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Dom Robinson reviews
VCI
- Cat.no: VCD 0008
- Cert: 18
- Running time: 90 minutes
- Year: 1988
- Pressing: 1999
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 20 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Surround (Dolby Digital 2.0)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 16:9
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Sub-plots, Theatrical trailers, Interviews,
DVD-ROM Photo Library
Director:
- Tony Randel
(Double Vision, Fist Of The North Star (live action), Inside Out)
Producer:
- Christopher Figg
Screenplay:
- Peter Atkins (based on the story by Clive Barker)
Music:
- Christopher Young
Cast:
- Julia: Clare Higgins (Hellraiser, Small Faces, Bad Behaviour)
Kirsty: Ashley Laurence (Hellraiser)
Channard: Kenneth Cranham (Prospero’s Books, Tale of a Vampire, TV: “Casualty”, “Inspector Morse”, “Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit”, “Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”)
Tiffany: Imogen Boorman
Kyle: William Hope
Frank: Sean Chapman (Hellraiser, Made In Britain)
Pinhead (Lead Cenobite): Doug Bradley (Hellraiser, Hellraiser 3: Hell On Earth, Hellraiser 4: Bloodline, Clive Barker’s Salome And The Forbidden, Proteus)
Chattering Cenobite: Nicholas Vince
‘Butterball’ Cenobite: Simon Bamford
Female Cenobite: Barbie Wilde
‘Skinless Julia’: Deborah Joel
A year on from the first film and Kirsty remains in the psychiatric hospital after her torturous encounter in Hellraiser, still plagued by devilish nightmares. In Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, she is presided over in hospital by Dr. Channard – a well-respected brain surgeon – and his assistant Kyle. Unable to leave the hospital herself, Kyle pays a visit to the house to see what’s on view. The unpleasantness remains and he finds that the new man in Julia’s life is… Dr. Channard.
But how can she be dead if she’s courting again? Well, you’ll soon work it out when you see one of the sub-plot titles is called “Skinless Julia” – she’s just not the woman she used to be! However, if there’s one thing that might make her feel better it’ll be the supply of fresh bodies brought home by her new boyfriend and if she doesn’t feed she may die…again. I don’t know what she’s complaining about. After all, no skin, no cellulite!
What follows is that the new couple in town unlock the secret of the Lament Configuration puzzle box to release the unlimited horrors and the ultimate pleasures of Hell. So Kirsty has to make a return trip to Hell to put paid to the Cenobites activities once and for all, close the doors to the Outer Darkness and free her father’s soul. All in a day’s work of course, but she can’t do it by herself – she’ll need the help of a mysterious beautiful, young girl called Tiffany who is another resident at the hospital.
I’m pleased to report that the picture quality of this disc is a marked improvement over that from the first film which was full of artifacts and looked terrible. With Part 2, although it’s not perfect, since light-coloured backgrounds look a little grainy – something that’s happening right across the board for current VCI releases, you can still see clearly the scenes of full gore and amaze in wonder how the glistening, blood-soaked “Skinless Julia” doesn’t get a spot of the red stuff on her pearl-white teeth. What’s her secret?!
The film is presented in a widescreen 16:9 transfer and is anamorphic, thus providing better resolution for widescreen televisions. The bitrate is an above average 5.43Mb/s, peaking at close to 10Mb/s. The box is confusing though as it says “Extra features – 4:3”, but no fullscreen version is available.
As in the first film, the Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround) soundtrack is well used here too to set the ambience, such as eerie music just before something nasty happens, plus many far more gruesome sounds.
Extras :
Chapters & Trailers : There are 20 chapters spread throughout the 90-minute film and it could have used more. Unlike other recent VCI releases, the scene index lists all the chapters accessible, since some missed off the first track and the first Hellraiser film missed off the last two altogether.
The disc contains three theatrical trailers, but for some bizarre reason, while background sound is fine, the dialogue only comes from the rear and front-right speakers!
Other extras : There are a number of further extras to this disc :
Languages/Subtitles :
There’s just the one language on this disc – English – and again we find no subtitles, nor a commentary track which is a great shame as one was used for the Special Edition NTSC Laserdisc and would have added the finishing touch to this great package.
Sub-Plots : Also, there’s another intriguing extra to this disc called “Sub-Plots”. Click on this brings up a menu with five headings :
To those who know the film, you’ll have an idea of what to expect, but to those who don’t I won’t spoil what’s in store. However, to summarise, each heading contains three or four small clips strung together which show how that aspect of the film develops. It’s worth noting that you should only view these after seeing the whole film so as not to spoil any surprises.
Menu :
Fantastic! That’s the word used to describe the animated menu. Upon loading the DVD and getting past the grey and lifeless VCI logo, the “box” appears in its resplendent vibrant colours, spinning like fury and opening up to reveal a beating heart, upon which the main menu contents are displayed. Each sub-menu brings other ambient delights, my favourite being the clattering chains on the Sub-Plots menu.
Like all other VCI discs you cannot skip past their logos and copyright fluff.
This release almost reaches perfection. The film is better than the first, with all the principal actors turning in a good performance and the trip into the Hell coupled with the labyrinth model looks splendorous on a big widescreen TV. It’s a shame, not only that the director did little else other than straight-to-video fare, but also that this disc suffers brief cuts by the BBFC. Overall the film has lost 67 seconds according to their Website.
There are a number of extras on this disc, but the lack of a commentary track and lengthy featurettes is a bit disappointing. Overall though, this disc certainly has more hits than misses so a purchase is most definitely in order. FILM : ***** PICTURE QUALITY: **** SOUND QUALITY: ***** EXTRAS: ***½ ——————————- OVERALL: ****½
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.
Check out VCI‘s Web site.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.