#hellraiserii

Watching Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 is kind of like watching a sports event when you don’t know any of the rules. At best, you can kind of figure out what’s going on based on people's reactions. Unlike a game of cricket or football, I don’t think anyone understands what is going on in this sequel's incoherent plot.

The film picks up where the previous one left off, with Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) being committed to a psychiatric ward. When the doctor in charge of the hospital, Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham) begins raising Kirsty’s evil stepmother (Clare Higgins) from the dead, the players are all forced to face the world of the damned.

In a way, Hellbound is "better" than its predecessor by more or less meeting your expectations. Not only do we see a lot more of Pinhead (Doug Bradley) and his fellow Cenobites, we get a glimpse of who and what they are and how they came to rule their corner of Hell. I say Hell because I think that’s where the bulk of this sequel is set. Although I could've sworn they explicitly said they belonged to a different realm altogether in the first movie...

Once again, this film contains some cool concepts and ideas. Knowing more about the Cenobites actually makes them creepier. I like that we're once again following Kirsty (though her boyfriend gets written out of the movie rapidly). The psychiatric hospital is a great setting for a psychological horror film. There's no way to leave and the bounce-off-the-wall lunatics and partially deranged wardens are great secondary threats to our heroine? Though they aren’t as memorable or shocking as the ones from the first movie, the special effects are quite good. You've got the ingredients to make a sequel that will surpass the original.

Unfortunately, the plot makes absolutely no sense. You better be wide awake and ready with a notepad when you jump in. I could hardly keep up with the slew of plot threads introduced and dropped... and overall this movie isn’t even that complicated. This franchise simply doesn’t know where it’s headed or what its rules are. Why are those killed by the Cenobites able to come back to life? I think I know where Pinhead, "Butterball" and the other monsters come from... but their origins are inconsistent and raise further questions. If the mythology wasn’t complicated enough, many of the characters’ actions are inexplicable. Either Dr. Channard is so lonely he'll fall in love with the first woman that gives him any kind of attention, or key scenes weren't included in the movie. I'll still believe his actions more than I do anyone wanting to check out the Cenobite’s world, however. We’re told that it’s a realm of pleasure and pain, but we never see any pleasure! All we get are people being torn apart by chains or chased by skin-stealing monsters. Neither would compel anyone to solve that enigmatic puzzle cube and visit the Cenobite home.

I went from hopeful, to confused, to bored watching Hellraiser 2. The good bits are connected with nonsense. It feels like homework to keep track of what's happening. I have no idea where this franchise is headed, but this doesn't bode well at all. (On DVD, February 23, 2015)