Main cast: Clare Higgins (Julia Cotton), Ashley Laurence (Kirsty Cotton), Kenneth Cranham (Dr Phillip Channard), Imogen Boorman (Tiffany), William Hope (Dr Kyle MacRae), and Doug Bradley (Pinhead)
Director: Tony Randel
Hellbound: Hellraiser II: the 1988 sequel that nobody asked for, but we got anyway. Like a puzzle box that won’t stop opening, this film emerged just a year after the original Hellraiser hit theaters. Apparently, the studio execs thought, “Why settle for one hellish adventure when you can have two?”
The movie picks up right where the first left off, with our protagonist Kirsty Cotton recovering in a psychiatric hospital. Conveniently forgetting her boyfriend from the first film—maybe he got lost in the crowd at the local leather goods store?—Kirsty finds herself thrust back into a world of Cenobites, skinless uncles, and dimension-hopping shenanigans.
Dr Phillip Channard, a psychiatrist with a suspiciously keen interest in interdimensional travel, resurrects Julia (Kirsty’s evil stepmother) using the old “bleed on a mattress” trick. Meanwhile, Kirsty receives a message from her father, who’s apparently vacationing in Hell. She decides to mount a rescue mission, because who doesn’t want a family reunion in the underworld?
The original Hellraiser was a tidy, self-contained horror film that worked perfectly well on its own. This sequel, while ambitious, feels about as necessary as a screen door on a submarine. It’s like watching someone try to solve a Rubik’s Cube with oven mitts on—you appreciate the effort, but it’s just not quite working.
This movie straddles an awkward line between horror and fantasy. The introduction of Leviathan, the god of Hell that looks suspiciously like a giant floating Trivial Pursuit piece, is intriguing. However, the rest of the new elements feel like a mixed bag of tricks. Some are delightfully twisted, others falling flatter than a Cenobite’s EKG.
There’s a sense that the filmmakers wanted to pass the torch here, with Julia Cotton stepping up as the new big bad and Dr Channard auditioning for the role of Pinhead 2.0. But it feels like someone got cold feet halfway through, resulting in a half-baked hellscape cake. Both villains are effective when on screen, but their limited appearances make it hard to truly savor their villainy.
Some effort is made to humanize Pinhead and his merry band of S&M enthusiasts, but like a hook without a chain, it doesn’t really go anywhere. Instead, we spend a lot of time with Kirsty, who, bless her heart, is about as interesting as watching paint dry in Purgatory without some properly menacing villains to play off.
The special effects, while groundbreaking for their time, now look about as convincing as a dollar store Halloween mask. Watching this in 2024 feels like you’ve stumbled into an overlong Bonnie Tyler music video. All it’s missing is a gravelly voice belting out “Turn around… bright eyes!” as Kirsty struts her stuff down long hellish corridors.
In conclusion, Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a bit like that one friend who always overstays their welcome at parties. You sort of enjoy having them around, but you can’t help wishing they’d known when to call it a night. It’s nowhere near as memorable as the original, leaving you wondering what could have been if they’d fully committed to some of their more outlandish concepts instead of waffling like a demon faced with holy water pancakes.
Oh well, at least it paved the way for approximately 47 more sequels. Because if there’s one thing Hell needs, it’s a franchise.
