“The funeral is about to begin! Sir …”

So many things I didn’t mention in the first short review. This is one of those movies that really puts me in mind of that old Poe “out of space and out of time” line. What some would consider some fairly shoddy editing making the most of what footage the film makers ended up with, I’m glad to say I still find a near-perfect representation of a dream become a nightmare.

I’m reminded of what I wrote of the last few Hellraiser sequels, that they seemed written and not rewritten, and I’m sure some people might feel the same about this, but for the most part I find, intended or not, it contributes more to a sense of unease than it does to an air of incompetence.

Like the best first installments in horror, this one merely sketches its world in poetic terms not really caring if the specifics line up (though, as we’ll see, I actually really grew to like how this series panned out – most likely ‘cos director Don Coscarelli kept a hold on it).

Overall, it’s even more clunky than Hellraiser was – I’m actually very excited to see the sequels again now because I’m not so convinced anymore that this is the best of the bunch – and on more than one occasion I had to think whether it was really worth the same 4 star rating. But it has great music, it has great moments (“Boy!” “I’ve been waiting!”) and if any movie feels like its film makers were free to do what they wanted, “boy!” is it this one.

November 14th, 2005:

In a word, this movie is just effing insane, lol, there’s really not a lot to say beyond that. I’d forgotten how insane the editing is. I think this movie comes closer than any at reproducing the nightmare, or even general dream, experience. Just telling the story feels like recounting a dream: ‘and he was about to get me, and then I was back at home and then his finger turned into a giant fly and we put it in the garbage disposal then I woke up and he was still there …’ lol. The DVD has a commentary (not listened to yet), deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage with commentary, and trailer, in the must-have sphere box I’ll maybe add more details about the commentary and the bonus disc in the set as I get to them.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 3:45 am in 4 hearts, Movie Reviews and tagged as horror, surreal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.