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Dom Robinson reviews

Hellraiser

(Widescreen re-issue)

Distributed by
VCI

Hellraiser begins with Frank Cotton solving the mystery of a Chinese puzzle box, which releases the Cenobites, led by the notorious Pinhead who features on the cover, whose world is ruled by cruel sadists who thrive on pain.

Frank's brother - Larry - and his wife Julia move into the same house, but removal day causes problems for Larry as he catches his hand on a nail in the process, spilling blood in the process. Julia takes Larry into the empty room where Frank met his death and the split blood brings Frank back to the land of the living...almost.

There's just one thing that Frank needs to become whole again - more bodies to feast upon, so Julia, who once had an affair with Frank, pretends to go out seeking possible suitors, takes them back to the room, renders them powerless with a hammer-blow to the head and it's chow-time.

Possibly the only one keeping their head together - literally in the cases of some people - in the whole fiasco is Larry's daughter, Kirsty, although there's enough freaky goings on to make anyone lose their sanity.

Each of the cast does a fine job, but the best performance comes from Andrew Robinson as Larry, who also portrayed the killer in Dirty Harry, especially when his character becomes just as crazy.

What this release needed was a crisp, widescreen 1.85:1 remastered transfer with pixel-perfect compression. Gladly VCI have addressed one problem that dogged the first release - the fact it was fullscreen only. Given that a widescreen PAL version existed on video it made me wonder if VCI's DVD division were anti-widescreen? At least this time we have an anamorphic 16:9, rather than 1.85:1, widescreen transfer but the print itself is average at best. Also, there are a lot of artifacts which really show up on any areas of black, grey and brown.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround) is very effectively used mainly to set the ambience, be it eerie music just before something nasty happens, or the thud of hammer hits when certain people suddenly aren't feeling well.

Extras :

Chapters/Trailer :

There are 21 chapters spread throughout the film and being 90 minutes long, it could have used more. Interestingly, the menu selection and the insert only mentions the first 19, but chapters 20 and 21 can be still be accessed manually. Chapter 20 lasts 15 minutes and brings the film to an end, while the last one is reserved for the end credits. The disc also contains four theatrical trailers.

Interviews and Photo Library :

The disc contains a 6-minute item containing interviews with Clive Barker, Bob Keen (Special Effects), Andrew Robinson (Larry), Clare Higgins (Julia) and Ashley Laurence (Kirsty). It would also have been nice to have included the thirty-minute special feature on Clive Barker, The Art of Horror which featured on the widescreen video release, especially since there was plenty of space available on the disc.

The photo library is rather good showing publicity stills for Frank, Julia, Kirsty, the Cenobites, Behind-the-scenes material and various publicity pieces.

Also Available :

This option brings up a small list of other DVD titles available now or coming soon.

  • Languages/Subtitles :

    There's just the one language on this disc - English - and there are no subtitles, nor is there a commentary track.

  • Sub-Plots :

    Also, there's another intriguing extra to this disc called "Sub-Plots". Click on this brings up a menu with three headings :
  • 1. The Cenobites
  • 2. Julia's Victims
  • 3. Julia and Frank

    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 :

    The interactive menu is disappointing. Sometimes you can click on what's on the screen, while at other times you need to use the onscreen remote control. Once you get used to this it's not too bad, but is a pain to get to grips with.

    Another thing to note is that on playing the disc you can't skip past the VCI logo and copyright info.

    Overall, this release hits middle-ground. It's good points are the number of trailers and extras in the form of interviews and a photo library, but it could have had so much more - a director's commentary track and a decent remastered transfer, both of which featured on the NTSC Laserdisc boxset, plus the aforementioned thirty-minute Clive Barker feature.

    It's major bad point though is the picture quality which is very disappointing and suffers badly from artifacts at times. This time round though there is no billing on the back of the box claiming that the DVD format enables "a far superior picture and sound quality than has ever been achieved before". Hmm.. I wonder why. 

    FILM	 		: ****
PICTURE QUALITY		: **
SOUND QUALITY		: ****
EXTRAS			: ***½
-------------------------------
OVERALL			: ***½

    Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.

    Check out VCI's Web site.

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