Blu-ray Movie Reviews

In a place between pleasure and pain, there is a sensual experience beyond limits. And in a world between paradise and purgatory, there is a horror that feeds the souls of evil. Welcome to the singular vision of Clive Barker and his landmark horror opus, "Hellraiser."

Clive Barker’s dark fantasy became a cult classic in the horror genre and introduced the world to one of the most iconic horror characters of all time, Pinhead. Based on his novella, “The Hellbound Heart”, the film is quite a departure from the story but since Clive himself handled the screenplay and direction of the film, one can’t complain too much. The film is still a dark example of the genre and far more violent and unsettling than most of what I call the pop horror of today. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming remake fairs in comparison.

Anchor Bay has done a far better job with the Blu-ray than I was expecting for a film this old that was shot on a rather shoestring budget. The elements have held up quite well with very little print wear or distracting marks. Film grain is left intact and detail was far better than I was expecting. It doesn’t look like the image has been processed at all in terms of noise reduction with fine detail showing through in close ups and even some medium shots. Contrast levels are solid, with deep blacks and plenty of shadow detail, but the gamma seems to be a tad higher than I remember seeing before resulting in a bit more detail in darker sequences. In the end though this is by far the best I’ve seen this film look to date and is a strong showing for the classic on Blu-ray.

The 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack is also quite good, but shows its age. Dynamics suffer the most and the mix has a bit of a thin sound that can be a bit bright at times. Surrounds are still used quite aggressively though and really add to the atmosphere with convincing discrete effects and subtle nuance. Dialogue sounds good enough, though slightly tinny at times.

All of the extras from the special edition DVD are included here. You can also pick up this Blu-ray with the upcoming boxset that will include other Hellraiser films but they will be in DVD only. This one has a great commentary with author Clive Barker and the film’s heroin Ashley Laurence. There is also a trivia track that pops up random comments about the film’s production during the movie. A nice collection of production features are included that feature interviews and behind the scenes footage plus most of the promotional stuff like trailers, posters and art are also included.

This is one of my favorite character based horror films of the last twenty years and I’m thrilled to see that Anchor Bay did a great job with the presentation. Hopefully we’ll see the sequel receive the same kind of release soon.