Review: Channel/film 4 Fright Bites

A series of 4-6 minute horror shorts on UK channel/film 4 known for breaking ground in areas other channels wont, even bbc3.


Episode 1: Short Cut

When a Wanker, what us in the UK like to call this type of boyfriend/guy, is giving his current girlfriend a lift home he does everything wrong from drink driving to receiving dirty texts from other girls. He gets his comeuppance when he chooses to ignore his satnav and take a short cut.

Episode 2: Tickle Monster

Your usual teen idiot is sat with his girlfriend writing out song lyrics when we hear a buzzing noise. He blames the girl for tickling him, saying man don't like to be tickled, yes he's one of them gangster rap hard man wannabes. Until he's told there's a tickle monster as a joke, only is there really?

Episode 3: Squeal

When some scummy chav girls pick on a traveler girl on her way back from purchasing a pigs head you know things aren't going to turn out well. On her way home the lead girl is knocked unconscious and with the aid of some surgery and the pigs head is made into a new attraction!

Episode 4: Night Cap

When a young boy suddenly awakes in the night feeling somethings up he goes to wake his mother, who it seems has had one to many vodkas. The TV in the room suddenly turns on and the boy goes and turns it off. Then the phone rings asking to speak to him, his names Danny and he refuses. Running to his mothers bedroom the disembodied voice taunts and threatens even more, until...

Episode 5: Wake

We join a man in a room with sobbing people just heard not seen, a hand touches his shoulder and a woman's voice says sorry. We then see him hobbling up to a dead woman in a casket who he proceeds to kiss. She then awakes and bites his tongue out and replaces herself with his now mute person. which doesn't end well.

Episode 6: Old Gal

In this short we see an old woman in the street, we then view a woman on the phone to a friend who spies the woman across the street. She moans to the person on the phone that the crazy woman out again. She then gets shocked when the next time she looks the woman is at her window, she hangs up only to find she has disappeared. Then washing up in the kitchen she spies the old woman in the garden, only when she looks she doesn't see her (we do though). Entering back into the kitchen bad things ensue.

Overall Thoughts:
I liked the majority of these shorts they were nothing to over the top relying on short sharp shocks not intellectual fair, which is good as they don't have long to build their story with the short run time. My least favourite was Night Cap as theirs very little substance and it just doesn't hit the mark for me. The rest were reasonable, as a man though Short Cut really stood out to me even if the guy was an ass hole lol. Overall though THN gives the whole series 3 out of 5 Stars.

Leprechaun 2: One Wedding and Lots of Funerals (1994)

Stars: Warwick Davis

Budget: $2mill

Directed By: Rodman Flender

This sequel to the last Leprechaun film is sequel only in theme and name. Warwick Davis does return as the funny jolly little green man but none of the other characters do.
This one starts off a number of years in the past is suppose by the time it was released it was a 1000 years. so it was 994ad, our little green man is celebrating his thousandth birthday.

On his birthday he can pick any woman he wants to be his bride. There's some silly rule that if someone says 'bless you' after the girl/woman has sneezed 3 times then he can't marry them.
weird i know but the father of the girl getting married says the words denying the wee man his bride. Just before he kills him the Leprechaun vows to marry his descendant in 1000 years time.

1000 years in the future Cody a boy with far to much on his plate has an argument with his girlfriend because he always has to blow off dates with her because he feels some bond with his alcoholic uncle and helping him with his business. His girlfriend Bridget just so happens to be the descendant of the O'days ( the people whose family was cursed) and it's ST Patrick's day in LA.
Unlike his last films counterpart this leprechaun loves any gold and when he see's it he steals it in any way he can. A gold tooth from a homeless man and some street entertainers ring. He follows Bridget to her house where he tricks some other boy into kiss a mower blade, ouch!
Cody comes along next with some apologetic flowers for Bridget. She appreciates the offer but sneezes three times. Before Cody has a chance to say bless you the Leprechaun attacks. He manages to stop Cody saying it and vanishes with Bridget in tow, he does how ever lose one of his gold coins in all the frack-ass.

