Hellraiser V: Inferno (2000)
Plot: While cheating on his wife with a hooker, sleazy LAPD detective Joseph (Craig Sheffer) opens up the dreaded puzzle box. While investigating gruesome murders, he begins seeing frightening monsters and agonizing memories of his countless misdeeds.
My Review: Here I go again watching yet another Hellraiser movie. If you haven’t read my other reviews on the films in this series…I’m not a fan…so far!
Unfortunately I had to watch this movie in two sittings a couple days apart (I know some of my readers get annoyed at me when I write a review for a movie I didn’t see in one setting, but it couldn’t be avoided – I have a family member in the hospital and a lot going on). I had the hardest time following it. Probably because of the audio issues (I had my tv cranked to 70 out of 100 (and normally have it on 20!) and I still couldn’t hear from time to time because people were so quiet. Very VERY annoying. The loud parts were so loud even my cats were jumping! Haha! Anyhow, due to the audio issues and the 4 days in between viewings I had no idea if I had missed something when they started talking about this “engineer” guy. Eventually I recapped and the movie all made sense again. Only to then end up completely confused again because the main character was just insane.
For those that are interested the movie starts out with this jerk cop going to a crime scene. They discover a little boys cut off finger at the crime scene as well as the puzzle box. The cop opens the box later that night while in a hotel room cheating on his wife with a hooker. From here on out every crime scene he goes to has another finger of the childs. He also somehow knows each murder victim and he begins seeing weird creatures (Cenobites) here and there.
Eventually people start talking about this “Engineer” guy and how he could be related to the crimes. Here is where I began getting confused as an informant tells the cop a story and even though I had my TV cranked to 80 I still couldn’t make out what the story was. So I have no idea if it is important. Anyhow, people keep dying, chopped off fingers at each crime, the cop is getting crazier and crazier until the very end of the movie…
By the end of the movie I was so confused I just didn’t care about the movie anymore. Even at the end the main character says he doesn’t understand. Pinhead explains it to him, I guess from the very beginning the guy was in his own hell or something…who knows, and to be quiet honest I don’t care enough to attempt to figure it out.
The movie started out with potential. Good acting with an actor I knew, and what seemed like actual in depth plot. But all the elements of “Hellraiser” were pretty much gone. You’d think I’d like that right since I haven’t enjoyed the series? But I didn’t. . . Pinhead is only in the movie for all of 5 minutes and we only catch a few glimpses of the Cenobites here and there…and they never really do anything. The movie played out more like a Silent Hill game then a Hellraiser movie. I’m curious to know how the heck Pinhead even came back after the end of the last movie and why he’s bothering to “play” with the detective…
Gore/FX: Completely turned around from the previous movie. There are some SMALL decent gore scenes but nothing as gory as Part 4.
Sexual Content: Sex with a hooker. I can’t remember if we even see them having sex at this point. I don’t think there is any nudity either.
Acting: VERY decent. So far probably the best acting in the first 5 films.
Overall: Had the potential to be one of the better Hellraiser films. But in trying to hide what was really going on in the film they left all the good aspects of the Hellraiser series out. It really did feel like a Silent Hill game. Take out Pinhead and it could be! Heck maybe that’s where Silent Hill got their ideas for weird creepy creatures!
[rating:2/5]
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