All hell breaks loose when a man name Frank comes back from the dead after escaping an alternate existence inhabited by demonic creatures known as cenobites.
Known as the movie that jump started Clive Barker and Doug Bradley's careers Hellraiser is the tale of a man named Frank who purchases a sacred puzzle box that he ultimately solves, only to open a portal to a hell-like dimension which shoots out chains attached to hooks that dig into Frank’s skin and tear him apart.
Some time later a man named Larry comes to the same house that Frank was in when he opened the puzzle box, along with his unfaithful wife Julia, who we find actually had an affair with Frank, who we find is Larry’s brother, days before their wedding. So as they are moving in the phone rings and Larry goes to answer it where we're introduced to Kirsty, played by the beautiful Ashley Laurence. As they are on the phone Julia goes through some of Frank’s things that he left behind before being torn apart, which brings out a flashback of their affair.
A little bit later, while pulling a bed up the house staircase Larry cuts his hand open on a nail, then rushing to find Julia they both end up in the room where Frank was last and the blood dripping from Larry’s hand brings life back to dear old Frank in one of the most incredible reverse decomposition scenes of all time. Now Frank, barely tissue and bone, comes to Julia asking her to bring new flesh to him so he can be whole again and they can continue their affair, which she does, bringing men home from bars, only to be met with their death in Frank’s hands.
 
Later on Kirsty runs into Frank who has just killed a man and freaks out running into the room and coming in contact with the puzzle box that took Frank away in the first place. Barely escaping Frank, Kirsty runs away with the puzzle box and somehow solves the puzzle herself, bringing the inhabitants of the parallel dimension, the cenobites, into her world. Lead by the legendary Pinhead the cenobites threaten to take Kirsty to their world but she convinces them otherwise, offering to take them to Frank, who they had no idea escaped. Will Kirsty get to Frank in time or will the cenobites go back on the offer and take her instead? Watch and see.
Honestly it’s a no brainer to know that this movie is one of my ultimate favorite movies of all time; Doug Bradley and Ashley Laurence give a great performance and the movie flows well, offering a great story and a lot of blood and guts. Family quarrels have never been so sinister.
Now with the 20th Anniversary Edition there’s lots of extras like still galleries, trailers, tv spots, interviews with Ashley Laurence, Andrew Robinson, Clive Barker, Doug Bradley and even musical composer Christopher Young. Another cool thing about this edition is you can put the disk in your computer and get a copy of the movie script, which I think is awesome. In all this is a great reissue of an incredibly good movie.
Ultimately one of the best horror movies that the genre has to offer, this movie has produced many sequels, only a few which are worth watching but this movie stands alone in the series as one of the best horror movies of all time. Highly Recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Clive Barker's Hellraiser, Sadomasochists from Beyond the Grave
MOVIE YEAR: 1987
DIRECTOR: Clive Barker
WRITING CREDITS: Clive Barker
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Doug Bradley, Andrew Robinson, Ashley Laurence
COUNTRY: UK
RUNTIME: 93 min
RATING: 10/10
Hellraiser (20th Anniversary Edition) Website/IMDB Click here
Hellraiser (20th Anniversary Edition) Trailer
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