HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II (1988)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
There is pain and then there is pleasure. "Hellbound: Hellraiser II" is damn near unwatchable, a painfully boring, torpid mess of a movie. It appears to be assembled from other parts of better films adding up to nothing but a pain in your butt from having to sit through it.
We have a brief recap of the original film followed by a sequence where we learn about Pinhead's origins. Apparently, Pinhead (Doug Bradley) was a World War II soldier who discovered the magic box, known as the Lament Configuration, and inadvertently opened a portal to Hell where nails are driven through his head and, presto, he becomes Pinhead. This brief section of the film works best.
But "Hellbound" begins a few hours after the original where we observe Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) in some mental hospital declaring she is not crazy. She is eager to save her father's soul, which is trapped in Hell, but she has to get through Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman), her crazed uncle, and Julia Cotton (Claire Higgins) who is reanimated by a truly insane doctor who wants to take a peek at Hell. The rest of the movie follows Kirsty entering one dusty passageway after another. Hell turns out to be a labyrinth but there is little in it that looks the least bit pleasing to the eyes. I half suspected Kirsty to yawn at all these supposedly remarkable sights.
And that is it folks. There is Kirsty running from one passageway to another with a blond female mute in tow, with Kirsty screaming and hollering at every turn. Pinhead and fellow Cenobites show up briefly and disappear. There is some of the sexual tension of the original but nothing too dramatic ever occurs. In the original film, there was a real sense of fear, particularly when confronting the Cenobites. Kirsty faces Pinhead again but, this time, a little negotiating and bantering is all it takes to escape. Who are the filmmakers kidding? And whatever happened to Kirsty's boyfriend from the original who only gets a passing mention?
"Hellbound: Hellraiser II" is a frenetic, gore-laden freak show that leads nowhere. If you are a fan of the original, you might follow what's happening and understand who some of the recurring characters are and their motivations. Several sequels followed but it all seems like such a waste of good suffering.
