I've seen this entry in the series get a lot of hate. Is it justified? We'll see.
Steven and Nico disappeared a year ago while jaunting Mexico, getting drunk, and having sex. And murdering people. The police have returned their belongings including a video tape of some of their last actions which Steve's mother has been obsessing over.
In his things is also a Lament Configuration.
When Steve's sister opens the configuration, Steve reappears claiming to have escaped the cenobites. Turns out that while in Mexico they did a little more than party.
 |
| Tracey Fairaway |
Once the events unfold, the cenobites appear at the house, people die. The returning Steve is in fact Nico, wearing his skin. Nico opened the box originally and was brought back through consumption of blood. Very Uncle Frank. When the cenobites return we see real Steve is now a cenobite, having been killed by Nico, and Nico is just trying to make a deal with the cenobites so as not to return to hell. It actually reads pretty good. So why the hate?
Largely, I can assure you, it is because the movie was thrown together in order to keep the rights.
Beginning with found footage material (the boys video) is not a healthy start. The casting was a shocking mistake from start to finish. The whole production was over in three weeks. Three weeks. So where do I start? Let's do cast.
Nick Eversman (Get On Up) and Jay Gillespie (2001 Maniacs) portray Steve and Nico respectively. They don't do a bad job, but wouldn't have been able to carry the movie if they'd had to. That job fell more on Tracey Fairaway (A Hologram for the King), who, shall we say, had too much weight put on her inexperienced shoulders. The rest of the cast are made mostly from extras and TV actors, if their filmography's are anything to go by.
But a lot of people had something to say about this:
 |
| Stephan Smith Collins |
Although the film reveals that real Steve is now also a Pinhead of sorts, and that there isn't only one Pinhead, Stephan Smith Collins (Castle) is credited as being Pinhead. So poorly is the casting done, that Collins is only the body, and Fred Tatasciore (Family Guy) is the voice. "Casting". If they'd run with it, however, (and cast someone who could do it) and moved with "Pinhead" being a moniker, a rank perhaps, they could have gotten away with it. But no.
The direction is middling, with Victor Garcia having little experience as a director, even to this day. He did the average to awful Mirrors 2.
The gore effects aren't bad. The story is Hellraisery. It's not all bad. It was written by Gary J. Tunnicliffe (who is a visual makeup artist) who has gone on to write and direct Hellraiser X: Judgment (unreleased at time of writing).
A bad misstep, but at least it feels Hellraisery. Mostly.
){kind=link}
0 Comments