Believe it or not, but a couple of nights ago when I sat down and had my own little horror double feature with John Carpenter’s Halloween and Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, it was the first time I had ever seen Hellraiser. Of course, I knew exactly who Pinhead was (who doesn’t?) and I knew the general premise of the story, but I didn’t really expect it to hold up against Carpenter’s classic, but you know what… it may actually be better. Then again, these aren’t exactly comparable horror flicks. Yeah, they’re both classics, but Barker has always had a flare for gore while Carpenter is more of an atmospheric director. Then again, The Thing is damn gory so my theory pretty much goes right out the window if you take that into consideration (hit me please!).
Moving on, while the night brought me my first visit to Hellraiser it also marked my first time watching my very own copy of Halloween. Yeah, I actually didn’t have my own copy of this film until Anchor Bay sent me their latest incarnation featuring the once again fully restored audio and video and now a flashy new slip cover with holographic eyes and knife. Scary!
Revisiting Halloween is always fun and I think it is a must own for any true horror fan, or movie fan in general considering I think the genius behind this flick is more than just the scares, but also the effective use of Carpenter’s camera work and most notably the score. Carpenter himself tells you in the 2000 featurette on this DVD that it only took him a few days to come up with the entire score for the film and it has to be one of the most effective themes in film history. It is synonymous with the Halloween holidays and any time it comes on there is no doubt you are in for a fright.
After re-watching Halloween it remains baffling to me that they would actually try to remake it. Why not just re-release the original? Look at how well Nightmare Before Christmas did at the box-office in its re-release this past weekend, $5.1 million for a movie that was made in 1993 ain’t too bad and it isn’t like Disney had to do anything more than promote it to get the word out. Some films just don’t need to be remade and Carpenter’s Halloween is one of them.
Along the same lines, it was recently announced that Hellraiser is going to be remade over at Dimension films, the same folks that brought us Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake. The studio has brought on French filmmakers Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo to write and direct with Barker along to produce. Granted, having Barker along for the ride does help, but after the man’s recent appearance at Comic Con I am not sure he is exactly working on all cylinders. To put it plainly, the guy seemed nuts.
While Barker’s use of gore is extremely effective in Hellraiser and not at all as over the top and unnecessary as I expected, it is the story that actually grabs you, which is the case with all memorable horror films. If the film suffers from anything at all I would say it has to be the casting. I wasn’t impressed at all with Clare Higgins who plays Julia Cotton, the wife in this little game.
For anyone out there like me and you have never seen this film, the story follows Julia and Larry Cotton as they move back to an old family house. The previous tenant was Larry’s brother Frank, but he is nowhere to be found. You see, Frank went on the black market and picked up something comparable to an ancient Rubik’s Cube, the only difference is that winning this game opens a door to Hell and off you go, whisked away by the S&M folks that inhabit the dreaded land and you become a pawn in their game of the greatest pleasure is achieved through inflicting the most pain. Frank, needless to say, finds himself in their services.
As Julia and Larry are settling into their new home, the same house Frank unbeknownst to them disappeared in while performing his little ritual in the attic, Larry cuts his hand while moving a sofa and when a few drops of his blood land on the attic floor Frank is reborn… sort of. Frank needs more blood to become whole and as the secret love affair he once had with Julia comes to life this story gets all the more twisted. And while the story gets twisted it gets all the more fun.
As I said, the only problem with this film is Clare Higgins as Julia, she is barely passable, but the role is a difficult one. I mean, how do you act as if you actually love a man that is standing in front of you with no skin? Yeah, it couldn’t have been easy. This is not to say I was overly impressed with Andrew Robinson as Larry, but I have to pick my battles, and since I really liked the movie it doesn’t make too much sense to take too many unnecessary jabs at it, that just spoils the fun.
Like Halloween, Anchor Bay is also releasing Hellraiser again on DVD, but this one is a bit of a bigger release as it is the 20th Anniversary Edition including a commentary track with Barker and Ashley Laurence who plays Larry’s daughter Kristy, an interview with composer Christopher Young, a full making-of feature with plenty of cast and crew interviews, a look at the screenplay on DVD-ROM and finally a little conversation with Doug Bradley who plays Pinhead, easily one of the all-time most recognizable characters in horror.
Both the new Halloween release and Hellraiser are on DVD now. You can buy Halloween here and buy the Hellraiser: 20th Anniversary Edition here. If you don’t own both of these and are a horror fan now is really the time to pick them both up, you can’t go wrong with either one. They are certainly far better than 99% of the crappy horror that is hitting screens now.
