Hellraiser V: Inferno (2000)
An interesting horror noir film that works even better as a standalone indie horror mystery than a Hellraiser sequel.
I don’t know if it’s the low expectations, but Hellraiser: Inferno is actually pretty good. Sure, it’s very likely that it wasn’t originally written as a Hellraiser sequel (I forgot I was watching a Hellraiser film multiple times until Pinhead shows up), but it’s an interesting horror noir film that would have probably worked as a standalone indie horror mystery.
Crooked cop Craig Sheffer is called to a murder scene. He tells his partner Nick Turturro that he knows the victim and takes a puzzle box found at the scene. A child’s finger is found at the scene as well and is sent to the lab. Sheffer goes home to kiss his wife and daughter and spend some brief minutes with them before taking off again. He picks up a hooker and takes her to a motel. He has weird hallucinations of cenobytes and leaves in the morning. Upon getting to the precinct, he’s told that based on the lab work it’s apparent that the child’s finger was cut off while they were alive. Soon the prostitute from the night before calls Sheffer begging for help and he hears her being murdered. Another finger is found at the scene.
If you’re wondering what the hell does that have to do with the Hellraiser series, you’re not alone. Pinhead really only shows up when spooky imagery is called for so he can deliver his one liners and fuck off. The meat of the film is the mystery of Sheffer trying to solve a murder while the killer now knows he’s on the trail. Supernatural shenanigans abound, and we get some genuinely creepy scenes, but this feels mostly like a dark police procedural (and what can be darker than knowing a 6 or 7 year old child is still alive while their fingers are being cut off and left at murder scenes?)
It’s a dark and twisted tale that only fails when it’s forced to become a Hellraiser sequel at the very end. It’s written and directed by Scott Derrickson of The Black Phone, Sinsiter, and Doctor Strange, and you can see the early makings of the filmmaker he would become.
I like this one. Hopefully I find something to like in the rest of the direct to video Hellraiser sequels as I go through them in the coming months.