Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)

Director:

Tony Randel

Writers:

Clive Barker (story)
Peter Atkins (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 December 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

It will tear your soul apart... again.

Plot:

Kirsty is brought to an institution after the death of her family, where the occult-obsessive head resurrects Julia and unleashes the Cenobites once again.

Plot Keywords:

Hell | Puzzle | Demon | Pain | Psychiatric Hospital

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Clare Higgins	...	Julia Cotton
Ashley Laurence	...	Kirsty Cotton
Kenneth Cranham	...	Dr. Philip Channard / Channard Cenobite
Imogen Boorman	...	Tiffany
Sean Chapman	...	Frank Cotton (also archive footage)
William Hope	...	Kyle MacRae
Doug Bradley	...	Pinhead / Captain Elliot Spencer
Barbie Wilde	...	Female Cenobite
Simon Bamford	...	Butterball Cenobite
Nicholas Vince	...	Chatterer Cenobite
Oliver Smith	...	Browning / Skinless Frank
Angus MacInnes	...	Detective Ronson (as Angus McInnes)
Deborah Joel	...	Skinless Julia
James Tillitt	...	Officer Cortez
Bradley Lavelle	...	Officer Kucich

Also Known As:

Hellraiser II

Runtime:

97 min | USA:99 min (uncut version) | Germany:78 min (TV version) (heavily cut) | West Germany:88 min (theatrical version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

West Germany:18 (video rating) (heavily cut) | New Zealand:R16 | Sweden:15 | Finland:K-18 (2000) | Finland:(Banned) (1989) | France:-16 (original rating) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (Original rating) | Australia:R | Canada:R | France:-12 | Iceland:(Banned) | Iceland:16 (cut) | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | Norway:18 | Singapore:R21 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Film Futures

Trivia:

Andrew Robinson refused to reprise his role as Larry Cotton, forcing hasty script rewrites. This partially accounts for the muddled story structure of the final film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the Cenobites appear in Dr. Channard's office, the curtains are ripped away from the window, and you can see the string that rips them away.

Quotes:

Julia Cotton: [to Frank] Nothing personal, babe!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Boogeyman 2 (2007) (V)

Incoherent Mess...

" A worthy sequel", " Better than the original", "A great horror movie"....

To those people who share these sentiments, i'd like to ask you... WHAT MOVIE WERE YOU WATCHING AND WHAT DRUGS WERE YOU ON?

This movie is an utter incoherent mess of a nightmare. I consider myself to be a person who is very generous with compliments especially when it comes to movies, and i especially like my horror movies with extra gore,and i loved the original Hellraiser. But this sequel is just terrible in every aspect.

First of all, The direction of the film is horrible, with scenes and sequences that were just messily and illogically slabbed together, and illogical actions by the characters(even for a horror movie)is commonplace. The plot is as plain and simple as a blank piece of paper, which is only prolonged by the seemingly never ending wanderings of two poorly built characters with irrational motivation in the corridors of hell. It seems like the story is simply made up along the way as the movie progresses, With "rules" suddenly changing...a reflection of weak foundation.

The special Effects were a significant step down from the original, even though they were more attempts at it in this sequel. The Effect with Dr. channard looked especially cheap even for the 80's.

This movie totally destroys what i feel made the first Hellraiser successful, Which is the mystique and the Darkness of the Cenobites and the Box, by over-exposure of "hell" and by over-revealing the secrets of the cenobites(such as how one becomes a cenobite). This takes away the mysterious, menacing factor to them, and makes them almost vulnerable. What were once strong, menacing characters are now just confused children with amnesia.

And then some scenes are just corny and lame, such as Kirsty wearing Julia's Skin, which is a weak attempt at a twist; and the lame attempt at a cool ending with the pointless rotating post scene.

Whether you're a fan of The HellRaiser series or not, I can't seriously believe that a person could say that he/she think this movie is even close to being decent. Quite possibly the worst sequel of all time. This movie alone could decimate the entire Hellraiser franchise.