AKA Hellraiser 5 : Inferno

Tag Line : The terrifying new chapter in the Hellraiser legacy

Pinhead returns, although fans of the series may be more than a little disappointed with this fifth instalment. This time the plot centres around a rather unpleasant LA Cop named Joseph Thorne, who's involved in a series of murder cases, which seem to involve a missing child.

Several victims have been been found torn to pieces, and a finger taken from a young child left next to each body. Though eager to bring the killer to justice and find the child, we soon get the impression that Thorne isn't the nicest of persons, as he continually cheats on his wife with prostitutes, snorts drugs and double crosses his friends at every opportunity.

He eventually discovers the killer to be a man known as "The Engineer", but it seems this engineer is no ordinary serial killer. In the course of trying to track him down, he finds reality and fantasy begin to blur as he is he drawn into a series of flashbacks within flashbacks, that are so confusing that in the end not even the viewer knows what's real or not anymore.

If you thought the flashbacks in Hellraiser 4 were confusing they haven't got a patch on this one, as we find out he is actually being haunted by the demons of his past (and a few Cenobites). Could this have something to do with the strange puzzle box he discovered in a motel room? Obviously yes, but it's not till the very end we discover what's going on, but even then you may have to do a double take to understand what the film was about.

I kinda got the impression this started life as a different horror film that they re-wrote to include Pinhead and co, as it bears virtually no relationship to previous Hellraiser films and the Cenobites actually seem superfluous to the plot, which focuses on Thorne trying to catch The Engineer whilst being haunted by his past demons, in what appears to be a blatant reworking of "Jacob's Ladder".

On the plus side, there were some cool new cenobites, it's just a pity they don't occupy anywhere near enough screen time.

Overall Marks : 3.5/10.

Other Information.

• Director Scott Derickson also directed "Urban Legends 2 : Final Cut".

• Craig Sheffer, who plays Detective Thorne, also played Aaron/Cabal in Clive Barker's "Nightbreed".

• The films budget was $2,000,000

• Nicholas Turturro, who plays Detective Nenonen, also played Detective Martinez in the US cop show NYPD Blue.

• Pinhead, although featuring several times during the film, has approximately 5minutes total on-screen time.

• The new Chatterer Cenobite was played by Michael Regan, who also played the creature in "Mimic 2".

• James Remar, who plays Dr Gregory, was one of the lead punk rockers in cult film "The Warriors", his many roles include "Tales from the Darkside - The Movie" and "Blade 3 : Trinity".

Cast and Crew.

Buy the UK DVD.

Buy the UK DVD

Buy the US DVD.

Notes on affiliate sites.
 

Other films in the series.

Reviews A-Z.

Reviews index. Home. Menu.