Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)

When the beginning of this movie started in OUTER SPACE, I was thinking this movie was doomed from the start. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the rest of the story wasn't too bad. Between Jason X and this, I think it's safe to say that '80s horror does NOT belong in sci-fi. But as a whole, I'd say the movie could've been much much worse.

Fmovies: I wanted to clear something up here.

When a movie uses the name Alan Smithee instead of the real director, it doesn't mean he wishes to disassociate him/herself from the movie because it's bad. In fact, that CANNOT do that.

The only way a director can do it, is to prove that they no longer have creative direction over the film, due to one reason or another - usually political reasons within the film's money suppliers. Too much interference.

The change has to be approved by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

See the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Smithee Now, this doesn't mean the movie is bad. In fact, it's possible that the original director was making such a bad movie that people had to intervene, and he/she didn't want to hear it. It's possible that the movie may have been much worse. Or better. We can't know.

I watched the whole Hellraiser series in a week. I had never seen one before but after seeing the first one i decided to watch the whole series. The first one i just thought was bad but in a funny way. The second was much better. The third was good but not great and then i got to the fourth. All i heard was negative things so i expected crap especially since it was said that it was Pinhead in space. THis movie is not crap! Its actually really good. It might be better then the second one. Good plot. Cool deaths scenes. Good movie.

Hellraiser: Bloodline fmovies. The year is 2127, and a descendent of the maker of the box that opens the gate to Hell is trying to figure out a way to open the box and trap the demons that come out of Hell. He has commandeered a space station (that he himself designed) for this task. He opens the box, lets the demons out, and is detained (people begin to investigate his questionable behavior on the ship) before he can capture them. Almost the entire film is told in the form of a story which he tells the people holding him, in an effort to get them to let him go so he can finish his work. Needless to say, it takes a lot of gory deaths to convince them.

There is a small bit of tension created by the fact that the entire time he is telling the guards what is going on, the Cenobites are out and are on the ship. However, this is largely forgotten about for the majority of the film because so much of it takes place in 18th century France, the time when the box was created. Basically, some toymaker makes the box, opens it, demons show up, and they terrorize his family for generations. You'd think they'd be grateful because he let them out into the world of the living. Anyway, the guy in 2127 has taken upon himself the task of building a NEW box that will be sort of an antidote to the first box, one that is designed so that it can actually trap LIGHT inside.

It's an interesting enough story, and it was actually fairly entertaining, but the film itself was still somewhat lacking. The acting was pretty bad (but at least Ashley Laurence was blissfully absent again), and there wasn't much effort put into the directing. The movement back and forth from the distant future to the distant past was also a bit detrimental at times to the tension of the story, but luckily the film did present a few cool new cenobites (one that was satisfactorily created out of a couple of idiot security guards), and Bloodline also displayed probably one of Pinhead's best performances ever. I would say that Bloodline is more of an informational movie than a good Hellraiser movie. While it is interesting to watch, it is almost more informational than entertaining. So even though the movie itself may have been disappointing, I think that it is a good addition to the series as a whole. It works better within the Hellraiser series than it does by itself.

I've read the comments of this movie and I agree in most of the observations made. I consider Bloodlines an explanation or "origin" of the puzzle box. The first 3 talk about the Cenobites, PinHead and the pleasures and torments the box and the cenobites bring. For me Bloodlines tells the story of the puzzle box and for me as a huge Clive Barker fan it resolves the questions: Where was the puzzle build?, Why was it build? and Who made it?

The true Hellraiser movies are 1 and 2, the third one comes like a baseball player sliding in to home plate just inches from being struck out...but it works. And bloodlines totally compliments these, because it's not just about Pinhead, the main character in this one is the Puzzle Box.

That's my 2 cents.

This movie succeeds if you're a fan of Clive Barker's comic book. It follows the mythos quite logically, and adds a good deal of conjecture to the "reality" of the cenobites. As a sequel this film fills a void.

As a film on its own, this movie should be watched. Its engaging story and thought-provoking plot is enough to keep any viewer entertained, not to mention the violence and gore. Not a bad movie or wasted time.