HELLRAISER COLLECTION [2014] [4 Movies Multi-Feature] [Blu-ray] [USA Release]
You Open It, They Come For You, And They Will Tear You Apart!
This Blu-ray HELLRAISER COLLECTION includes Four films from the HELLRAISER franchise which includes:
HELLRAISER IV: Bloodline [1996] Three generations of the same family deal with the consequences of unleashing the forces of hell. In 18th-century France, Paul L'Merchant [Bruce Ramsay] works as a toymaker until he's coerced into creating a box that serves as a portal between hell and Earth. The box summons demonic Angelique [Valentina Vargas] and Pinhead [Doug Bradley], who 200 years later hunt down John Merchant [Bruce Ramsay]. Then, centuries later, Phillip Merchant [Bruce Ramsay] prepares for a final confrontation.
HELLRAISER V: Inferno [2000] Joseph Thorne [Craig Sheffer] is an intelligent yet corrupt Los Angeles detective police detective who regularly indulges in drug use and infidelity during the course of duty. At the scene of what appears to be a ritual murder, Joseph Thorne discovers a strange puzzle box, which he takes home in order to indulge his fascination with puzzles. After solving the box, Thorne begins to experience bizarre hallucinations, such as being seduced by a pair of mutilated women and being chased by a creature with no eyes or legs. His only means of leaving is with Pinhead's [Doug Bradley] puzzle box.
HELLRAISER VI: Hellseeker [2002] Pinhead [Doug Bradley] and his demons terrorise a man [Dean Winters] after surviving a car accident that apparently kills his wife Kirsty Cotton-Gooden [Ashley Laurence] when their car plunges off a bridge into the river below. Trevor manages to escape with his life, but even though police divers find both car doors open there is no sign of Kirsty.
HELLRAISER VIII: Hellworld [2005] The film introduces a circle of youths who are addicted to playing “Hellworld,” an online computer game based on the HELLRAISER series. The film opens at the funeral of Adam, one of the friends who was obsessed with the game and ultimately committed suicide after becoming too immersed in the game. The remaining five friends blame themselves for not having prevented Adam's suicide.
Cast: Doug Bradley, Bruce Ramsay, Valentina Vargas, Kim Myers, Adam Scott, Christine Harnos, Charlotte Chatton, Mickey Cottrell, Paul Perri, Pat Skipper, Tom Dugan, Craig Sheffer, Nicholas Turturro, James Remar, Nicholas Sadler, Noelle Evans, Lindsay Taylor, Matt George, Michael Shamus Wiles, Ashley Laurence, Dean Winters, William S. Taylor, Michael Rogers, Rachel Hayward, Trevor White, Lance Henriksen, Katheryn Winnick, Christopher Jacot, Khary Payton, Henry Cavil and Désirée Malonga
Directors: Kevin Yagher (aka Alan Smithee), Scott Derrickson and Rick Bota
Producers: Anna C. Miller, Clive Barker, Nancy Rae Stone, Paul Rich, Bob Weinstein, David Matthew Jordan, Harvey Weinstein, Jesse Berdinka, Joel Soisson, W.K. Border, Jesse Berdinka, Joel Soisson, Michael Leahy, Ron Schmidt, Nick Phillips, Ron Schmidt and Vlad Paunescu
Screenplay: Peter Atkins, Clive Barker, Paul Harris Boardman, Scott Derrickson, Carl V. Dupré, Tim Day and Joel Soisson
Composers: Daniel Licht, Walter Werzowa, Stephen Edwards and Lars Anderson
Cinematography: Gerry Lively (Director of Photography), Nathan Hope (Director of Photography), John Drake (Director of Photography) and Gabriel Kosuth (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p and 1080i
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 and 1.85:1
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: None
Running Time: 85 minutes; 100 minutes; 89 minutes and 95 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: MIRAMAX
Andrew's Blu-ray Review: HELLRAISER IV: Bloodline [1996] In the year 2127, Dr. Paul Merchant [Bruce Ramsay] has illegally commandeered the space station he designed, Space Station Minos, and sent its entire crew away in life pods. A team of soldiers arrives and successfully retakes the station, Dr. Paul Merchant too occupied with other matters to offer much resistance. In captivity, Merchant is debriefed by female soldier Rimmer [Christine Harnos]. His explanation of why he had to commandeer the station is an unusual one, to say the least. Dr. Paul Merchant's tale begins in France in the late 1700s. His ancestor, a toymaker named Phillip Le Marchand (play also by Bruce Ramsay), is commissioned by a wealthy patron, Duc De L'isle [Mickey Cottrell] to create a familiar looking puzzle box that fans by now known as the Lament Configuration. When Phillip Le Marchand arrives to deliver his commission and collect his fee, he inadvertently witnesses Duc De L'isle and his young assistant Jacque [Adam Scott] sacrificing a young woman, Angelique (Valentina Vargas). They skin her corpse and conjure a demon that uses her skin as a façade while under Duc De L'isle's control. Jacque and the demonic Angelique betray Duc De L'isle and Phillip Le Marchand is killed while trying to recover the box from Duc De L'isle's estate. Concluding his story in the 22nd century, Dr. Paul Merchant reveals that the space station he designed is the realization of his family's legacy: a giant device inspired by the Lament Configuration and designed to capture and concentrate light in the hope that it can be used to burn Pinhead and his minions away forever.
