Hellraiser: Judgment

Hellraiser: Judgment saved the franchise, it establishes new character and expand the lore. The Auditor is very interesting and I found Gary Tunnicliffe interpretation sublime. The Hell world was always left behind since the second movie, but in this chapter we finally discover more about the mechanics of this dark world. We get to see more Pinhead and we learn to know him al little bit better. This chapter establishes good bases for possible sequels, creators should definitely follow this narrative path. I was very surprised to finally see a decent movie of the series. Unfortunately after Inferno, this saga suffered a lot.

Photography is good, I really appreciated the color grading that sets perfectly the tone of the plot, both special and practical effects are on point. There are a lot of graphic scenes, but I feel that first movies were more violent and gruesome. However there are some pretty amazing killings. The pace of the movie is perfect, but the plot is very predictable and you can clearly see that there are a lot of ideas recycled from Hellraiser: Inferno. Maybe next time try not to pick a detective as main character.

After Revelations, my expectations were really low. I am just happy that the director managed to create something good and that could have save the franchise from the retirement. I really hope that Dimension Films will take seriously in consideration to create an extended narrative universe. Please, make it happen.

Oh, My God! They just keep getting worse... and worse...

Can we please have a decent story writer and director give the fans a decent story, one that will do Barker's vision credit(?)

This story has so many flaws it verges on the ridiculous. Evidently, the humans have grown out of wooden puzzle boxes so the L'Merchant Configuration is no longer a viable gateway to hell. But as The Auditor (Tunnicliffe) says to Pinhead (Taylor), "At least, we still have the house..." Hey! Who would have thunk it(?) The Cenobites own property and real estate... No matter how preposterous that sounds it actually gets worse... How do they lure their intended victims through the door(?) They drop them a line via good ol' pen and paper. I wonder if it's the chatterer that runs down the stationers... I hear he loves to meet people and is a terrible gossip; gift of the gab he's got... Why, couldn't they think of a new and imaginative way to contact their victims? At the very least, Tunnicliffe (the writer) could have the message sent on a piece of human skin and tattooed in blood.

Then when the victim gets inside, the audience is treated to a bit of unnecessary vileness. After The Auditor takes down the quarry's life story, via a typewriter which uses the captives blood as print (finally a bit of imagination) we are introduced to The Assessor (Gulager). He eats the transcripts then regurgitates the remains down a tube, which sprays over three naked women, The Jury. This then leads to the subject being handed to The Surgeon, no matter what the verdict, who proceeds to do a hack and slash job. Then once again, the naked women get splattered... this time with blood. This gives a new perspective on hell's judging process; however there's no rhyme or reason to it, so it just feels like fill in. Even though it's quite nasty to view, it's also quite boring. Tunnicliffe (The Director) doesn't have the skill to create an atmosphere of horror or tension, which helps to make the scene even more tedious.

One decent thing about this film and story is the Thriller story woven throughout. Two detectives, literally brothers in arms, Sean (Carney) and David Carter (Wayne), along with Detective Christine Egerton (Harris), are chasing a gruesome serial killer terrorising the city. However, the inevitable twist is so obvious it weakens this "stronger" section of the film.

The best part of this whole mess is the acting. Even Tunnicliffe isn't too bad. I think it was a little too much to create a new Cenobite (loosely termed, as he's not really a Cenobite) who has more screen time than Pinhead himself and then give the part to yourself. As for Pinhead, Taylor still doesn't have the presence of Bradley, but he is much better than the last instalment. I will give this to Taylor though... he has sitting down-pat. That's right, we get to see Pinhead relaxing... twice... How Scary!

There's even an appearance by Heather Langenkamp as The Landlady. Though, if you blink you'll miss her for she's on screen for about the same amount of time it takes you to read this paragraph.

Do yourself a favour and miss this mess of a film. There are a lot better horror flicks out there... A Lot! If you need your Pinhead fix then, as usual, I recommend cracking open the original flicks.

If you think showing several women's breasts, blood everywhere and gross vomit is enough of an excuse to make a horror movie? you're wrong the plot was predictable, not enough emphasis on the scariest thing..the Cenobites, and just simply stupid

dont waste your time

Even tho the budget is very low for this one you can see the director and crew made it with love as apposed to HELLRAISER REVELATIONS.Even tho Doug Bradley isn't playing PIN HEAD anymore the new actor is almost just as good com'on Doug is legendary but yes This movie gave me the original trilogy's vibes.Its not a great movie but its definitely in the top 5 HR movies .

...originally based on works by Clive Barker, from Dimension Films and writer-director Gary J. Tunnicliffe. Cops Sean (Damon Carney) and David (Randy Wayne) search for a serial killer known as the Preceptor, but their investigation takes them to the very gates of Hell.

When it comes to these long-running horror franchises, the rights-holding studios have to make at least one new film every few years or risk losing the rights. This results in some truly awful films, cheaply made and rushed through production just to beat a deadline and meet a legal requirement. This is just such a movie, as have been the last several in this once-groundbreaking series. The first two films rank among the best horror films of all time, but starting with the third (when Dimension Films starting producing them) they've gotten progressively worse.

This newest film may be a tiny bit better than the atrocious previous entry (2011's Hellraiser: Revelations), but it's still terrible, with vague characterizations, bored performances, and a distinct cheapness to the production that undercuts some of the attempts at world-building. This story attempts to expand a bit on the bureaucracy of Hell as hinted at in the second film, namely with new character The Auditor, played by the director. He actually gets more screentime than series hallmark Pinhead, although he's not as impressive, and looks like the hell-cops from Highway to Hell (1991). In summary, all but the most die-hard fans should avoid this often dull and pretentious latest movie in the series.