Hellraiser V: Inferno (2000)
Of all of the Hellraiser movies I’ve seen so far, only the first had anything remarkable/good about it. Since then, it’s been a downward spiral into awfulness, and that fourth one, the one that’s in space? What a mess. Four movies in and the plot's drifting between the stars? We're on the same level as the Leprechaun franchise. It's THAT bad. That said, with severely diminished expectations, I actually enjoyed Hellraiser V: Inferno enough to call it decent. I wouldn’t say great, but of all of the Hellraiser sequels, it’s my favorite.
Joseph Thorne (Craig Sheffer) is a corrupt Denver police officer. Drugs? Prostitutes? Stealing from the evidence locker? All part of his daily routine. When Thorne stumbles upon the Lament Configuration, he is plagued by terrifying hallucinations seemingly connected to a serial killer known as “The Engineer”.
I’m championing this movie because finally, it seems like it is properly exploring the ideas at the franchise's core. The iconic Pinhead (Doug Bradley) always talked about a realm where pain and pleasure are one but all we saw was a dimension that may, or may not be Hell where people go to get torn to pieces. In this movie, it's done better. One notable scene features two female Cenobites torturing their victim but the way they react, and the way it’s presented seems like a blend of suffering and ecstasy. The Cenobites in Inferno are a bit more creative in their Infernal punishment. Death is pretty bad, but these are immortal hellspawns. You know they can come up with something better and they do.
The setup is good. We follow a detective - someone naturally adept and driven to follow clues, research, and unlock puzzles but he's corrupt. You don’t know if you want him to learn a lesson or to be punished for his trespasses. It makes the story's outcome uncertain.
There are a few warts here and there. Characters acting in ways that are convenient for the plot rather than logical. Some examples of hammy and obvious symbolism makes you wish the story wasn't trying so hard. It’s minor. My main criticism is that this doesn’t really feel like a chapter of Hellraiser. No dead bodies are being resurrected with blood, there aren't any quests for knowledge that go in the wrong direction or other aspects that you would expect. Clearly, this script was retroactively changed to include the Lament Puzzle box, Pinhead, and the Cenobites. They've been overexposed by now but it's also what we've come to see. I wish they'd found a way to write out Thorne’s daughter. The actress who portrays her is awful. I know she’s just a kid, but yeesh!
I thought maybe I had missed some glaring flaws in Hellraiser: Inferno because HOW could it be any good, but skimming through it, I still enjoyed the picture. The ending's only alright at best but this is much better than you expect it to be. If you somehow ended up with Hellraiser: Inferno in your movie collection and you are about to part with it, at least watch it before you make a final decision. (On DVD, March 3, 2015)