The police arrive after everything has gone down find Ian dead and a note from Cody, also that Bridget has vanished. They immediately think the worst and put out a warrant for his arrest.
Meanwhile Cody tries to explain everything to Morty (his uncle) who thinks the boy's gone mad until the Leprechaun attacks them and they just about escape.
They next encounter him in a bar where Morty attempts to win the leprechaun in a drinking competition. Unknown to the wee man they substitute Morty's drinks for something else non alcoholic, the trick almost works with the leprechaun getting so drunk he can't use his magic properly.

He escapes and goes to a coffee shop were he proceeds to drink lots of coffee to sober himself up, when the barista asks for payment his killed in a comedy way. In this iteration also, the leprechaun like most fey creatures is hurt by wrought iron. Cody and Morty steal a large iron safe and actually manage to capture him inside it. Unfortunately Morty gets greedy and uses the trapped leprechaun to grant him three wishes. This of course ends up with the wishes being twisted, the death of Morty and the freedom of the leprechaun.

After some more hi-jinks the leprechaun corners Cody but his magic does not work against him, realizing it's the coin keeping him safe Cody escapes into the lair of the leprechaun. He is attacked by O'day and just about manages to beat him. He comes across Bridget just as the wee guy comes upon them both too. Bridget managed to loosen the gold collar and throwing it at the the leprechaun they both escape. Unfortunately they get separated and when Cody thinks he comes across her again it's really the leprechaun tricking him into leaving the gold coin.

He however was up on the trick which, tricks the leprechaun allowing Cody to fight back. I'll leave it here so i don't spoil the very end of the film there's really not a lot left after that point but it's not worth spoiling as the films pretty decent.
THN found Leprechaun 2, one them strange almost reboot of the series sequels where it's a sequel in essence only as stated earlier, this being the non returning support cast different rules and of course the Leprechaun dying in the first film. I like to think it's a different leprechaun it's just they are all Warwick Davis lol.
THN awards this film 3 out of 5 stars with a recommendation to watch.

Review: Critters (1986)

Stars: Don Keith Opper, Billy Zane

Budget: $2 million

Directed By: Stephen Herek

Often compared to gremlins, if you ask me i don't know why other than little creatures. Critters are far more deadly yes they are slapstick both but Critters are aliens too, (yes i know canonically gremlins are too).

This is one of my favorite little creature features though and ranks up there with some of the best comedy horrors of the 80's too.

So somewhere deep in space the last two Critter creatures are destined to be transported elsewhere. The little creatures manage to overpower the guards and steal their ship then fly off.
Two Bounty hunters are hired to chase them and hunt them down. Critters like to eat and when they eat they reproduce like mad.

They crash land on earth and two people mistake their craft for a meteorite. Brad and Jay go and check out the crash site. They disturb the critters while they are eating a cow and the little guys run off. The Critters themselves are an odd little thing its head is mostly mouth with two little piercing red eyes, a little fat body with stumpy legs and arms. They are covered head to toe in fur and sharp little quills.
So the later jump a police officer and devour him, Seeing the farm as a large food source they decide to besiege it. When Jay goes to check on why the electricity has been cut he is attacked and stung by one of the Critters quills. These are designed to incapacitate larger targets for the little guys making them easier to deal with and eat.

April is the barn with her boyfriend trying to get it on when the Critters show up and kill him.
Brad actually gets to kill one of the Critters by making it eat a cherry bomb, quite amusing there. The bounty hunters in this are not to great they are in fact a little inept think along the lines of the other hunters in suburban commando lol. The Critters are returning to their ship a little later when the actual bounty hunters finally show up.
The Critters who we learn a little later on now are called Crites, have also taken April with them. Unknown to them Brad and Charlie have gotten April off the ship. The Critters destroy the family farm house just being dicks. Brad managed to throw a Molotov cocktail onto the ship which ignites the fuel supply and ends up blowing their ship out of the sky.

I won't give away much more even though there's not much more left but there's some major spoilers in the last few minutes of this film that are worth keeping sch-tum on, at least until i review part 2!

THN really enjoys the Critters films, much more than we should i suspect but everyone has a gushing film right? So Critters 1 gets a respectable 4/5 stars from THN.

