Hellraiser VII: Deader

Hellraiser VII: Deader (2005) is a movie that I recently rewatched for the first time in a long time on MAX. The storyline follows a reporter who finds a tape that shows a cult bringing the dead back to life. She thinks this could be her big break and the story of a lifetime...she might be right.

This movie is directed by Rick Bota (Hellraiser: Hellworld) and stars Kari Wuhrer (Eight Legged Freaks), Linda Marlowe (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Simon Kunz (The Parent Trap), Paul Rhys (Chaplin), Doug Bradley (Nightbreed) and Georgina Rylance (War Machine).

This did have a more realistic storyline than some of the Hellraiser sequels and the main character was easy to root for (she reminded me of Ashley Judd). The subway scenes in here were pretty cool and it was a good subplot to add to the storyline. Those scene's definitely added intensity to the circumstances. However, this is another Hellraiser movie without enough Pinhead. It's too bad because the beginning and ending of this movie are great. The opening corpse in the bathroom was awesome and the last 12 minutes of the film were the best part of the movie. We needed more scenes like the end.

Overall, this sequel had the most potential since Hellraiser III, but still doesn't live up to expectations due to an underuse of Pinhead. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

HELLRAISER: DEADER is pretty good, especially in the first half which has two of the more intense and creepy scenes I have seen in a DTV flick in a while. I'm talking, of course, about the first videotape and when Amy explores the abandoned house.

Where DEADER fails is when it tries to tie into the HELLRAISER mythology. As has been well publicized, DEADER started out as an original screenplay by Neal Marshall Stevens that Dimension Films bought for no less than 1 million dollars. Then they lost faith in it and let it collect dust before hiring Tim Day to do a rewrite and turn it into a HELLRAISER sequel. I don't blame the guy, because he probably did the best he could, given such a ridiculous task. But it's a shame that DEADER did end up like this. Without the 30 seconds worth of Pinhead at the end this could have been a minor genre masterpiece. As it stands, it's just a bizarre, schizophrenic film with some outstanding moments, some scenes that really work and some that really don't. Once again, shame on Dimension Films for wasting this opportunity.

In addition to original screenwriter Stevens, director Rick Bota also deserves some praise. He's made a good looking and often tense film that is never less than competent. Hopefully he'll be able to break free from his current job at Dimension eventually. The guy has talent.

Rick Bota returns as director, and again delivers a film in the form of a mystery thriller. This time about a reporter on an assignment to find a missing woman. In her search for answers, she ends up much deeper than she ever thought possible, and I thought Kari Wuhrer was rather good as reporter Amy Klein. The story was not originally written for the Hellraiser franchise; instead an existing script was converted for the series, and that's evident, as there's very little resemblance to the previous films. Just as with Hellraiser 6, there are way too many dreams and hallucinations. It is almost as if they had different ideas and opinions for the film but didn't know how to incorporate all of them, so they did so via means of the dreams and hallucinations. It wasn't scary, and it wasn't NOT scary. It wasn't bad, and not all that good either, but certainly more enjoyable than 3, 4 & 5 in the series. The stabbing scene in the hotel room was incredibly well done!! Pinhead again only appears very late in the film, and only stays around long enough to convince us this is indeed a Hellraiser film .

Well...I blame these sequels on the Weinsteins almost entirely...made for market fluff. Hellraiser: Bloodline was probably the only installment that had anything unique to it, and let us not forget the overwhelming sins of Hellraiser 3: The Greatest Blunder Ever Told.

But I digress. A persistent formula has manifested again: Someone opens the box who doesn't realize what they've done and find out at the end he/she is in the Cenobite's realm and now it's their ass.

I'd really like these movies to stop. Let's have Pinhead's Corner: A segment hosted by Pinhead the film critic where upon completion of the review he tears the soul of the director apart...maybe the producer too. That would be a giggle.

The latest installment in the Hellraiser series is by far and wide the worst entry. Fans seem to be torn in regards to the direction the direct to video sequels have taken. Some are upset Pinhead is no longer a central character, some don't care. I love Hellraiser II which features Pinhead prominently and I also love Inferno in which he barely has a cameo. So I am not biased either way. I will not tear this movie down just because Doug Bradley has a minuscule role. I will tear it down for being an incoherent piece of crap. This particular script was pre-existing (simply titled Deader) and the good folks at Dimension decided that they could turn it into a stellar Hellraiser film. It didn't work. Clive Barker's Cenobites just don't fit into this story. It's as simple as that. And that title: Deader. Talk about poor English. Expect yet another Hellraiser sequel (again directed by Rick Bota) in September.