Friday, February 16, 2018

Review: Hellraiser: Judgment




Review: Hellraiser: Judgment
By William Pattison
For Horror Bob’s Blog

Gore and scares everybody! For my review this time I have the latest film in the Hellraiser franchise, Hellraiser: Judgment.
                Hellraiser: Judgment tells the story of police detectives Sean Carter (Damon Carney), his brother David Carter (Randy Wayne) , and Christine Egerton (Alexandra Harris). They are on the trail to capture a serial killer who is called The Preceptor. Unfortunately during the investigation Sean finds himself going through a new portal to Hell and having his life auditor by the minion of hell known as The Auditor. It seems Hell has found that the Lemarchant boxes are outmoded and are now inviting the wicked to come to their hell house for judgment. But when the Assessor and the judges are overwhelmed by Sean’s sins the Auditor must consult with the hell priest Pinhead. It is then they are approached by an Angel from Heaven who demands that Sean be released. The Auditor goes to check on Sean only to find that he has escaped and has taken one of the Lemarchant boxes the Auditor had on display. So, will Sean and his associates solve the mystery of The Preceptor or will Sean fall for the trap that is The Lemarchant Box?
                I have to say that Hellraiser: Judgment was the most enjoyable Hellraiser outing I’ve seen since the Hellraiser anthology, Hellraiser: Bloodline. Director Gary J Tunnicliffe (who also plays The Auditor) weaves a wonderful twist filled tale of brutality, judgment, and madness. He corrects the mistakes he made in his last Hellraiser outing, Hellraiser: Revelations, and brought back the Cenobytes as well as expanded the hell started by Clive Barker with a bunch of interesting new minions of hell including The Auditor, The Assessor,The Cleaners, The Judges, and The Surgeon. Also he brings us a new reimagined Pinhead played by Paul T Taylor, who brilliantly takes over for Doug Bradley. And Tunnicliffe further expands the Hellraiser world with the Angel Jophiel, played by Helen Grace Donald. Also, Nightmare on Elm Street actress Heather Langencamp makes an appearance as a creepy landlady.
The only bad part of this film is that it was made on a small budget and you can tell. But this is still far better than the last five films which is unfortunate for a once groundbreaking horror franchise.
Keep on Creepin’,Horror Bob’s Blog…