Hellraiser: Bloodline

For years, I'd heard that Bloodline was one of the worst sequels of all time. Having just finished watching it, I can safely say it's nowhere near as bad as some people have made it out to be. It's not as good as the first three by a long shot, but the production design and effects are excellent and I was never bored. The story can be confusing and the characters could have been better drawn, but it's far from the disaster many have made it out to be.

If you search around, you'll find in the Internet the original script for Bloodline as well as the 'Workprint' videos saved by the film's original director. To be honest, the original script needs a couple more drafts in order to properly explain the story to the audience. Too much of it was left vague and poorly explained. But the plot did make sense when both the script and initial footage are considered together. It's hard to know exactly what happened to drive away the film's director. But what happened afterward is a classic Hollywood mess. Core points of the plot were ignored, others ripped away, others turned inside out to the point of blatantly contradicting basic Hellraiser plot and character concepts. Despite the idiotic mess made of the plot, much of it is beautifully done. It was the very last of the Hellraiser films with any level of inventiveness and class. As such, it's worth watching. But raspberries to the dolts who bolted together the elegant remnants of this film into a lumbering ignoramus.

Oh my! The dreaded space sequel. I must admit, I thought this would bump three out of worst in the series, but I was dead wrong. The one thing I found most appealing about this sequel, is the fact that it leaves room for more sequels, as long as the don't go past the year of Pinhead's final death. Which I may say, they took full advantage of, in making Hellseeker, and Inferno. I think that even though it was good, it still takes a backeat to the original two films. (Part two being my personal fave)

It's been four years since "Hell on Earth" which was a big letdown. Now we have part four which is "Bloodline." It seems the "Hellraiser" franchise departed from the storyline of the previous three to create another storyline altogether. It starts in space in the year 2176. A lone space station crewmember is solving the hellcube. By the time he's done some agents/officers of some sort come to detain him and remove him from the station. At that point we get a history lesson in the form of a doctor asking the lone officer what he was doing. He then goes into his historic bloodline and ties to the hellcube as well as the potential of a cube to forever imprison the demons.

"Bloodline" just didn't hold my interest. I always like to see Pinhead. Of all of the scary movie villains he has the most ominous voice, but when he speaks about pain, suffering, and pleasures it's almost poetic. Chucky and Freddy go for comedy while Jason and Michael Myers choose not to speak at all (if they can speak). Maybe Candyman would be the closest vocal comparison to Pinhead. In any case, the movie as a whole fell flat.

When the beginning of this movie started in OUTER SPACE, I was thinking this movie was doomed from the start. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the rest of the story wasn't too bad. Between Jason X and this, I think it's safe to say that '80s horror does NOT belong in sci-fi. But as a whole, I'd say the movie could've been much much worse.