Since I have started feeling better, I have found the desire to write again. It still took me a couple of days to get my last review done, but that is mostly due to getting tired quickly once I'm home relaxing after work. Even so, I have managed to get a couple of movies watched fairly quickly after my crap start last month. Let's hope that this month proves to be better. To start things off, I have decided to watch a couple of sequels to different franchises that I have been meaning to watch. Hellraiser: Judgement (2018) is currently streaming on Netflix so I figured it was a good time to catch up with the tenth film in this franchise.
Sean (Damon Carney) and his brother David (Randy Wayne) are a couple of police detectives investigating a series of murders believed to have been done by the same person. The case and his past seem to be taking a heavy toll on Sean and his marriage. They soon learn that Christine (Alexandra Harris) is assigned to the case as well. They don't trust her at first, but Christine assures them she is only there to help. Sean will also learn that Pinhead (Paul T. Taylor) has an interest in him.
Hellraiser: Judgement was written and directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe. With this being the tenth film in the franchise, we get a bit of a soft reboot. Nothing is reset but I did feel that Tunnicliffe introduced enough new characters and seemed to introduce us to Pinhead once again. This makes sense just because it has been around thirty years since the franchise started. Things kick off with Pinhead talking to The Auditor (played by Gary J. Tunnicliffe) about how the box that opens the world in which Pinhead is in just isn't cutting it these days with all the technology. Pinhead is looking for something other than a wooden box, but what we get isn't really any better. From there we are introduced to a new faction of Hell, the Stygian Inquisition. I thought that the Cenobites and the Stygian Inquisition were one and the same or at least working together, but I was apparently wrong about that. There is a long sequence that shows how the Inquisition judges sinners. After that, we get introduced to Sean, David, and Christine. While investigating someone of interest to their investigation, Sean manages to get snared by the Inquisition. Before he can be judged, an angel demands that Sean be released unharmed. Before he can be though, Sean manages to escape with one of the boxes. Sean was an interesting character but it was easy to see where the story was going with him. We are given the impression that Sean is a good guy and he is in some ways. I didn't enjoy the overall story all that much because it felt disjointed. With a long sequence with Pinhead and the members of the Inquisition at the start, the disappear for a good while before appearing again in a much shorter sequence towards the end. A few interesting things happen with the plot, mainly with having someone from Heaven running interference, but it wasn't really enough for me to end up enjoying Hellraiser: Judgement more than I did.
I understood wanting to show what the Stygian Inquisition will do to someone that they have found guilty of their sins before Sean comes across them. This faction is very weird and wild. The whole sequence offers up some nice effects and new characters so it was neat to see the whole process. I'm not sure how Tunnicliffe could have fixed this but having this long sequence at the start of the film, more or less, and then have them all disappear for a good while after Sean's run-in with them just didn't work for me. On the plus side of things, the ending is pretty cool and there is an after credits scene so be on the lookout for that if you decide to watch this one.
The effects are pretty good. They are not as bloody as I would have liked, but they are still nice looking effects. There some cool makeup effects going on. Three women have their faces messed up some. Pinhead looks slightly different as well. Some of the gory effects have to do with skin being cut and peeled away or pulled off by hooks. There are also chains that punch through people towards the end of the film as well. The acting wasn't too bad to me. I have read some reviews that don't think highly of the acting though. I wasn't real impressed with anyone, but I didn't see any of it as bad acting either. Damon Carney does a pretty good job showing someone that is struggling with things going on in his life and in his head. I rather liked Alexandra Harris in her role. I do wish she had more scenes but from what I read, her character was added to the story after it was suggested. Paul T. Taylor does okay in the role of Pinhead. He has said that he didn't want to copy Doug Bradley so he tried to play it differently. I think that was a smart movie, but it does take some getting used to. I was surprised to see John Gulager and Heather Langenkamp in smaller roles.
I really liked the angel interfering and I liked the reason for it, which we learn late in the story. The good things just didn't outweigh the things I didn't like this time around. I don't want to say that Hellraiser: Judgement was a bad film because I didn't hate it at all, I just couldn't get into it the way I wanted to. It is getting close to a middle ground overall average, which isn't bad for a film so deep in a franchise. If the story had been told different, maybe I would have liked it more. I don't want to discourage anyone from giving it a try if it sounds like something you would like. You might like it more than I did. Plenty of others have after all.
