Hellraiser IV: Herança Maldita

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)

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.

I've been a Hellraiser fans since I was 15 years old, my all time favorite in the series being the amazing HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II. The nightmarish trip to hell with the fascinating vision of hell and the theatrical staging was just marvellous. Add in the bombastic soundtrack and it ranks as one of the top 3 horror movies of all time, surpassing even the original HELLRAISER. HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH was total garbage. They attempted to make Pinhead a wisecracking anti-hero like Freddy Krueger - and that was just so out of character. HELLRAISER (IV): BLOODLINE attempts to go back to the roots, exploring the origins of the box and was literally butchered by the f#kin producers, which led to the director (Kevin Yagher) withdrawing his name from the project and it became one of those imfamous "directed by Alan Smithee" movies. The movie takes place over 3 time periods, the past, the present and the future. In my opinion they should have scrapped the future plot - Pinhead's excursion to space - it's just ridiculous and absurd and does not fit into the Hellraiser universe. Also HELLRAISER: BLOODLINES was chopped down to a meager 85 minute runtime and feels rushed. A lot of scenes were cut out on behest of the producers which keeps the film from being a great entry into the series. If they had ditched the "Pinhead goes to space" scenario and focused more on the past and present this movie could have been FAR superior. It still is not nearly as terrible as HELLRAISER III, VI and all the successors, but it is wasted potential here. Not all is bad though: the makeup effects are superb, the sado-masochistic scenes are among the best in the series and the cenobites don't look like the clowns of HELLRAISER III (except for the twins. They're just weird). Also, the past "segment" of the film drips with atmosphere. Overall, this could have been a 9 out of 10, but the space opera drags it down quite a few notches.

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.

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.