Hellraiser (2022)

 

Genre: Horror/thriller         Time: 2hr        Director: David Bruckner

Quick summary: A young woman must confront the sadistic, supernatural forces behind an enigmatic puzzle box responsible for her brother's disappearance.

This was a very frustrating film to watch if I'm honest. A lot of characters make a lot of dumb decisions, which leads to more dumb decisions. It sits pretty much on the surface level of what I have heard hellraiser films are about and not much is really explained about the lore, as I was someone going into the film without seeing any of the others. 

I found it very hard to route for the main characters as all of them were kinda unrelatable and really unlikeable. If they're not having a super loud annoying tantrum, they're having a very emotional breakdown, and honestly, it almost put me off the film. 

Leading the group is Riley (Odessa A’zion), a struggling addict whose only lifeline is her protective brother Matt (Brandon Flynn). When the siblings have a falling out, Riley runs to her sketchy boyfriend Trevor (Drew Starkey), who enlists her help in stealing a cosmic puzzle box. When the Cenobites are summoned, it marks the start of a deadly ritual in which the lives of many are sacrificed for the supreme ascension of a single soul into BDSM nirvana.

Every piece of dialogue feels so forced and just so plain angry all the time. Everyone acts so franticly and jumps to so many conclusions it's very frustrating at times to watch them.  I really don't think these characters were made to interact with each other. 

What I really liked was the designs of the Cenobites and how updated they were. They really had a new modern, refreshing look and that honestly really appealed to me. Although, I'm very sad to say we really never get a good look at them in full. All the shots of them are never in full frame, or they're too far away to get any good detail, so really you miss about half their designs. 

The Cinematography was really good, with walls and the floor shifting around like walls to a labyrinth. The times when the Cenobites appeared were really cool and very intimated to be honest, with the dark and gloomy halls with chains and blood everywhere, torture devices laying around so often. It gave off a very dark atmosphere.

In my opinion, this film was really all about gore. Yes, it was done really well and very impressively, with wires being wrapped around people and slicing their skin off, people being ripped apart into pieces by chains, and an absolute ton of blood.  This is fine by me, I really like that aspect of this, but I felt like it heavily relied on that factor, and skimmed out on the plot big time.

Overall, this film is watchable but it's nothing special. The unlikable characters is what really downgraded this film for me.

6/10

• "I’m not questioning you. I’m questioning this."

• "There is so much more the body can be made to feel. And you’ll feel it all before we’re through."