Introduction
Hellraiser (2022) is an American supernatural horror film directed by David Bruckner. It is the sequel to Clive Barker’s 1986 book The Hellbound Heart, which served as the foundation for his 1987 film Hellraiser.
Hellraiser (2022) stars Odessa A’zion, Jamie Clayton, Brandon Flynn, Goran Vinji, Drew Starkey, Adam Faison, Aoife Hinds, Selina Lo, and Hiam Abbass.
The producing companies for Hellraiser are Spyglass Media Group and Phantom Four Films while Hulu and Paramount Pictures release it.
This film lasts two hours and is entirely in English.
Synopsis
Hellraiser (2022) tells the story of a young woman struggling with addiction who gets hold of an ancient puzzle box during a theft case, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension. Now, she is felt to fight them off because she can’t bear the consequences of their reward.
Hellraiser (2022) Film Review
Wow. I must confess; Hellraiser is a terrifying horror film.
This film stars Odessa A’zion, Jamie Clayton, and Goran Visnjic, as stated in the introduction. These characters are crucial to the success of the film.
Before we delve deep, tet’s talk about the positives of this film.
I’ll begin with the performance of Odessa A’zion. She plays Riley McKendry, a woman suffering from pills and alcohol addiction. Throughout her act, she expresses a wide range of emotions, including surprise, fear, crying, and happiness. She expresses these emotions so well that they looked so real.
Her chemistry with other characters is something that gave me great joy.
I wouldn’t say her character is likable because she was never given opportunities to do things that endear her to the audience. For example, as seen in the trailer (I don’t want to include any spoilers so I only state whatever was put in the trailer), the puzzle has a blade in it that cuts people when they try to fix the puzzle.
She is cut by the puzzle and she watched as others attempted to solve it and were also cut. This is not to say she isn’t concerned, but some her deeds make her character unlikable.
Because of the strain that comes with leading this Hellraiser film, Odessa faces a significant obstacle of trying to live up to the characters of the previous Hellraiser.
Her role is difficult to pull off, but she makes it appear simple.
As the protagonist, Odessa has a lot of screen time, and she does not disappoint with her performance.
Voight is played by Goran Visnjic. Goran is also a talented actor, as seen by his performance in this film. Goran imbues Voight with the characteristics of calm, weirdness, and mystery. His demeanor, grin, and body language all reveal the actual nature of who he is. Such an act can only be performed by a talented actor.
Jamie Clayton is cast as a pinhead. Her position as the pinhead necessitates her being ruthless and threatening, and she incorporates all of this into her act to provide us with a memorable experience.
The sound design is fantastic. The songs, the ominous music, and the scores. They’re all fantastic. They each contribute a different aspect to the film. It appealed to me.
Moving on, I like how suspense is employed in this film. It just keeps you guessing what will happen next. Also noteworthy is how deeds manifest themselves. The director David Bruckner did a good job with this.
I cannot talk about positives from this movie without mention how great the make-up artists were in bringing these characters to live with the make up. They made the Cenobite look so real.
I’ve discussed the film’s strengths; now let’s look at its flaws.
I thought the film was too long. I lost interest in the film along the way (at a point, I thought it was just like any other horror film made this year), but the film picked up again at the latter part and still impressed.
In my opinion, Hellraiser is shallow. Asides from the horror, there’s nothing significant to look out for. Despite the heights that this film accomplished/reached, I still feel greater height could still have been attained.
Did you know?
Jamie Clayton looked mystical when she came on set for the first time.
Goran Visnjic said, according to The Illuminerdi – “I saw [Jamie Clayton] for the first time, and I saw her beforehand. I saw her in the process of getting her costume on. Later, she walks on set, and I start laughing.”
He went on by saying “Not because it was funny, but because I didn’t know what to do…She looked so out of this world, almost mystical, unusual, surreal. You know this is an actor, but with all the details, from the pins to the skin, to the steadiness in her voice, it feels like, “Is that you?”. I still feel kind of unusual about that…I still need to process it.”
In conclusion, I enjoyed the movie and I think you’d too since it wasn’t just frightful but also oddly unsettling in a nice manner. After seeing this, I attempted to go asleep, but I failed. There were just some scary images running through my thoughts.
Because of the sex, language, and drugs, I would suggest this movie to any horror fan above the age of 16.
You can watch Hellraiser (2022)on Hulu
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