THN Top 5: Freddy Krueger Kills

Freddy Krueger has to be my second favourite slasher baddy. The demon empowered kiddy killer who can kill you in your sleep. After a pact is sealed by him with some demons the springwood slasher is able to stalk teen dreams after being killed by some pissed off parents, some are grousome, some are funny and others just nasty. Most though are creative.
Here's 5 of my top Freddy Krueger kills:

5. Dream warriors, king of the goblins: now dream warriors has some of the most creative kills out of the whole series of films but the one that sticks out the most to me. As an ex d&d player is when Will Stanton who has just had his legs ground by a demon wheelchair (outside of dreaming he can't walk) then turns into the wizard master spouting the lines "In the name of prince Lowrek, prince of elves demon be gone!"
Seems like it's working till Will runs up to Freddy who grabs him, saying "I don't believe in fairy tales!" Before stabbing him through the midriff.



4. Nightmare on Elm Street: From the first film has to be Tina she has quite a gruesome death anyway, slashed and clawed will she's sleeping next to her boyfriend. She is then dragged up the wall and all across the ceiling leaving streaks of blood everywhere she goes.
Not only that Tina returns in a see through body bag later and splits into foul insects after Nancy has followed it for some time.


3. Dream Master: The fourth film of the series we see a girl able to take on other peoples powers once Freddy has killed them. One such kill in brain box and asthma suffer Sheila Kopecky. Once she is drawn into the dream Freddy french kisses her literally sucking all the air from her.
In the real world it just looks like shes having a serious asthma attack. What makes it more brutal is the way her skin turns pale and her eyes turn milky white, in the dream world.


2. One of the all time sickest deaths is in Dream Child: Dan the Boyfriend of Alice is riding on a motorbike, only for the bike to star seeping into his hands and all through his body. Turning him into some kind of hellish cyborg bike rider for a few seconds before blasting him high speed into a tree.
It's quick a horrific transformation and the look of terror on Dan's face says it all.


1. Finally the last kill and the most blood filled and gruesome is one that is not seen but contains the most blood of any slasher kill ever, more than the body can hold by the looks of it too!
Nightmare on Elm Street: Nancy's boyfriend played by a very young and fresh faced Johnny Depp is pulled into his bed as he accidentally falls asleep watching TV. Screaming a blood curdling scream reams of blood are then shot from where he dragged into.

Review: Nightmare on Elm Street, All Parts Mini Reviews

Nightmare on Elm Street:
Year: 1984
Stars: Heather Lagenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund

Directed by Wes Craven one of horrors greats in reinventing the horror franchise not once but at least twice. The first being the nightmare on elm street series.
Freddy Krueger a child murdering serial killer is let off the hook by an easy judge and some missing evidence. The parents of the murdered children take their own revenge by burning the psycho in his house.
Only for him to return a few years as a dream stalking supernatural killer instead. Capable of killing you inside your dreams/nightmares if you happen to die there you die in real life.

When kids start dying and they realise their dreams are stalked by the same stripy jumper, razor fingered and dirty hat wearing killer they uncover the truth about what their parents did why they suffer and ultimately how to beat him once again.

Nightmare on Elm Street, Part 2: Freddy's Revenge
Year: 1985
Stars: Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Englund

This outing was not directed by Wes Craven and i think it shows big time. Going in a different direction from the first. A new family have into Heather's old house their son Jesse starts to have nightmares and we quickly learn Krueger is trying to take his body over and use him to get to the kids of Elm Street.
Lisa a girl Jesse has feeling for and she likes him too. Of course him being the nerdy odd weed no one believes him.  He doesn't truly believe it himself either until people start to turn up dead.

Ultimately Lisa helps Jesse have the strength to beat Freddy in the end.

Nightmare on Elm Street, Part 3: Dream Warriors
Year: 1987
Stars: Heather Lagenkamp, Robert Englund, Patricia Arquette


Seems Nightmare films have a thing for staring fresh faced actors, this one has Miss Arquette in the lead role as Kristen. Also a directing return to the series from Wes Craven.
Kristen now lives in the house and when she starts to have nightmares and ultimately Krueger tries to kill her (cutting her wrists), It looks like a suicide attempt.

