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.
This sequel continues the story from the first film and shows us the affect the events have taken on Kirsty’s mental state. The sequel was actually green lit before “Hellraiser” had even finished filming so it showed the faith the studio had in the films and I’m glad they did.
The start of the film shows us Pinheads transformation from human to cenobite, an in-depth sub-plot detailing the origins of Pinhead was scripted but deleted in pre-production due to last minute budget cuts. All that remains of this sub-plot is what we see. It’s a shame really because I’d love to have seen them delve deeper into the character and see more of Doug Bradley out of make-up.
Clive Barker had developed elaborate back-stories for all the Cenobites in the first film, though their origins were never explored. In this film, he wanted to make sure that, at the very least, the audience understood that the Cenobites were once human, and that their own vices lead to their becoming demons. This element was meant to underline the story of Frank and Julia and their corruption by lust, with the latter intended to become the ultimate villain of the series.
Despite the lack of back story from the Cenobites we do get to see how a man’s obsession with the box leads him to becoming a Cenobite himself, yes I’m talking about Dr. Channard. I love the character, he’s very frightening and hard to watch at times which is always a plus. It’s a shame the killed him off so quickly as it would’ve made for great stories in further films. He made a great enemy for the Cenobites and just imagine the battles they could’ve had.
Clive Barker handed over directing duties to Tony Randel, it would be his debut in the directors chair but to watch the film you wouldn’t think so. He did an amazing job and made a visually stunning film. It just seemed to all fall in-to place nicely and kudos to him for doing such a great job. I can imagine he felt a-lot of pressure after the huge and surprising success “Hellraiser” had but he didn’t fail us, he did Barkers work justice.
“Hellbound: Hellraiser II” leaves a-lot up to viewer interpretation and I enjoy it when a film can get your mind working, sometimes your own thoughts can be scarier that what you see on screen. This is a worthy sequel to a great film and is easily on par, dare I say maybe even a little better than the original.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
Dr. Channard’s name in the script was Dr. Malahide. “Channard” is derived from Christiaan Bernard, who performed the world’s first successful heart transplant.
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.
Because of an neck accident, Kenneth Cranham only wore the Channard Cenobite makeup for one day. Stuntman Bronco McLoughlin played the Channard Cenobite for the rest of the shoot.
The horn sound that is continually made by Leviathan is Morse code for “God”.
New World Cinema green lit this sequel while the first film was in post production.
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