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In Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Julia is back? Say whaaaaaaaaa! Well, it’s all to do with the mattress.
This was the only one of the three I went to see at the cinema, and by God (or Evil, given the movie) it was good.
We get the origin of Pinhead, plus classically-trained actor Kenneth Cranham as the.. not necessarily evil, but more… rather misguided Doctor Channard; and there’s a girl called Tiffany (Imogen Boorman) who never speaks and spends all day solving puzzles. No-one visits her, so when it comes to Tiffany, I think she’s alone now… (obscure ’80s reference alert!)
And, yes, Julia’s back. Doing so in a similar ‘vein’ to the way Frank did it. However, the first way she attempts a comeback, we see a man inadvertently sacrifice himself – a mental patient (played by Oliver Smith) solving his apparent body infestation by slashing himself up with a cut-throat razor – really is grim as fuck. And it’s utterly amazing!
And as for Julia, With no skin on her bones, like a typical woman she moans about being cold. And somehow blood doesn’t pour out through a single layer of bandages!
Hellraiser II has stop-motion animation like Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, a problem for Kirsty in that can’t send Pinhead & co. back to hell because hell’s come to her! And ol’ Julia really has very poor choice in boyfriends!
There’s also a wealth of one-liners in this movie, even from Cranham, such as “The Doctor is here and he prescribes… amputation!”
This sequel really takes gore and grimness to a new level, and it’s a stunning vision.
Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II are very much like Alien and Aliens, in that I love them both but for different reasons. Alien is more drama and Aliens is more action, and it’s rather like that with these two films since the scene is already set once the first film concludes, so with some key cast members returning, they just pick up the ball and run with it once it begins.
The extensive extras on the Hellbound: Hellraiser II disc are as follows, again with some new and old:
- Hell Was What They Wanted (85:17): A new discussion about the film and Barker from authors Kit Power and George Daniel Lea. At almost 90 minutes in length, this is almost as long as the film, itself! The discuss seeing the films again on the big screen… which sadly didn’t happen near me for any of them.
- That Rat-Slice Sound (11:54): Guy Adams talks about Christopher Young‘s score for the first two movies.
- On-set interviews: Two brief pieces for completeness – one with Clive Barker (3:18) and one with ‘Cast & Crew’ (4:45), which features Tony Randel, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Imogen Boorman, Kenneth Cranham and… Clive Barker popping up again. These were basically short pieces put together for TV stations to use as filler, at the time of the film’s release and are in 4:3.
- Behind the scenes footage (1:51): A brief piece in 4:3 that shows some on-set footage.
- Being Frank: Sean Chapman on Hellbound (11:35): It’s sequel time again. He’s very candid about the fact that he didn’t enjoy making this one as much, not least for the fact that there’s a lot less for his character to do and that they didn’t expand on his character.
- Under The Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellbound (10:53): He’s back, and this time he’s bringing his Dad… oh, that’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Seriously, it’s interesting to learn about why the surgeon scene was never shown, yet somehow featured on the cover of the Unrated DVD in the US. As for why, you’ll have to watch this disc.
- Lost in the Labyrinth (17:03): Shot in 2000, this segment features chat from all the cast and crew members, in turn, such as Doug Bradley, Ashley Laurence, Clive Barker, Tony Randel, writer Peter Atkins and many more. Sadly, there’s no Imogen Boorman (Tiffany), but she does feature in the main ‘making of’ on the 2015 disc, which ran for two hours.
- Surgeon Scene (4:49): Can it really be that missing scene Doug Bradley frequently gets asked about? Either way, the sound quality is a little difficult to make out the dialogue.
- Trailers: Two here, both in 4:3: Theatrical Trailer (1:52) and Red Band Theatrical Trailer (1:33).
- TV Spots Just two this time, running 33 seconds apiece.
- Galleries: Three this time – Storyboards (over 100 images), Alternate Ending Storyboards (10 images) and Stills & Promo Material (over 150).
- Audio Commentaries: One new one from Stephen Jones and Kim Newman, plus two archival ones: A 2000 commentary from director Tony Randel, writer Peter Atkins and actress Ashley Laurence, and a 1996 commentary from Randel and Atkins.
Hellbound: Hellraiser II credits
Director: Tony Randel
Producer: Christopher Figg
Screenplay: Peter Atkins (based on the story by Clive Barker)
Music: Christopher Young
Cast:
Julia Cotton: Clare Higgins
Kirsty Cotton: Ashley Laurence
Dr Philip Channard/Channard Cenobite: Kenneth Cranham
Tiffany: Imogen Boorman
Uncle Frank Cotton: Sean Chapman
Kyle MacRae: William Hope
Pinhead/Captain Elliot Spencer: Doug Bradley
Female Cenobite: Barbie Wilde
Butterball Cenobite: Simon Bamford
Chatterer Cenobite/Chatter II Cenobite: Nicholas Vince
Mr Browning/Skinless Frank: Oliver Smith
Homicide Detective Ronson: Angus McInnes
Skinless Julia: Deborah Joel
Officer Cortez: James Tillitt
Officer Kucich: Bradley Lavelle
Wheelchair Patient: Edwin Craig
Workman 1: Ron Travis
Workman 2: Oliver Parker
Tiffany’s Mother: Catherine Chevalier
Larry Cotton: Andrew Robinson (archive footage)
Steve: Robert Hines (archive footage)
3rd Victim: Michael Cassidy (archive footage)
1st Victim: Anthony Allen (archive footage)
Female Cenobite: Grace Kirby (archive footage)
The Chatterer – human form: Kevin Cole (uncredited)
Go to page 3 for a look at the threequel and its extras…
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.