She is sent to a psychiatric hospital where all the kids have been dreaming of Freddy. Nancy the girl from the first film, now a dream expert also gets a job at the hospital.

She immediately believes the kids especially after Kristen using her 'dream power' pulls her into a dream. Each kid has his or her own dream power. Despite some kids dying and the inclusion of Kruegers mother giving us some background, Nancy ultimately uses the kids powers and Kruegers bones to, so she thinks, finally manage to kill Freddy off for good.

Nightmare on Elm Street, Part 4: Dream Master
Year: 1988
Stars: Lisa Wilcox, Robert Englund

Kristen now out of the hospital along with the rest of the survivors of part 3 starts to have nightmares about Freddy house. Though the other kids just want to be left out of it, they think dwelling on it so much will actually bring Krueger back.

Kristen makes a new friend in school the slightly Nerdy trouble at home, Alice. Freddy does awaken and kills the remaining hospital kids off apart from Kristen. He needs her to give her power to someone else as then other kids have forgotten about him.
Alice ends up inheriting Kristen's power when she dies making her unwittingly draw people into her dreams so Freddy can kill them.
Each death strengthens Freddy but also her with whatever the other kid was specialised in. Empowered theres a cool showdown between Alice and Freddy at the movies end.

Nightmare on Elm Street, Part 5: Dream Child
Year: 1989
Stars: Lisa Wilcox, Robert Englund

With a return of Alice in this movie we see her home life has gotten even worse with an alcoholic father. Alice and Dan are now dating. We see more of the Amanda Krueger side of things in this film too. Having a nightmare she confides in Dan who tells her she's in control of her dreams.
Soon after her graduation Dan dies in an accident and she learns that she is pregnant with his child. As most her new friends start to drop dead from dream related deaths we learn through ultrasound that Freddy is feeding Alice's unborn child with the souls he is harvesting.
It backfires on Freddy in the end though as the love of Alice and the help of Amanda makes her baby turn the powers back on Krueger, once again beating him.

Freddy's Dead, The Final Nightmare
Year: 1991
Stars: Robert Englund, Breckin Meyer

'John Doe' the last surviving teen of Elm street manages to somehow get past the town limits of Springwood. Freddy is unable to get to John who subsequently gets bopped on the head and forgets who he is and where he's from.
He is taken to shelter for troubled kids where he makes friends with the teens who all have troubled pasts.

Trying to cure his amnesia one of the councilors takes John back to Springwood but low and behold the other teens have stowed away on the van. Yummy fresh kids for Freddy to feast on. We learn Krueger also had a daughter in this one.
Low and behold the councilor Maggie happens to his daughter. We also learn Krueger had a bad childhood and then he made a deal with some demons to be continuously brought back to life.

Once again he able to be killed by being brought into the real world, which his daughter does, blowing him to smithereens.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Year: 1994
Stars: Robert Englund, Hether Lagenkamp

This one marks a return of Wes Craven again and a weird sidestep for the series. All the actors are playing 'themselves' in the film, yes it's set in the real world.

Wes is working on a script for a new nightmare film, Heather's husband is working on the effects for the film too. Her son is a troubled one especially after he watches the original film and tapes knives to his fingers.

Heather also starts to have weird dreams and hearing voices through the phone. Englund starts painting horrific pictures of a more eviler Freddy, this time he's real except more evil.
Freddy has broken his way into our world but as a true evil demon form. some things paralel the original, deaths etc and this is what is needed to help fight the demon. Along with her son Heather manages to fight back the demon into hell.

THN Top 5: Friday the 13th Kills

My favorite hockey masked killing machine has killed so many camp councilors it's hard to pinpoint which ones are my the all time best. Despite the first film being his mother she was kind of under the influence of her son so they count towards this too.

