Reviews by Kyle Ellis

1978’s Hellraiser introduced audiences to Pinhead, leader of the Cenobites. These disturbing extra-terrestrials have come back in nine sequels, seven of which Pinhead’s Doug Bradley has appeared in.

You can’t walk away from It without being at least a little scared of clowns. Tim Curry first portrayed the not-so-funny villain in a 1990 miniseries, and Bill Skarsgard recently took up the mantle in a reboot of the same name and its conclusion in 2019.

Stephen King’s Misery has a simple lesson to authors everywhere: Never meet your number one fan. Kathy Bates’ performance as Annie Wilkes was so good it won her an Academy Award for Best Actress and launched her decades-long film and television career.

Michael Myers may haunt your nightmares, but Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode will always be there to hunt him down. Curtis would be the #1 scream queen of all time even from her performance in the original Halloween alone, but her especially badass turn in the new Halloween series (which began in 2018 and continues this fall) is just a little sugar on top bonus.

Do Not Trust Dolls, especially dolls that say: “Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna play?” This horror slasher series follows a serial killer who transfers his soul into a “Good Guys” doll (Chucky) and terrorizes the doll’s owners. Talk about a toy gone bad. Next up? A Chucky series on USA/SyFy this fall.

Revenge of the Sith was a decent entry of the Star Wars saga. It is for me the best of the prequels, by far outshining the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Having said that though, I still was disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it looks absolutely amazing. If there is one thing all the Star Wars movies have in common, it is that they are all a marvel to look at. With the marvellous cinematography, splendid special effects and colourful sets, it was a feast for the eyes. John Williams has a record for writing truly magnificent scores for ET, Home Alone and Superman, and is up there with Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman and Jerry Goldsmith as one of the best film composers ever. The score he did for this film is no exception; it was absolutely outstanding. The performances in general were a lot more solid than they were in the other prequels. Ewen MacGregor impresses as Obi Wan, Frank Oz is brilliant as Yoda, Christopher Lee was superb as Count Dooku and Ian McDiarmund steals his scenes as the benevolent Palpatine. Natalie Portman shows beauty and a vast emotional range as Padma. However there were problems I had with the movie. While not as bad as he was in Attack of the Clones, Hayden Christensen did for me give a wooden and unconvincing lead performance. Plus whereas the stories in New Hope, Return of the Jedi and Empire Strikes Back are clear, sophisticated and fast paced, there were pacing problems here and the plot was murky and convoluted. And sadly, I also thought the dialogue was as wooden as Christensen's performance. Overall, a good movie, if you want the real thing, watch New Hope, Return of the Jedi and Empire Strikes Back instead, but on its own merits it's watchable. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I am a fan of anime and of animation, and I was very taken with Perfect Blue. I would have liked it to have lasted longer perhaps, that way more care could have gone into the ending which felt rather weak and rushed. But as a debut of a talented and interesting director, it is a fine anime not just of its genre but overall too.

The animation is very good, while the backgrounds flow well and are wonderfully ethereal, the colours are well shaded and the characters look great without being too generic, it is the clever visual flourishes that really elevate. Another strong asset is the story, it is well paced but also in its tone it is wonderfully surrealistic and its ideas are interestingly presented.

The music is fine too with some moments of beauty and some of it haunted me as well. The dialogue convinces and the pace is well-judged. All the characters are likable and interesting too, and the voice work is stellar. Overall, a fine film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Stephen King's novel is a masterpiece, didn't properly appreciate it on first read but with King's style being much more familiar to me (whereas it was a bit of a shock at first) it still stands as a genuinely scary, nostalgic, at times very funny and very powerful book and one of his best. The 1990 mini-series is an uneven one, with a great first half and disappointing second half with the ending and IT's true form having notoriously poor reputations for good reasons. Absolutely loved the first 'IT' film from 2017 and consider it better than the mini-series personally.

'IT Chapter 2?' Not so much. Actually did find a lot to like about it, with a lot of what was great about the first film still here, and for me it is better than has been said. The mixed reception is more than understandable but it is not as terrible as the more negative reviews say in my view. Chapter 1 is the better film, but the second film is better than the second half of the mini-series on the whole and again it is a more than admirable and brave attempt at adapting an extremely difficult and near-unfilmable book.

