Hellbound: Hellraiser II: 20th Anniversary Edition: Anchor Bay Collection DVD Review

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Hellbound: Hellraiser II: 20^th Anniversary Edition: Anchor Bay Collection DVD
Genre: Dark Fantasy Horror
Starring: Ashley Lawrence, Clare Higgins, Kenneth Cranham, Sean Chapman, Doug Bradley, William Hope, and Imogen Boorman, Directed By Anthon Randel, 99 minutes, Not Rated, English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired,
Street Date: December 30, 2008 – Available Now Courtesy Of Starz Home Entertainment and Anchor Bay Entertainment.

I remember seeing Hellbound: Hellraiser II on the big screen in a deserted theater sometime before or after the holidays. The film opened just a few days before Christmas in 1988. At the time I felt kind of indifferent about it. I liked certain aspects about the film, but was disappointed by other elements, in particular the battle between the Dr. Channard Cenobite (Kenneth Cranham) and the four we had come to know and love like Pinhead (Doug Bradley), Butterball (Simon Banford), Chatterer (Nicholas Vince) and the Female Cenobite (Barbie Wilde). The battle should have lasted longer despite the explanation screenwriter Peter Atkins gives in his feature length audio commentary, which he shares with Director Anthony Randel and Actress Ashley Lawrence. A few points of action seemed unclear to me too, but now while I feel the film is far from perfect, I actually think it is better in many ways than the original, though obviously this is a film that definitely requires viewing of the original in order to appreciate it and better understand what is going on. Indeed, both Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II are so much in synch with each other that they really should be seen as either a double feature or as one film. In the commentary screenwriter Peter Atkins states a desire to see these two films along with Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth and Hellraiser IV: Bloodlines reedited into a chronological miniseries type film along the way Francis Ford Coppola created The Godfather Epic for television in the 1970s. Recently footage from Hellraiser IV: Bloodlines has been discovered that expands the story of how the Lament Configuration was created and features the first Cenobites created in 17^th or 18^th Century France. Since only the original four films released on the big screen tell a kind of self contained epic tale that the four straight to video follow-ups do not, I think that would be a terrific idea and the best part is the original films as they are still exist. A remake of the first film is expected to be released theatrically later this year.

After a brief recap of the final moments from Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II continues the story from an hour after the events of the previous film. Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Lawrence) has been taken to a mental health hospital where she has a vision of her father writing with blood “Help Me. I’m in Hell.” As she begins a quest to try and save her father, the evil Dr. Channard, who is all too familiar with the story of the Lament Configuration resurrects Julia and in return for providing her with the sustenance she needs to be whole again, she agrees to take him into the labyrinth so he can have his desire to know fulfilled. Using a mute teenage girl (Imogan Boorman) with an uncanny ability to solve puzzles, soon the labyrinth of Hell opens up allowing Channard and Julia the opportunity to enter Hell and the Cenobites to encounter Kirsty and present her with a new puzzle to solve with the help of the mute girl as well as search for her father since as long as she is in Hell, they have eternity to explore her flesh. This leads to a series of confrontations culminating in revelations regarding characters from both films, including the origins of at least these four Cenobites and a look at the master of the labyrinth, Leviathan.

Originally released in 2001 as a THX certified DVD, I cannot be certain if this unrated version of Hellbound: Hellraiser II is from the same source material or how it compares. The film is a bit grainy at times and is presented in a 16 by 9 enhanced widescreen aspect ratio with a well-mixed English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired encoded as an option. The signature score to the film by Composer Christopher Young still sounds awesome and is one of the best horror film scores ever produced. The audio commentary track is the same one from the 2001 DVD release and is interesting in particular because it addresses issues from the film’s production, including deleted sequences as well as the infamous Cenobite surgeon scene, which ultimately was never shot, but never the less, production photos were taken and used to advertise the film on home video and so forth. New to the DVD release are 16 by 9 widescreen featurettes focusing on the three actors who portrayed Pinhead’s Cenobites in the film (22:08), a new interview with Director Tony Randel (15:05), a new interview with Actor Kenneth Cranham (13:30) and a U.K. interview with Actor Doug Bradley, which has never been released on DVD in the States before (10:54) Original featurettes and onset EPK interviews with Clive Barker and members of the cast and crew as well as a poster and still gallery as well as a gallery of trailers and TV spots wrap up the extra vale features, which all feature a “Play All” option as well. The main menu is nicely animated and the subsequent menus are standard interactive still frames and all are easy to navigate.

Within the packaging is a reproduction of the original one-sheet poster as well as a reversible post card featuring the one sheet on one side and chapters stop listing on the other. Hellbound: Hellraiser II: 20^th Anniversary Edition: Anchor Bay Collection is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Starz Home Entertainment and Anchor Bay Entertainment.

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