Novelist/director Clive Barker wonders what would happen if a cheating bride was reunited with the object of her lust, only to discover he’s become a gooey, living corpse. And in Barker’s deliciously twisted Hellraiser (1987, 93 minutes), she’ll do ANYTHING she can to get back in the saddle. You see, Julia diddled Larry’s outlaw brother Frank, who skedaddles soon after and becomes infatuated with an imitation Rubik’s Cube, that somehow or another, unlocks the gateway to hell, or an underground S&M club, one’s never sure which.
Wherever it is, the Cenobites rule what feels like a human slaughter house and are led by Pinhead, a pale, grim figure in black leather garb, with nails driven into his skull at precise intervals. He’s a charming fella who, with his buddies, get medieval on Frank’s ass — and the rest of him for that matter — with a series of hooks and chains that rip at his flesh until he’s very dead. But miraculously, through the spilled blood of his brother, Frank later reanimates into a skinless shadow of his former self. He’s then discovered by Julia in a dank, upstairs room of her husband’s family home, where Frank had been fiddling with that cube in the first place. Horrified, but horny, she agrees to round up more human blood, a la The Little Shop of Horrors, to bring her hunk of burning love back to fighting strength.
Look for B-veteran Andrew Robinson as the clueless-cuckold Larry, who also delivered an inspired performance as Liberace in the TV movie of the flamboyant entertainer’s life. The original has spawned four sequels to date: Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992), Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996) and Hellraiser V: Inferno (2000).
Notables: One breast. Six dead bodies. Two nuns. Gratuitous Dario Argento-style dream sequence.
Time codes: First appearance of Pinhead (4:38). Bob Keen-created gross-out sequence (20:50).
Final thought: Pinhead and shoulders above most of the murder-by-numbers horror flicks of the ’80s. Skillfully-woven story filled to the gills with dark imagery and masterful moments of fright.