While there is a good deal to recommend, there are some glaring problems. There are problems with the pacing here. Especially in the middle act, where it meanders due to being too flashback heavy. Some flashbacks being more interesting than others, with Ben's and Richie's being quite unnerving, Eddie's (the too long adult encounter not much better) was neither scary or memorable. The special effects are more variable this time round and suffer too from overuse. IT's true form comes off worst and is as bad, am not kidding here, as that in the mini-series which is notoriously universally panned.

The defeat of IT is beyond dumb and really undermines a final act that actually started off quite powerfully despite also being a bit too drawn out. Henry Bowers is also extremely underwritten, and both has little presence when having barely any screen time and quite badly overacted. Lets not get started on his very rushed, too easy and quite stupid defeat.

However, as was said before there is a lot to like. The production values mostly are terrific, not just the lighting but also the beautifully realised Derry setting, taut editing and cinematography that's both stunning and unnerving. Epileptics be warned though, there is a scene towards the end of the middle act that is heavy in strobe lighting effects. The music is haunting without being over-scored, ever since the first film it has been impossible to hear "Oranges and Lemons" in the same way again and that opinion has not changed. Andy Muschietti directs with suspense, potent realism, confidence and affection, while the writing (which is also remarkably true to King's style) has a great balance of hilarious comedy, touching drama and affectionate nostalgia. Richie getting the best lines.

Much has been said about the film being too long, am mixed on this consensus personally. The book is huge and both the child and adult time-lines need a quite long length to do it justice, having said that the middle act definitely could have done with a trim. The story is not just a horror story, but also blends humour (mostly from Ritchie), emotion and a 'Stand By Like' like nostalgia. There are memorable moments here, the Mrs Kersh encounter, the Fortune Cookie scene and the very freaky beginning (am amazed they managed to film this scene) being standouts. There is one improvement here over the previous film, Mike is much more interesting here which was necessary as this time as an adult he is something as the glue of the group.

Cannot fault the performances. All the adults are very well cast, with Bill Hader absolutely killing it as Richie, and the children are great again especially Finn Woolfhard and Sophia Lillis (the standouts in the first too). Bill Skarsgaard is again the stuff of nightmares as Pennywise, filling giant clown shoes with aplomb and putting his own spin on it. If asked who is better between Skarsgaard and the unforgettable Tim Curry, mainly because of more familiarity Curry gets the edge but they are both must sees in their own way.

Summarising, not brilliant and uneven but enjoyed it on the most part. 7/10

Horror is not my favourite genre, but there is the appreciation for it and there are many very good, great and even classic films (as well as a fairly high number of schlock). 'Hellraiser' is an example of a very good horror film, and one that introduced the world to a horror icon. It wasn't perfect, but to this day it's still very scary and creepy with surprising originality, ambition and intelligence that one does not see much in horror these days.

Its sequels were very hit and miss, leaning towards the miss. The second film for me is easily the best of the sequels and the last watchable film in the franchise being 'Bloodline'. 'Inferno' was the least bad of the post-'Bloodline' films where the 'Hellraiser' franchise jumped the shark in quality, having little of what made the original so good and not feeling like 'Hellraiser' films, where Pinhead and the Cenobites increasingly became underused and pointless.

The general consensus is that 'Hellraiser: Revelations' is the worst of the series. Although it does try to be feel more of a 'Hellraiser' film, in terms of mythos not really in tone, than the previous sequels post-'Bloodline', none of the other films were this poor quality on its own terms. Doug Bradley was right to stay away from this and one sympathises with Clive Barker totally in his want to distance himself away from it and he sums it up perfectly.

Visually, 'Revelations' is one of the cheapest looking films seen recently. So chaotic and sloppy in especially the editing. The effects make under-budgeted made-for-television horrors look good in comparisons, because even with the hasty time constraints and low budget they look like no care went into them at all. Pinhead and the Cenobites look awful, instead of looking creepy they look bargain-bin-like goofy. Pinhead couldn't look or act less menacing if he tried. The music is unappealing on its own and just feels inappropriate in placement and tonally.

Direction is pretty inept, while the dialogue is so laughable it's embarrassing, not only being unintentionally hilarious and rambling it even fails to make sense. 'Revelations' was clearly intended to be a longer film, there is a constant feel of jumping around and like a lot of material were edited out to meet deadlines. The film is far too short and feels rushed and incomplete, which severely affects the coherence, most of the sequels had issues with coherence but not like this.