5. Spearing Bacon
This is a Pamela Voorhees kill, and it's on our dear beloved Kevin. Deciding to light up in bed the hapless Bacon is grabbed from under the mattress. Then gurgling in blood soaked screams a nasty sharp arrow thrusts through his neck from below.
Dying with the most surprised look on his face this kill comes in at number 5 on my list



4. Facial Impressions
Ft13th Part 6 offers one of my favorite kills comes in the shape of one of two teens faces pushed screaming into the side of a camper van.
Being that the side of the van is sheet metal and the face comes out like a perfect vacuum formed silhouette on the outside wall, I'd say that's quite nasty





3. Neatly Folded
Once again from part 6 one of our protagonists
the police chief unloads his shotgun into Jason.
His daughter the love interest of Tommy Jarvis catches Voorhees attention.
With no more ammo left the brave man grabs a large rock. Leaping upon Jason he proceeds to beat the psycho about the head.
Unfortunately to no avail as, as soon as he starts to tire Jason effortlessly folds him backwards in half , ooh nasty.

2. Nitrogen Facial
This kill is from part X after the discover the frozen body of Jason. One of the young medical students is opted to do the autopsy upon Jason's disfigured corpse.
He of course re-animates a little later, 'surprised the girl screams as her head is thrust into liquid nitrogen. Oh and he doesn't leave it there, no no, he then smashes her brittle frozen face to bits upon the counter.

1. Punch Out!
My all time favorite and most undeserved kill has to be when Julius starts boxing with Jason up on a rooftop.
Giving the others ample time to escape Julius bravely bare fist smacks Jason about his hockey masked face pushing him closer to the edge of the building.
Knuckles busted and bloody clearly losing strength. Julius is so tired that he can't muster the last hard smack to send Jason over.
Offering the hulking madman a free hit Jason reels up throws a sucker punch knocking Julius's head clean off his shoulders.


So that's my top five Ft13th kills, so many come close to this list especially the heading squishing eye popping scene. Julius just about wins out to top spot here.
Do you agree with my top five kills, whats your favorites, let me know!

Review: Hellraiser 4, Bloodlines (1996)

Stars: Doug Bradley, Valentina Vargas

Budget: $4Million

Directed By: Kevin Yagher

Aaah the staple of horror films well at least a lot of them, the IN SPACE SEQUEL. That's right Leprechaun, Friday the 13th they've all ventured into space.
So we join Dr Paul Merchant aboard a giant space station, It's 2127. He's sealed himself into a room and is using some remote controlled droid to manipulate the puzzle box. Just as it's opened the soldiers break into the room, Merchant gives up and tells them the story about the lament puzzle box was created.

We then skip back to France in 1796 where we join LeMarchand a distant relative of Merchants. He is an intricate toy maker famous throughout the land.
He is commissioned by an aristocrat to create the puzzle box. LeMarchand Doesn't know that he's creating a portal to hell.

He views the Aristocrat calling forth a demon from hell, Angelique. The thing is hell back then wasn't the same as 20th century hell, they we more about seduction for your soul. LeMarchand see's this and runs home. He begins working on a new box to seal the powers of the first one he made.
He later travels back to the mansion to try and steal the original box, Jacques the aristocrats servant has taken control of Angelique and they both end up killing LeMarchand.

Flash up to 1996 where we join another descendant of LeMarchand, John Merchant. Apparently his bloodline has been cursed now for opening the gateway to hell. He has managed to build a skyscraper using the Lament configuration, Angelique see's this in an art magazine.
She tries to persuade Jacques to go to america to stop Merchant as he poses a threat to the gateway. When he refuses she kills him. Free to travel to America she does so and tries to seduce Merchant into not completing the building. It doesn't work.

She discovers the original Puzzle box later and gets a guy to open it. This summons forth Pinhead both demons mistrust each other as the new hell just craves suffering rather than seduction. Though they do form an uneasy alliance, this is then later broken when Angelique disagrees with the way Pinhead runs things. Trying to side with Merchant so she can be free from hell if he seals the gate with the Lament configuration.

This unfortunately backfires when the feedback loop destabilizes and the configuration fails. This gives Pinhead the opportunity to kill Merchant. His wife though manages to use the puzzle box to send all of the Cenobites back to hell, including Angelique.
Rimmer the female officer in charge back in 2127 doesn't believe Merchant and has him arrested that is until Pinhead along with new Cenobites, including a now enslaved Angelique start killing.
There's not much left to film after this suffice to say this is the last truly 'OK' Hellraiser film. It takes us back and we see how the box was created then lost, finally defeated.
I love the way the views of hell change over time just like any other place would. THN would urge you to watch this if you've liked all previous entries. Not exactly great but it's a good dropping off point none the less. Though there are like five more films, as you'll know from a way way earlier review of the last entry in the series it not really great beyond this point.

