Hellbound: Hellraiser II

This follow-up is faster and campier than its mostly somber predecessor, but the basic grim tenets of British horror author Clive Barker's supernatural worldview are still intact: a universe with a senseless hell but no heaven, without a god but with plenty of demons, without real good but oozing evil to spare.

Clive Barker is not without a sense of humor. And he's certainly not without a sense of what will scare his audiences senseless. [28 Dec 1988]

The sequel’s cure proves infinitely bloodier than the original’s disease, and its over-the-top depictions of brimstone and flesh are so loopy and unmoored, you’d swear the place where nobody dared to go suddenly became Xanadu.

Hellraiser II is a maggotty carnival of mayhem, mutation and dismemberment, awash in blood and recommended only for those who thrive on such junk.

Offering memorable imagery and little more, it eventually devolves into distasteful gore for its own sake. It's far less compelling than its no less bloody but far more intelligent inspiration.

Though the script for Hellbound is related to the Barker story, the film drops its plot whenever a fake-looking monster walks on the screen. Ogling strange creatures is the film's true reason for being.

Hellbound: Hellraiser II is like some kind of avant-garde film strip in which there is no beginning, no middle, no end, but simply a series of gruesome images that can be watched in any order.

Hellbound: Hellraiser II is my favorite Hellraiser movie. It's terrifying, fascinating, the story is amazing, and the characters are great actors!

Sufficient sequel, less brilliant than the first but still acceptable. It delves into a little bit of things about the world of the cube and the monsters that populate it by answering many questions that the predecessor had left.

Hellraiser II expands from the first but I couldn't help but feel slightly bored during it, I just didn't find it very entertaining.

the continuation of shortcomings the sequel broadens its universe, taking us to a setting that blends the oneiric with the disturbing, with production design that effectively conveys the institutional coldness and the uncanny atmosphere of a psychiatric facility. makeup remains one of the saga’s strongest pillars, and the gore retains its usual rawness. however, the script lacks the kind of development that could truly explore the possibilities opened up by the first installment. the narrative moves forward with overly simplistic dialogue and sequences that, through visual omission, dilute the impact of key moments. even in the alternate dimension—where fascinating rules and hierarchies are hinted at—the introduction of many of its inhabitants remains so elusive that one is left with more questions than answers. some characters who initially seem expendable manage, over time, to earn a degree of affection, which brings at least a small success in the construction of secondary arcs. the greater exposure of settings and atmospheres compared to the first film is welcome, although the most alluring elements remain shrouded in a veil of mystery that occasionally borders on frustrating. the climax improves in intensity over its predecessor, though some narrative resolutions feel unconvincing and disrupt the internal logic. there are pauses and gestures that interrupt the tension at decisive moments, weakening the overall rhythm. in this sequel, i expected to find the narrative expansion that the first part only hinted at. while the focus on the alternate dimension and its settings is broader, the contextualization of those who inhabit it remains minimal—something particularly frustrating when it is precisely this aspect that most draws my interest. the film ends up caught halfway between hinting and revealing, leaving the viewer with the feeling that the world it depicts holds secrets far more compelling than what ultimately reaches the screen. in the end, 'hellbound: hellraiser II' is an exercise in mythological expansion that succeeds visually and conceptually, but by failing to delve deeply into the most intriguing aspects of its world, leaves a sense of missed opportunity. it respects part of the original spirit but confirms that continuing someone else’s work does not always guarantee a solid narrative evolution.

Hellbound: Hellraiser II continues on from the first Hellraiser movie. We see Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) who's a traumatised victim from the original movie in a psychiatric hospital run by the weird Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham) and we also see William Hope from Aliens (1986)... Doctor Channard resurrects Julia's (Clare Higgins) dead body from a bloody mattress after somebody slashes themselves on it. Julia (Higgins) is Kirsty's stepmother and we get some girl who never speaks if hardly named Tiffany who solves puzzles and we get taken into the world of the cenobites and Doctor Channard becomes a badguy killing the original cenobites and Pinhead (Doug Bradley) at the end.... A truly horrible, unnecessary sequel with horrible acting and an ugly storyline and weak performances. Even the gore doesn't save how bad this film is and how stupid it is and I hated Hellraiser II apart from when Kyle (William Hope) sneaks into Doctor Channard's apartment and see's puzzle boxes everywhere and says "Weird, fkg weird! Jesus Christ, Jeeesus Christ!!!" and the way he says it makes me laugh because that was great acting, comedy gold and amusing... Besides that scene this horror sequel ****.