2 out of 5 That was an interesting place to put a dog
Sean (Damon Carney) and his brother David (Randy Wayne) are a couple of police detectives investigating a series of murders believed to have been done by the same person. The case and his past seem to be taking a heavy toll on Sean and his marriage. They soon learn that Christine (Alexandra Harris) is assigned to the case as well. They don't trust her at first, but Christine assures them she is only there to help. Sean will also learn that Pinhead (Paul T. Taylor) has an interest in him.
Hellraiser: Judgement was written and directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe. With this being the tenth film in the franchise, we get a bit of a soft reboot. Nothing is reset but I did feel that Tunnicliffe introduced enough new characters and seemed to introduce us to Pinhead once again. This makes sense just because it has been around thirty years since the franchise started. Things kick off with Pinhead talking to The Auditor (played by Gary J. Tunnicliffe) about how the box that opens the world in which Pinhead is in just isn't cutting it these days with all the technology. Pinhead is looking for something other than a wooden box, but what we get isn't really any better. From there we are introduced to a new faction of Hell, the Stygian Inquisition. I thought that the Cenobites and the Stygian Inquisition were one and the same or at least working together, but I was apparently wrong about that. There is a long sequence that shows how the Inquisition judges sinners. After that, we get introduced to Sean, David, and Christine. While investigating someone of interest to their investigation, Sean manages to get snared by the Inquisition. Before he can be judged, an angel demands that Sean be released unharmed. Before he can be though, Sean manages to escape with one of the boxes. Sean was an interesting character but it was easy to see where the story was going with him. We are given the impression that Sean is a good guy and he is in some ways. I didn't enjoy the overall story all that much because it felt disjointed. With a long sequence with Pinhead and the members of the Inquisition at the start, the disappear for a good while before appearing again in a much shorter sequence towards the end. A few interesting things happen with the plot, mainly with having someone from Heaven running interference, but it wasn't really enough for me to end up enjoying Hellraiser: Judgement more than I did.
I understood wanting to show what the Stygian Inquisition will do to someone that they have found guilty of their sins before Sean comes across them. This faction is very weird and wild. The whole sequence offers up some nice effects and new characters so it was neat to see the whole process. I'm not sure how Tunnicliffe could have fixed this but having this long sequence at the start of the film, more or less, and then have them all disappear for a good while after Sean's run-in with them just didn't work for me. On the plus side of things, the ending is pretty cool and there is an after credits scene so be on the lookout for that if you decide to watch this one.
The effects are pretty good. They are not as bloody as I would have liked, but they are still nice looking effects. There some cool makeup effects going on. Three women have their faces messed up some. Pinhead looks slightly different as well. Some of the gory effects have to do with skin being cut and peeled away or pulled off by hooks. There are also chains that punch through people towards the end of the film as well. The acting wasn't too bad to me. I have read some reviews that don't think highly of the acting though. I wasn't real impressed with anyone, but I didn't see any of it as bad acting either. Damon Carney does a pretty good job showing someone that is struggling with things going on in his life and in his head. I rather liked Alexandra Harris in her role. I do wish she had more scenes but from what I read, her character was added to the story after it was suggested. Paul T. Taylor does okay in the role of Pinhead. He has said that he didn't want to copy Doug Bradley so he tried to play it differently. I think that was a smart movie, but it does take some getting used to. I was surprised to see John Gulager and Heather Langenkamp in smaller roles.
I really liked the angel interfering and I liked the reason for it, which we learn late in the story. The good things just didn't outweigh the things I didn't like this time around. I don't want to say that Hellraiser: Judgement was a bad film because I didn't hate it at all, I just couldn't get into it the way I wanted to. It is getting close to a middle ground overall average, which isn't bad for a film so deep in a franchise. If the story had been told different, maybe I would have liked it more. I don't want to discourage anyone from giving it a try if it sounds like something you would like. You might like it more than I did. Plenty of others have after all.
2 out of 5 That was an interesting place to put a dog
