I recently had the absolute privilege to attend Burnt Church Film Club’s screening of the Clive Barker’s gorey horror masterpiece, ‘Hellraiser’! What made this night even more special was the special appearances of cenobite actors Nicholas Vince (Chatterer) and Simon Bamford (Butterball) as well as make up and special effects wizard Stuart Conran!
You may have seen me talk about Burnt Church Film Club before in my Pan’s Labyrinth review or you may have seen me post about them on social media before, but if you haven’t, they are film club that host a vast and varied selection of film screenings of all genres at The Flying Duck in Glasgow. They have loads of great screenings year round with so many horror movie nights that i can’t even manage to pick which one to go to half the time! They have also done an amazing job bringing in special guests for live and skype Q&As just like they did for the ‘Hellraiser’ screening! You can check them out through the link below!
https://www.facebook.com/burntchurchfilmclub
It was great to meet Nicholas, Simon and Stuart and hear their stories from what it was like creating this horror classic! Now on with the review!
‘Hellraiser’ focuses on Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence), her father Larry (Andrew Robinson) and her step mother Julia (Clare Higgins) as they move in to a new house that up until recently was being squatted in by Larry’s reprehensible brother, Frank (Oliver Smith/Sean Chapman). The reason Frank is nowhere to be found however, is the result of some very graphic and gruesome circumstances.
The writing and direction of ‘Hellraiser’ is fantastic, which is to be expected when the author of the ‘The Hellbound Heart’ AKA the source material for this film is the one and only, Clive Barker himself. The sign of a strong script and pacing in any genre is each scene seamlessly flowing from one to the next and ‘Hellraiser’ does this so well, from start to finish. Each character is fleshed out (some all too literally!) in such a way that we understand each character’s motivations whether they positive or otherwise. This is something I always love to see in a horror film because it gives the audience a reason to care for the protagonist and a line of understanding the antagonist in some twister form or another.
Ashley Laurence’s portrayal of Kirsty Cotton is one of the best “final girl” roles and performances in horror in my opinion, as she not only captures the raw and visceral fear that any sane human being would feel put in her situation, but she also has the bravery and smarts to set things straight and stand up against the sinister forces she is pit against. Definitely one of the most underrated stars of the horror genre as a whole!
Of course, despite the small amount of screen time, The Cenobites themselves (played masterfully by Doug Bradley, Nicholas Vincent, Simon Bamford and Grace Kirby) are a chilling yet captivating, with Bradley and Kirby delivering lines give audiences goosebumps to this day!
As we mention The Cenobites, we can’t not mention the masterful special effects work taken on by entire special effects team (Stuart Conran included of course!) as they bring a whole new world to life with creatures, tortured souls, disfigured bodies and the extra-dimensional home world which The Cenobites call home! All these special effects hold up wonderfully to this day, even the more outdated digital effects, namely the animated lightning like effect that comes near the end of the film, has a particular charm to it – I would much rather see that than any form of remastered digital effect, as it just fits so well in my eyes.
I can’t go any further without also mentioning Christopher Young’s incredible score! Memorable melodies that will haunt your dreams and serenade the darkest depths of your mind, it is the perfect backing track to this dark, twisted and ethereal film.
But is ‘Hellraiser’ Scary? I would not say it is scary in the modern sense that it makes you jump in your seat, but instead it is a film that gets under your skin with gruesome visuals and terrifying thoughts that tip their hat towards H.P. Lovecraft and his concept of cosmic terror as everything about The Cenobites and their very existence is beyond our human understanding, they are not good nor evil, but on a plain of understanding that we can’t comprehend and I think it is that sense of insignificance and the overall fear of the unknown that makes ‘Hellraiser’ truly frightening!
Incase it wasn’t apparent through out this review, ‘Hellraiser’ is one of my all time favourites, I think it is masterfully written, directed, performed and created. While it may appear campy to some, to me it holds in immense amount of character that isn’t so easy to comes across these days.
I’m going to give ‘Hellraiser’ 92%!
Have you seen ‘Hellraiser’? If so what did you think about it? If not, what are you doing still reading this far? Go watch it!
Either way, let me know in the comments and lets talk about it! If you have read this whole review before ever looking in to anything about this movie then you can check out the trailer below!
Stay creepy and thanks for reading!
Movie Night Massacre 