Saw Hellbound: Hellraiser II. I really like the world of the Hellraiser series. I think it's the ponderous self-seriousness of it, the spectacular visual effects and the bizarre focus on puzzles. There's also this kitschy 80s gloss over everything, with gelled hair and soft-focus sex scenes. The films are very indulgent and beautiful but this indulgence and beauty extends to the torture scenes which are incredibly imaginative and sumptuous. Hell, in this world, is a very passive affair. Most of the "torture" involves the protagonists looking at something, frozen in horror. I'm not sure what it is exactly but something about this series really calls to me.
Anyway, this one picks up right where the first left off, with the series' Final Girl waking up in a psychiatric hospital run by a sinister doctor. This doctor is (of course) very interested in the "cenobites" and is also a part-time puzzle-cube collector so of course soon their skinless people jumping out of mattresses and chains and meathooks everywhere. The film moves along as a sort of romance horror for a while until they finally get to hell where the movie becomes wonderfully disjointed and just stops cohering at all. We are then treated to the real stars of the film: the special effects and matte paintings. I am a total sucker for vaguely spooky imagery and I loved all of this.
I thought this movie was a romp. It's dour and strange and its sequels get progressively sillier (the very next one has a CD-ROM-based monster) but this one was great.
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