Furthermore, because 'Revelations' is completely deprived of tension or suspense, or even atmosphere, it feels dull and bland too. Too much campness, confusion and silliness and nothing remotely creeped me out, instead it was non-stop cringe and no creativity whatsoever. The ambition and intelligence were long missing in the franchise but here both are completely gone and makes one forget they even existed in the first place. The characters are both bland and obnoxious with vague motivations and implausible decision-making that makes it impossible to endear to them let alone root for them.

Although Pinhead and the Cenobites have more screen time than in the later sequels and don't feel pointless or shoe-horned in this time, this time it was not for the better. The Cenobites on top of looking awful have completely lost their mystery and creepiness that made them memorable in the original, while Pinhead is here an amateurish-looking villain more suitable to a 'Hellraiser' mock-buster, it was said very well on a website that the whole film feels like a franchise mock-buster and that is a perfect summation. Then there is the acting which is all-round diabolical, everybody forgot their acting lessons providing they had any or had any acting talent in the first place. Nick Eversman and Jay Gillepsie are charisma-deprived and irritating and Pinhead sounded and looked throughout severely under-rehearsed and like he was having constant bladder problems, the menace just isn't there.

Overall, far from a revelation and actually an intelligence-insulting mess. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Despite them being on my to see list for a while, it did take me some time to see the whole 'Hellraiser' franchise. This is because of many commitments and studying as well as a to see and review list that keeps getting longer but is gradually being gotten through with mixed but mostly rewarding results. It is a very uneven franchise, but do not regret seeing them at all.

The best of the films is by far the original, which is very good, well-made, very creepy and scary and is also surprisingly original, ambitious and intelligent, assets one doesn't always see in a horror film. The follow-ups are very variable, 'Hellbound' being by far the best for me while 'Hell on Earth' and 'Bloodline' were watchable. Post-'Bloodline' however, the series did go drastically downhill, where the films felt unrelated to 'Hellraiser' with any connection made being with shoe-horning awkwardly in Pinhead and the Cenobites and underusing them in appearances serving no point to what was happening in the rest of the film. On top of the mystery, ambition, intelligence and creepiness being absent and replaced by cheesy camp, dullness and lack of coherence. The one thing consistently halfway decent in all the films was Doug Bradley.

'Hellraiser: Judgment' is not a great, or even good, film and compared to the pre-'Inferno' entries the divide in quality is huge. It is though a significant improvement on 'Revelations' (by far the worst of the series) and the best of the franchise since 'Inferno'.

Always look for plus points and they are there in 'Hellraiser: Judgment'. Paul J. Taylor is no Doug Bradley but he does make the role of Pinhead his own and is creepy in his own way, so much better than the first replacement for Bradley in 'Revelations', Pinhead just looks much better here, and much more commanding and professional.

'Judgment' is at its best too in the last 10-15 minutes, which is the closest the film comes to feeling like a 'Hellraiser' film and is pretty tense and exciting. The make-up is effective and some of the imagery is eerie.

On the other hand, even for a film made on a limited budget, 'Hellraiser: Judgment' has a very cheap look to it, rushed time constraints also showing throughout. It all looks chaotic and sloppy and looks dreary, while the effects more often than not are at best slapdash. Again the music is not appealing-sounding on its own and tends to not be appropriately placed and jarring in tone. The direction is less inept than the direction in 'Revelations' but doesn't seem to be in control or at ease, while the campy and rambling dialogue is embarrassingly bad and the pace lacked energy or tautness in places and felt rushed in others, so erratic.

Much of the storytelling is weak, it at least doesn't feel incoherent as such and it feels much more complete than 'Revelations'. It does suffer from the creepiness happening far too fleetingly, popping up randomly and abruptly and then over too quickly, and from a lack of tension and suspense. It's very predictable, so the mystery and ambition aren't there, and it's too bizarre and silly in places. The characters are too stereotypical and are not interesting or endearing, while the Cenobites are underused (again) and have lost what made them so memorable before, which was their mysteriousness and eeriness. Other than Taylor the acting is weak, particularly from Alexandra Harris, with some histrionics and indifference.

In conclusion, not a catastrophe but didn't do much for me. 4/10 Bethany Cox