Tags:
Film: Hellraiser: Revelations
Year: 2011
Director: Víctor García
Writer: Gary J. Tunnicliffe
Starring: Nick Eversman, Steven Brand and Fred Tatsciore
Review:
This film begins with two guys driving down to Tijuana. The one driving is played by Jay Gillespie and the friend is played by Nick Eversman. Eversman is filming. Their goal is to get drunk and to get laid. It turns out though that Gillespie is dating Eversman’s sister.
We then shift to a woman watching the video on a handheld camera; she is played by Devon Sorvari. We see that Gillespie has the puzzle box from the Hellraiser films, there is a blue light and we see Pinhead for a second, he is played by Stephan Smith Collins in this film.
Her daughter walks in, played by Tracey Fairaway. She wants to know what her mother is doing and she will not say. Fairaway is bothered by this, but she lets her know that their guests have arrived.
We are then at an awkward dinner party. Sorvari’s husband and the father of Fairaway is here, played by Steven Brand. We learn that there was a son, who is Eversman. Their guests are Sanny van Heteren and Sebastien Roberts, who are the parents of Gillespie. It turns out that Fairaway was dating Gillespie. She wants to know what happened to them, but no one will talk about it. They believe that they were murdered.
After dinner, Fairaway finds the bag that the camera is stored in. She also finds the puzzle box. She begins to watch and sees that her boyfriend cheated on her with a Mexican prostitute. She stops watching. We then see what happened afterwards. Gillespie killed her somehow and he is going to force Eversman to stick with him so they can escape.
Fairaway begins to play with the puzzle box and the power goes out. It comes back on and Eversman is standing outside. His family is happy to see him and the other couple wants to know about their son and where he is.
He is dehydrated and exhausted. Fairaway continues to play with the box and we see that on the other side of this door is Collins as well as other cenobites. There is also a new one that is getting pins as well as flesh put onto his head to be like Collins. They are waiting to be released.
Eversman finally wakes up and begins to fill them in on what happened. We learn that they met a vagrant at a seedy strip club; he is played by Daniel Buran. He gave them the puzzle box and told them what they were seeking was inside of it. Gillespie opened it and has become one of them.
We then learn that Eversman started to help him get his body back in the real world by killing prostitutes so he could regenerate. We also learn that that the families that are searching for them are harboring some dark secrets amongst each other as well.
Eversman might not be who he seems to be. There is an awkward scene where he makes out with his sister and we see that he is being tortured inside of the box as well. Buran also shows up to the house and attacks Roberts. He tells us that the cenobites know where the lost soul is.
Will Eversman be able to escape them? Is Eversman who he appears to be? What secrets are the families hiding and will they destroy them? Will anyone survive this ordeal?
I have to say that there were some things I really liked. I thought the ending was good. Especially with the mistake that Brand makes and what it costs him. I was a huge fan. I also liked the twist that happens right before the reveal of the truth as well. I thought Fairaway was cute and the acting was decent. I also liked the handicam aspect as well. That is a really popular thing right now and I liked how it introduced the story as well as help to fill other parts as the film progresses.
I do have a lot of issues with this film. First off, I hate that the makers of this film low-balled Douglas Bradley because to me, he is Pinhead. Not that Collins did a bad job, but Pinhead is an icon and Bradley is the role to me. I also didn’t mind that they were doing something we haven’t seen since the first film, where a soul is trying to escape and needs blood to regenerate; my problem is that he wouldn’t be strong enough to appear like he does in the film. The original he could only go to a room where he was strongly attached while in this one Gillespie seems to appear where ever the box is. This is breaking the rules of previous films and I have issue with that. I also thought it was very awkward that Fairaway and Eversman making out. After the reveal is makes more sense, but I have issue that Fairway is that influenced by the forbidden fruit without even opening the box fully yet.
With that said, this has been one of the worst in the series. I will put some of the older sequels before this one especially with the changing of Bradley as Pinhead. I thought the acting was decent, the story has a good twist and ending, but other than that it is a bit boring. Not a lot happens and that was an issue for me. I would say to give this one a viewing only if you are trying to watch all of Hellraiser films. If not, I would watch the first 3 or so if you really want to see how good these films are.
My Rating: 3 out of 10