Pinhead meets Bad Lieutenant

HELLRAISER: INFERNO (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

After four sequels to Clive Barker's extraordinary 1987 cult film, "Hellraiser," the theme of pain as pleasure has all but dissipated from the series. The fourth "Hellraiser: Bloodline" (and last to receive theatrical release) was watchable enough but it was diluted from much of what made Clive Barker's original, well, original. "Hellraiser: Inferno" is a noir story involving a corrupt police detective who opens the dreaded Lament Configuration box and literally deals with demons for the rest of the film.

Craig Sheffer is the detective, Joseph Thorne, who snorts coke, steals money from crime scenes, has sex with prostitutes and basically ignores his wife and daughter. He is not a tenth as corrupt as Harvey Keitel's "Bad Lieutenant" but he comes awfully close. The bad-to-the-bone detective steals the Lament Configuration box from one particularly gruesome crime scene, opens it and, presto, Cenobite and chain fever! Murders occur left and right, videotapes with vicious crime scenes are delivered to Joseph, his own partner is suspicious, need I say more? There is also a psychiatrist (James Remar) with an incredibly vast knowledge of the puzzle box.

"Hellraiser: Inferno" is practically a noir story with fatalistic overtones that just happens to briefly revolve around our favorite Cenobites. Sheffer actually has quite a few potent scenes and James Remar is always a pleasure to have in any movie (you keep wishing to see more of him). Pinhead (Doug Bradley) appears in nothing more than a cameo, though this demonic figure is gradually less effective with each sequel. Still, considering the other sequels are steaming turds at best, this moderately interesting "Inferno" veers from the same-old same-old and has a haunting, elegiac tone to it. The end is frightening and holds you in its grip. "Inferno" will not set "Hellraiser" purists on fire for having to sit through another sequel - I will say that this is the first one in the series I've actually enjoyed.