THN rewards Hellraiser 4, Bloodlines a strong 3 stars out of 5 with a recommendation to watch.

Review: The Mannequin, YouTube short

This 10 minute short film was brilliant very creative with minimal but good practical effects, enough to even give some full run time films a run for their money.

You can catch it yourself here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLBrCK6e0cA&feature=youtu.be

As for the actual film it's shot in black and white and I'm sure this is a choice not a necessity as it adds to the shorts overall feel of noir.
I'm sure it's meant to set in the sixties/seventies maybe even earlier by the clothing and hairstyles that's the best estimate I can come up with.
The thing date wise that threw me a bit was the TV looking thing in the corner. That aside it was just a good storyline too it got its point across clearly in the short running time which I find very admirable as some long run time films can even leave you confused these days.
I would like to see more from this channel/company in the future if this is the quality of production at the moment time and support can only help.

THN awards this short film a sturdy 4 out of 5 stars

Review: Hellraiser 3, Hell on Earth (1992)

Stars: Doug Bradley, Terry Farrell

Budget: $5million

Directed By: Tony Randel

At the end of the last movie a rotating pillar came from the bloodied mattress. That pillar has some how turned into a artistic piece, a bronzed work of art. J P Monroe a rich nightclub owner comes across this and buys it for his personal collection.

Unknown to him Pinhead and his world war 1 counterpart have been split since the last film. his demonic form imprisoned in said pillar. The puzzle box has also been embedded in the pillar too. Joey a young reporter witnesses a young club goer ripped apart by magical hooked chains.

She traces the death back to Monroe's nightclub the boiler room. She meets Terri a young ex of Monroe's who has stolen the box from the pillar.
Joey traces the history of the puzzle box and we see her view videos of when Kirsty was in the mental institute. She learns of the Cenobites through this also about the power of the puzzle box.

Earlier Monroe had splattered some blood onto the pillar after a rat bite, this obviously gives Pinhead just enough power to devour the skin then body of one of the girls J P has just slept with. Pinhead coerces J P to get more girls, J P can have his pleasures of the flesh then he can eat their flesh.
Joey is then contacted by Elliot the human side of the demon warning her that the demon is now just pure evil. If he ever got free he would wreak hell upon the earth. They formulate a plan to reunite both spirits and then send them both back to hell as one.

Back at the club Pinhead breaks free and does indeed wreak havoc killing everyone including Monroe. Terri is even tricked to come back there with a nasty fake answer machine message, as well as Joeys cameraman. Everyone apart from Joey dies, Pinhead resurrecting  most of the latter as new Cenobites. Each one embodying a power/ability they had in real life, DJ throws razor sharp CD's and the barman throws flammable cocktails which he spits fire upon.
Joey escapes each one of these through the streets as the police are killed by the inhuman demons. She seeks help in a church from a priest who doesn't believe until he sees the travesty that Pinhead is, trying to rebuke the evil just makes Pinhead laugh. Joey runs once again while the priest is 'dealt with' running to a construction site.

she tries to figure out the box and just as the Cenobites start torturing her she manages to configure it enough to send the weaker ones back. Her father appears telling her she did a good job and he should take the box for safe keeping. It is in fact good old pin nogging in disguise.
But she has managed to do what Elliot needed bring him to his realm. He starts to merge with him while Joey breaks free of a machine that was turning her into a Cenobite. That's where i end it for now.

this one again has the same flaw as the last bigger budget less story more flash and pizzazz. Again this not bad by any means as some bigger budget film series's suffer from jumping the shark by a third entry, its just the Hellraiser series does unfortunately go from bad to worse, film to film.
The third film is just plain unadulterated fun and i love the new cenobites, a running theme in the next film too. THN awards Hellraiser 3, 3 out of 5 stars

Review: Hellbound, Hellraiser 2 (1988)

Stars: Doug Bradley, Ashley Lawrence

Budget: $3million

Directed By: Tony Randel

The second film in the series continues near the end of the last. Kirsty has been institutionalized due to spouting on about demons.
Her doctor seems overly interested in this. Once he discovers that frank was brought back using human blood he uses a madman who commits suicide on the mattress Julia died on.

