Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker

Hellraiser: Hellseeker is definitely a sequel deserving the title Hellraiser. It stands alone as a good picture and you could even watch it without having seen the other Hellraiser movies. It's probably what Clive Barker intended to be a sequel to his masterpiece. It tells a story that could have come out of his Books of Blood, with characters invented in The Hellbound Heart, the novel which was Filmed as the original Hellraiser. There is always room for Pinhead, the pope of hell in those kind of movies, and I hope that this great effort will be continued in the following two Hellraiser sequels. I would also appreciate to see his short stories from the Books of Blood filmed, because I think some of them would make great horror movies. A must see for horror fans who have enough of teenie slashers and for anyone else who likes a good suspense thriller before going to bed.

"Hellraiser: Hellseeker" is a Mystery - Horror movie and the seventh sequel of the "Hellraiser" franchise, in which we watch a businessman trying to remember and figure out what happened after a car crash that killed his wife. The only thing he has is a box that he does not know its purpose yet.

I did not like this sequel because I believe that it was not worthy of the name "Hellraiser". Except some minor clues, some objects like the puzzle box and some of the main characters of the franchise, "Hellraiser: Hellseeker" did not reach the potential of Hellraiser's name. I do not recommend anyone to watch this movie especially those who have already watched the previous "Hellraiser" movies.

Other reviewers (at least the ones I read) must have watched a different movie to me. What I saw was certainly an effort at originality, and yes, it was better than some of the other sequels to the franchise, but that said it was still a below par screenplay, borrowing heavily from other, cleverer, more original films.

Ironically Hellraiser:Hellseeker shares some of the same flawed plot concepts as the movie it borrows most heavily from: Jacob's Ladder. There's the same two tier story running consecutively and along different, mysterious time-lines, both of which fail utterly to fuse into a single coherent time-line at the end of the film. There's the same solipsist nightmare: how can one truly discern between reality and dreams when the dream state feels as 'real' as reality itself? The second movie from which Hellseeker shamelessly borrows is Angel Heart, a masterpiece of cinematic horror featuring Mickey Rourke before his face went to hell (as a result of high living, screwed up plastic surgery and boxing, not Pinhead) and Robert DeNiro. Where Angel Heart is innovative, Hellseeker is simply repetitive and boring. Where Mickey Rourke excels as the confused protagonist in Angel Heart, Dean Winters sleep-walks his way through the role in Hellseeker, and where DeNiro gets all the best lines, poor Pinhead gets some of the most forgettable I've ever heard him utter.

Granted, compared with the other Hellraiser sequels (all bar Hell on Earth, which I have to say I enjoyed more than I or II) this tries something different, and maybe with a better lead role there'd be something there worthy of a couple more stars. But ultimately the confused mess of a plot destroys itself, irrespective of Winters' deadpan portrayal.

I give this rubbish one star for effort and one for the inclusion of Ashley Laurence who, lets face it, should really be above all this by now. Another star for Doug Bradley as Pinhead who never fails to send chills down my spine with his black 8-ball eyes and his tendency to drag nine inch nails out of his own skull.

Ultimately though, Doug needs to share that last star with Clive Barker without whom the world would be a much duller place.

A husband (Dean Winters) tries to piece together what happened to his wife after a car accident. His wife? Why it is none other than Kirsty (Ashley Lawrence) from the first two Hellraiser films. This is the sixth entry and it appears to want to right the ship after the fifth entry had like two minutes of Pinhead (Doug Bradley) shoved into it. Unfortunately, I already saw this film when it was called Jacob's Ladder (1990). Yes, if you can't figure out the plot where a guy keeps hallucinating and jumping back-and-forth between realities, you might need to turn in your horror fan card. It is also really hard to take serious nowadays with Winters in the lead due to his "Mr. Mayhem" ads for Allstate insurance. To the film's credit, it does return to themes prevalent in the first film like marriage infidelity and striking a deal with the devil. There is also more time devoted to Pinhead and it is a handsomely mounted production that shot in Canada. Director Rick Bota made his feature debut here after being a cinematographer and second unit director. He became the defacto helmsman on these for a bit as he handles the next two entries as well. I hear the sailing gets really rough with the next entry.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like this movie as well as the last played like an Outer Limits, Twilight Zone episode..Coulda been done in 1 hour... it was good story, But didn't need to carry the Hellraiser name. This Series as well as it's villain could be causing more mayhem and go in plenty of different directions and hopefully will start moving on to other areas of cerebral dementia... Pinhead is still one of the greatest Villains.. and was good to see the Kirsty character back in it too..