HELLRAISER V: Inferno [2000] This film plays like a cross between Bad Lieutenant and Jacob's Ladder and is my kind of cop: he does drugs, indulges himself with prostitutes, totally ignores his wife and child and backstabs his partner and he is looking for redemption (aka Bad Lieutenant) and that salvation is finding this missing child. Once he opens the "Lament Configuration" karma kicks in hard. He's plunged into a confusing world of demons, gore and weirdness. Joseph Thorne [Craig Sheffer] is forced to face his own demons...and it's not pleasant. Craig Sheffer eventually won me over. I will admit that at first I felt his performance was awkward but as the film moved on I grew to like him, the film is on his shoulders. Nicholas Turturro is on automatic pilot playing a cop...again. James Remar does what he has to do...not much. Doug Bradley shows up to collect his check, Pinhead has nothing to do with this film. All of the female parts are too underwritten to mention. The film does feel familiar. This terrain has been walked on before: ‘Angel Heart,’ ‘The 9th Gate,’ ‘Jacob's Ladder’ even ‘Seven.’ But if you like that genre (I loved it) I wouldn't see why you wouldn't appreciate this one. There's enough morbid imagery here to satisfy the "Goth" in all of us, enough gore to quench the thirst but not enough Pinhead to call this a Hellraiser film.
HELLRAISER VI: Hellseeker [2002] A shady businessman attempts to piece together the details of the car crash that killed his wife and rendered him an amnesiac and left him in possession of a sinister puzzle box that summons monsters. Directed by Hellraiser regular Rick Bota comes another odd entry into the Cenobium-driven franchise. This time it wears the more promising flag of returning star Ashley Laurence reprising her role as Kirsty Cotton. We get a hint of this thru dialog later but not to the point of referencing "too" much from the original Hellraiser films she appeared in. (We learn that Kirsty lost her dad to mysterious circumstances when she was youner...aka plucked away by cenobites). Taking a cue from once again the ‘Jacobs Ladder’ approach, this particular entry is a bit weirder than others. We've seem to have gotten into his cycle where Hell and Cenobites are like Twilight zone players only taunting at their victims as they experience a barrage of nightmarish circumstances. But adding to that further...it follows this Jacobs Ladder-style that presents as their current lives with a few odd things stuck between. To add to the visuals, we get a brief encounter with a few Joel Peter Witkin inspired scenes, but nothing too elaborate, just a prop here and there inspire by his photographs. Cenobites this round I assume were introduced on a limited budget as while we get to see a few new demons, they are only brief and uneventful. Doug Bradley as Pinhead is unflawed as usual. You have to love his lines and his character's ability to disregard the human condition always answering in a riddle sermon-sort-of response. It's the meat that holds his character together and paints him as a cold bastard of a demon. HELLRAISER VI: Hellseeker [2002] is worth checking out, though as mentioned, there is not much cenobite action to partake in. Maybe the routine of only revealing them in small portions is what fans want.
HELLRAISER VIII: Hellworld [2005] A group of Hellworld fans (an online Hellraiser video game) go to a Hellworld shin-dig, see the macabre sights. HELLRAISER VIII: Hellworld had its game on and then some! It established its surprisingly not very likeable nerdy teen idiots, and it is a type of groovy William Castle-esque premise, loosely referenced the Hellraiser mythos along the way, and of course we have the token Lance Henriksen for that touch of oh so important class and then lets with typical hardcore! What follows is a highly amusing, shameless and well-paced horror rollercoaster ride.
Blu-ray Image Quality – HELLRAISER IV: Bloodline [1996] The fourth film in the series doesn't look too bad in its original 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio. The 1080p transfer is very dark, the norm for the franchise, and it does show off some heavy film grain and noise. However, detail levels were decent enough and the colour array, when we do get to the lighter scenes, were not too bad.
Blu-ray Image Quality – HELLRAISER V: Inferno [2000] The next one in line, Hellraiser V for those keeping track, looks considerable worse as it's also the first of the numerous direct-to-video sequels. This time the video, 1080i HD, shows off a ton of pixilation and the black levels are OK but all around it's an average transfer. I should note that there is quite a bit dust and scratches so it doesn't appear, not surprisingly, that the studio did any work with the transfer.
Blu-ray Image Quality – HELLRAISER VI: Hellseeker [2002] Hellraiser VI looks a bit better but not much. The 1080p transfer shows off some decent detail level but nothing special. I didn't notice as much in regards to flaws but on occasion there will be some scratches or dust marks.
Blu-ray Image Quality – HELLRAISER VIII: Hellworld [2005] And the last of the bunch on this set doesn't look too bad but suffers much of the same flaws of its predecessors. Here, the 1080p high-definition transfer at times looks alright, even half-decent, but in some scenes, especially the oddly lit ones, I noticed quite a bit artifacting as the scenes/shots don't look very smooth.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – HELLRAISER IV: Bloodline, HELLRAISER V: Inferno, HELLRAISER VI: Hellseeker has been given a really good substantial 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio surround tracks and while none of them are particularly special, they get the job done with clear dialogue levels and some audio effects for the action sequences is audible. HELLRAISER VIII: Hellworld being the newer film in this franchise set, has a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track and is on par with the other 3 films that are much better than the others and that there is some substantial audio surround coming via the rear channels.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras: The disc only has a menu to select the 4 films. The film will start playing during which you can use the pop-up button to get to the chapter menu or go to another film. Otherwise, there are no special features for any of the films.
Finally, the MIRAMAX 4 Movies Multi-Feature of HELLRAISER sequels is sadly barebones in terms of no special features, but I guess if you are a fan of this franchise will put up with the lack of special features. I think the audio and video transfers are a step up from their inferior previous DVD releases. At a brilliant low price, it's not a bad deal, despite not getting anything special, but despite this, I am pleased to add this to my ever increasing HELLRAISER Blu-ray Collection. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
