having nightmares of Angelique who he has never met before. In Paris, she sees a magazine of the building and deems John a threat. When Jacques refuses to take her, she kills him for it. John would recognize her at an awards ceremony and would avoid her before she can get to them. So she decides to target a patron named Sharpe and tricks him to open the box, summoning the Hell Priest Cenobite aka Pinhead who he kills. Pinhead remembers Angelique, but both have conflicting views as she prefers corrupting people through temptation while he devotes to pain & suffering. However, they intend to remain on the same page until they can kill John before he can complete his Elysium Configuration that’ll be meant to close all gateways to Hell with a perpetual light. When she finds him and sees his blueprints, hoping to seduce him, she and Pinhead would later kill a twin pair of security guards to become stronger. Only after this does the Cenobite go after John’s family, his wife Bobbi (Kim Myers) and their son Jack (Courtland Mead). By the time John comes home and finds evidence of his family held captive, he returns to the building to save his family. He refuses to make a bigger Lament Configuration and as his family separate, Bobbi uses the original box to send back a ‘Chatterer’ Cenobite (Jody St Michael) back to Hell. John tries to activate his Elysium sooner, but it backfires and gives Pinhead the chance to kill him via decapitation. With Bobbi still having the original, it send both demons back before it implodes. Resuming the dystopian future that is the story’s present, Rimmer chooses to not believe Paul’s story of planning to trap said demons that he just unleashed. One soldier named Parker makes the mistake of opening the cell that frees Pinhead’s Cenobite army including a now grotesque Angelique, who kill him. They then kill the rest of crew, Carducci, Chamberlain & Edwards (Pat Skipper, Tom Dugan & Paul Perri), as they take the original puzzle box from them. Luckily, Paul is able to activate the Elysium and distract the Cenobites with a hologram before using an escape pod to retreat with Rimmer. The movie ends with the Cenobites destroyed with the Minos as Paul & Rimmer safely return to Earth.
THOUGHTS
It always saddens me when franchises jump the shark when doing things they don’t need to just to stir up the pot only to further damage it. That is how I define jumping the shark because this is an ambitious mess when it all comes down to it. Executive producer Clive Barker pitched a story with three different time periods that come together and it’s just all over the place. If it was paced chronologically rather than non-linear narrative, the feeling would’ve been worse. With all the reshoots demanded by studios, you can tell writer Peter Atkins and director Kevin Yagher (and Joe Chapelle for the reshoots) under the Alan Smithee pseudonym struggled to please everybody. The makeup by Yagher & Gary J Tunnicffe is arguably the biggest strength here. Pinhead is still frightening even though we still get a rationed amount of screentime of him, but the twins and Angelique help make things stand out, as well as the Chatterer. Each time period we get to follow is interesting, but they would likely do better as separate stories rather than condensed together like an anthology feature. I can’t completely say the same with the sci fi future due to how its most outdated to the point where I blame it for the plot of Jason X even though this wasn’t the first horror sequel to be set in space. The fact actor Bruce Ramsey plays three generations of Merchant from Philip to John to Paul does bring great commitment in expressing the lesson on how ignoring ethical consequences can make future generations pay for past sins. Each figure from the said bloodline is full of ambition, but are all driven to do the right thing. Had Philip stopped himself from making the box in the first place, generations of people would’ve not suffered the way they did. There’s not much to say with Christine Harmon as Rimmer, but apart from the tough level headed persona she’s trained to be, she’s willing to trust Oaul after hearing him out. It is still cool to see Doug Bradley play Pinhead again who would actually continue portraying the antagonist in the direct to video follow-ups, but he’s written out of continuity since he’s willing to kill kids rather than be put in check back to being a neutral figure. He doesn’t feel so menacing when being straight forward evil. He just loses me when choosing to target Jack after spending this whole time never needing to target a child before. The other standout I can give credit to is Angelique. Also playing the peasant girl that is the puzzle box’s first sacrifice, Valentina Vargas was able to ante up the hedonism the antagonist is all about which makes sense why her downfall would equally be as catastrophic. If you can recruit anyone to succumb to cruelty the way Adam Scott does as Jacques, then you really had the whole world in your hands until you don’t. I think what bothered me a lot when watching this was the fact the cops didn’t shoot first when finding Pinhead. I mean that’s basically a monster and I’m sure he could’ve been at least before even needing to apprehend Angelique since she still had a human form before becoming a full on Cenobite. To wrap up, Hellraiser: Bloodline is another horror sequel that falls flat due to not being close enough in matching what worked before. If this and the preceding entry didn’t impress you, skip the direct to video era and stick with the better two or just check out the Hulu reboot to get your mind off of this mess.
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