This does indeed bring her back from the hell dimension. apparently the doctor has had an interest in the puzzle box for years. It's then Kirsty starts seeing visions of her father telling her he's trapped in hell.
Kyle the doctors assistant catches wind of all gthis and believes Kirsty's side of the story. He frees Kirsty and they plus a girl who seems to have an aptitude for solving puzzles.

The doctor, Channard, has been stealing more crazies for Julia to feed on. Giving her an almost complete new skin. When the trio inspect Channards house they split up. Kyle heads to attic where Julia who he doesn't recognise now with skin ends up killing him, completing the last patch on her back. Kirsty catches the end of this and attacks the newly regenerated Julia, she is knocked unconscious.

Channard with minimal protestations from Julia use Tiffany, the girl to open the puzzle box. Pinhead and the rest arrive. The Cenobites sense that the girl is not the one to blame, Channard is the true caller of them.
Kirsty awakes and ventures into the hell dimension where she finds out it wasn't her father who was trapped but Frank. He tries to keep her there as one of his concubines, Julia appears and kills Frank in a jealous rage and for killing her. They fight again with Kirsty tearing Julias skin off making her fall to her doom.

Meanwhile Channard has been turned into Cenobite himself but of a new configuration of hell. This sets him at odds with Pinhead and the other Cenobites, he kills them one by one. Urging Tiffany to reconfigure the box again Kirsty in Julia's skin tricks Channard just long enough for the to use the box again.

I'm probably giving away a little to much of the end there but suffice to say there's still a good portion left that leads into the third movie. A larger budget gave way to less constraints and it can be seen here, by far a great sequel as far as sequels go but with a bigger budget they went off the rails just a bit with this one. Still a great film that just misses catching the original grittiness of the first.
THN awards Hellraiser 2 4 out of 5 stars

Review: Hellraiser (1987)

Stars: Doug Bradley, Claire Higgins, Ashley Lawrence

Budget: $1million

Directed By: Clive Barker

Larry and Julia move into an old family house after his brother Frank disappears. Julia wanders about the house we see her having flashbacks of a torrid love affair she had with Frank.

Larry helps the moving men with an item of furniture and ends up cutting his hand on a nail. He run in on Julia having a flashback of Frank and drops blood from his gashed hand all over the floor.

While Julia sorts Larry's hand out his brother Frank who has been dead after opening a puzzle box is resurrected. The puzzle box opens a gateway to hell where demons called cenobites reside. they then eternally torture your soul for being stupid enough to call them.

Kirsty, Larry's daughter decides not to move in she seems to have never trusted Julia, who is her stepmother. Julia discovers Frank, Frank uses his erotic hold coupled with blackmail to force Julia to bring him more 'blood'. This blood turns out to be hapless idiots who Julia brings back to the house with sexual promise. Kirsty starts to cotton on thinking shes just having an affair with these men. When she goes to confront Julia she is shocked by the skinless creature Frank is and is attacked. She manages to throw the puzzle box out of the window giving her time to escape. Grabbing the box outside Kirsty wanders for a bit before blacking out.

Later Kirsty awakes in hospital and while there she opens the puzzle box releasing the Cenobites. They are about to claim her when she offers them the soul of Frank back, at first they don't believe her but then a quick check and they agree.
Meanwhile Frank has killed Larry and is wearing his skin. Kirsty returns to the house releasing the demons, they attack who she thinks is Larry. Julia dies in the crossfire from Frank stabbing her, Kirsty realises the mistake shes made and tries to send the Cenobites back by getting the puzzle box.

This film has to be one of the all time classic horror films, spurning many, MANY sequels and a horror icon such as Jason, Freddy or Micheal in the process. Original book and script penned by one of the most successful horror writers next to Stephen King, Clive Barker who also directed this film. This is a superior piece of low budget movie making at its best. THN awards Hellraiser 5 out of 5.