IR Film Review: HELLRAISER [Hulu]
The structure of the aspect of suffering in an interesting diatribe on the notion of self. The circumstances of living in certain ways create situational structures based on choice. "Hellraiser" as a metaphor is strictly about that but using the essence of body horror and consequence to fuel the fire. While the update to the Clive Barker cult hit does try to bring these into the new era, the mythology feels a little less earned than before. Odess A'Zion (who is the daughter of Pamela Adlon of "Better Things" and sister of Gideon Adlon -- who just starred in "Sick" at TIFF) plays Riley, a girl down on her luck who can't seem to get her life above water. She has had addiction problems and her brother and his boyfriend seemingly do what they can to help her. But as times would dictate, she falls for the wrong boy who leads her on a path of ruin. Her actions and an ill-fated robbery lead to "the box".
The concept of the build and what it takes for the sacrifices to come to be through it is still very straightforward though the ability to show the Cenobites' world encroaching on ours is much better conceived in certain ways than the original. The effects are kept fairly practical but the differences in perspective still function on the aspects that once you have been stabbed by the box, there is no escape. Jamie Clayton does an admirable job portraying a new Pinhead of sorts. This priest of her own realm is cool and calm but knows what needs to be done. She knows the rules are adjustable but there is no escape. The use of a house and a man (Goran Visnjic) who begins the path trying to find the next level is an interesting connotation and actually the more interesting story.
Riley just wants to escape but choice dictates that she needs to make strategic moves even though she doesn't know all the players. The make up and chains of the Cenobites are effective but seem much more clean per se than the more fluid and blood-heavy that one remembers from the original. However that said, since this in on Hulu, it can't go so far. It can be edgy (like "Fresh") but there needs to be a balance in the approach. As the film culminates and especially in one van chase sequence, the film does show its possibility but it would have been better if the maze structure of how it works was more clear and formalized because the estate is never really brought to bare in its use despite some interesting construction for key sequences. This new "Hellraiser" tries to bring this story into the new era, succeeding on certain points but not living up to others. B-
By Tim Wassberg
