Genius or just trashy fun? What so you think of Hellraiser?

Genius or just trashy fun? What so you think of Hellraiser?

Are any of the sequels worth a watch?

its fun for gross out special effects but the story is shit.

It's my favorite kind of horror formula, the "nothing really happens until the last 15 minutes where something ridiculous and weird happens" thing, even if it is done somewhat poorly.

It's one of the horror movies I've rewatched most often, almost entirely to hear Pinhead's dialogue.

The second one is also kind of an anomaly in terms of tone and pacing, though less good. Still worth a watch if you liked the first one a lot, though.

The third is basically standard slasher trash with less refined style, and I'd draw the line there unless you want to continue into the series because you like to watch bad horror movies.

One of the best horror movies ever made

The fifth one is good if you pretend its a silent hill movie and not a hellraiser movie

The sequel is more of the same: Impression visuals, creative gore, and an enjoyable storyline.

2 was my favorite

I wish there were more films like Hellraiser 2. It's an interesting mix of fantasy and horror

If by "good if you pretend it's a silent hill movie" you're taking into account that both silent hill movies are trash and think of it as like an adaptation of a post-4 Silent Hill game because all those games are also shitty.

You should check out Nightbreed, if you haven't already.

Clive Barker is a brilliant horror writer and when you consider the constraints of him working in that house the way he did, it's very impressive. He's not a great director, but he made do admirably. His talent at writing the underlying story builds a lore and sensibility that grounds the work.

Its one of the better 80s horror movies but not the best.

2nd movie is also worth watching.

The first 2 Hellraiser films are two of my all-time favorite horror movies. They're classics imo. The rest of the series is just varying levels of crap though (I sorta liked 4 but it's nowhere near as good as the first two).

Hellraiser 1 and 2 are good, they're actually about something.

I thought it was great. Should I rewatch Candyman? I saw it when I was younger and thought it sucked. Also Clive Barker was one of the GOAT Loveline guests.

It's mediocre.

It's interesting that you mention Barker's directing. He originally wanted to direct because he hated the movie adaptation of one of his earlier works. When he got the job to direct Hellraiser, he allegedly went to the library and looked for a book on how to direct movies but they were both checked out. The story of how Hellraiser got made is pretty crazy, it was made on a shoe string budget by a guy who didn't really know what he was doing and wound up being an all-time classic.

candyman is pretty decent

>Genius or just trashy fun? What so you think of Hellraiser?

Somewhere in-between, it brought some new ideas to a really tired genre.

It feels grounded, unlike many horror films. Really abstract horror, but the sets felt very real to me, and it holds up every time I've seen it.

It's one of those films that can make an attic or empty room feel disturbing for a while in your own house after watching it.

1 and 2 are all-time classics.
3 is b-movie tier. You might love it or hate it, it's like Dream Warriors.
The remake is fucking dogshit, avoid it.

Helraiser still has top notch effects for it's time.

It wasn't very scary, but it's an interesting concept with some nice costume design. Only seen the first two.

Ah, didn't know that, pretty impressive.

The practical effects have held up amazingly well actually. Pretty much everything involving Frank's body in the attic looks great to this day. Nowadays if they made that movie, all of the effects would be digital, it would cost 4x as much and look half as good. Of course the flip side is that there wouldn't be some of those shitty effects at the end (the lasers and the dragon creature at the end).