Night 4 of 31 Nights of Horror

Yeah, this one holds up. I forgot how amazing this movie is. Not the plot or dialog, no I mean the look and atmosphere. There’s a reason they’re still making sequels and why so much of the imagery of this film has stuck with us for so long.

A man named Frank goes looking for the ultimate experience in sensation and is taken to Hell. His brother cuts his hand in the house where it happened and resurrects the damned man. Franks sister in law seduces and murders strangers to rebuild Franks body. Demons from Hell come to bring Frank back along with anyone nearby. That’s the story. It’s pretty simple, I mean the novella it’s based on is only 186 pages long, but it’s not the plot that is memorable, or even the characters (I had forgotten what anyone’s name was until I re-watched it just now) it’s the make-up.

I don’t know how this film didn’t win a ton of awards for make-up and effects when it came out. Well that’s not true, it premiered the same year as Robocop and Lost Boys, that’s why, also, it’s horrifically disgusting. It’s amazing to me how much people’s sensibilities can change in just seven years when you watch Hellraiser and then Friday the 13th and realize the later one is the version you got that was CUT DOWN to avoid an X rating. I mean… everything in Hellraiser makes Pamela’s kills look tame in comparison.

That’s the thing about this movie though, it’s all about making you feel things. Shocked, horrified, disgusted, afraid, it’s a roller-coaster of emotion and the constant ups and downs and changes of direction make you forget that there is no character development and the plot is as thin as single ply toilet paper, but that’s okay because the cinematography and special effects are so well done, your brain isn’t paying attention to anything else. It reminds me of the few H. P. Lovecraft stories I’ve read. Not great literature, but very evocative and emotion driven.

As old as I am, I still would have been too young to see this in the theatre, but the 4k transfer I watched is gorgeous (I can’t think of a better word, even if I am describing a slimy skeleton covered in muscle and cartilage but no skin) and probably as close to seeing this film the way it was meant to be, short of a theatrical re-release. Sometimes an HD copy of a movie can really highlight flaws in the original (like the cops moustache in Sleepaway Camp II) but not this time, it just showed me how wet and gooey the corpses were.

If I’m going to complain about anything it would be that I feel the movie could have been longer. I would have liked for them to spend some time fleshing out the characters and their relationships more. Why did Kristy not get along with her step mom? Just how depraved was Frank before he bought the box? Who the hell was that guy eating the crickets in the pet store? Why did we have to wait until Deep Space Nine for people to appreciate how awesome Andrew Robinson is?

I may or may not watch more from the series this month, I haven’t decided. What’s interesting about them, from what I remember, is that after the second movie, which was very similar to the first, they all take radical different directions, one is even a police murder mystery so it’s not like they keep repeating the same thing over and over. I feel like I’m talking myself into watching them.

I couldn’t find anywhere streaming it for free, but I think this one’s better if you can buy , rent or borrow a 4k version anyway. I mean, unless you really can’t hand the sight of blood.