Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)

Wonderful character development!

hyped garbage

Absolutely the worst movie.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The story was a mess. All over the place. The story, acting, cinematography and atmosphere in the first movie was much better. But this movie still had something else. They should have hired Lucia Fulci to direct both the first and second films.Kirsty in the mental hospital. She's just an OK actor, nothing great. The mute girl puzzle solver – sucks as an actor. She finally speaks towards the end of the movie and it's just a cliché garbage. The Assistant doctor's acting sucks. His dialogue sucks. He breaks into the Doctors house, what the hell was that, besides to move the plot along. At least he was killed off fairly quickly. The Doctors acting was good, but it could have been great with some better dialogue. As a Cenobite he was intense, but then goes comical cliché. Towards the end when he starts killing his patients, it sucked. Julia was great and she was given some great dialogue, but it should have been more. Frank was underused, and burning down his part of hell, and killing him in hell was nonsense. Cenobites were good, but underused. And I did not like that they were killed.What was great was when the Doctor was turned into a Cenobite, and then he says "to think I resisted" – that was good. The fx Claymation sucked.They should have elaborated on the Leviathon, and the original cenobites, & Pinheads human background, of why he searched out the box, like Frank.I've seen this movie many times. Last time was Nov of 2015, and now again Nov 7, 2017. So, no more surprises. And for that it had a bigger impact at first. Watching it now, it loses the impact, and the plot holes come out, and all the stupid decisions made. The first film is much better. It is not a perfect movie. But it had better story, acting, atmosphere, and cinematography. The music is good in #2, the acting is decent, but not great, the visuals are better in #2, but the comic dialogue and clichés are there and that hurts it.In the past couple of weeks I have watched parts 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 1 and 2. 1 is the best. 2 follows 1. 3 is a joke cliché mess. 4 is a mess. 5 is interesting and could have been much better. 6 is full on garbage. 8 is full of cliché and could have been much better. What 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 have is decent horror scenes with Pinhead that is lacking in 1 and 2.Rating for #2 is a B for a B movie. 7 stars.

If you're considering watching 'Hellraiser 2: Hellbound' you should probably ask yourself if you're really into seeing skinless corpses ripping each other apart with hooks and chains. If this doesn't sound like something you'd observe over dinner then you should probably steer clear of any film with a man whose face is covered with pins is plastered all over the marketing. However, if you're one of those weirdos (and I include myself in that term!) who actually enjoyed the first 'Hellraiser' film and wants to explore that dark and depraved world a little more, then you can't go far wrong with the sequel.Yes, I know that sequels are usually inferior to the original and almost unheard of in horror terms for one to outdo its first incarnation. Now, I'm not saying that 'Part 2' is as shocking and original as 'Part 1,' simply because by definition it can't capture the shock value of witnessing the Cenobites for the first time. However, it does give more of what Hellraiser's audience wanted, plus it explores this terrible universe and expands on all the major themes from the original. And, for a sequel, that does kind of mean it ticks all boxes you'd want.Most of the original's cast return, we have the girl who survived the initial encounter with those flesh-hungry monsters, the Cenobites, Kirsty come back for more. Or rather she's been chucked in a mental institution due to repeated rants regarding how an escaped prisoner from hell seduced her stepmother into killing her father to satisfy demons who live in a puzzle box (to be fair, you can't blame the authorities for not believing her on that one!). And her torment isn't over, for, from the confines of her padded cell, she repeatedly sees images of her dead father, now trapped and skinless in hell and begging for help. However, it doesn't seem to just be her dad who's trying to get out of having their flesh torn from their body. Her wicked stepmother and sadistic doctor also have an interest in what secrets the puzzle box has in store. Enter the Cenobites.Again, 'Hellraiser 2: Hellbound' isn't for the faint-hearted. You need a strong stomach, as the film-makers seem to delight in coming up with new and varied ways to remove and violate body parts using a variety of sharp implements. I won't go into too much detail regarding the rest of the plot, but I will say that I actually prefer this one to the previous Hellraiser movie. This is because my one main criticism of the first film as that the Cenobites weren't in it enough. Here, however, they're back for good and in it for a much longer period of time – no bad thing when you see that practical make-up is a million times more disgusting than today's overused CGI gore. Overall, whether you prefer the first or the second, I think most horror-lovers will agree that this is at least a fair sequel to the original and they do go together well as a pair. The third instalment takes the franchise in a bit of a new direction and some felt that that was the point when it started to lose momentum. However, these two films go together well, so if you have a strong stomach, give them a go with the lights turned out.

Remembered bits & pieces of this film from seeing it 3 years ago, though it wasn't iconic enough as there was parts I forgot about.The story continues where the daughter finds herself with the battle against the cenobites once again in this sequel to the original. This time round, the doctor, head of the asylum that the daughter is getting treated at resurrects the daughters mum Julie from the bloody mattress which she was killed & laid to rest on in the previous film. The doctor then begins to get her women to make her strong again! This time the daughter & another inmate called Tiffany help destroy her & the cenobites once again in this sequel. Just like the first, I liked the blood & gore effects, not to mention the visuals used as for a film of it's time in 1989, was decent, considering what they had to work with. Though also like the first, it was dated & just didn't have much meatiness in it for me to start watching again. Though the actress (the gorgeous one) done well in this film as with many of the others including Doug Bradley himself, I just felt this film dragged & had a bit of a samey story-line to the first, which didn't bother me but I felt it could've been shorter & a bit more with it. But it was decent overall.The story-line to be a sort of "mirror image" to the first wasn't so bad & I in fact found it easy to follow the second time as with the first but it does get confusing as to whats happening & why everything is what it is in the film.I overall would give this a 4.5/10 It says 4 but I give it 4.5, a half slashed rating of what I gave the first one which was a 5/10. It was decent & good, but a bit dated & long for my tastes.

Pinhead is back to raise some he'll in the continuing story as Kristy is placed inside a sanitarium.Her Dr. Channard tries to convince her it was all an illusion, but secretly prays to its God and wants to unlock the secrets kept within.The wicked step mother returns in the same way Frankie did looking to avoid the cenobites and have vengeance on the girl who sent her to hell.Expanding upon the mythology it reveals that cenobites true origins and were they came from.What I think the film did better then its procedure was bringing back the true purpose the creatures stood for and making them a guardian for the innocent. It builds up tension and saves the gore and blood for the last hour.Tony Randem does an excellent job with imagery and special effects. The music hitting its climatic height at the right cues. If you enjoyed the terror of the first, don't miss out on the explosive sequel.10/10