Hellbound: Hellraiser II

1988 New World Pictures
Directed by: Tony Randel; Written by: Peter Atkins
Starring: Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Kenneth Cranham
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 93 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 6/10

Picture this:

A doctor takes his straight-jacketed mental patient into his home study. The doctor takes the straight-jacket off the dirty, clearly disturbed man, to reveal a torso covered in gnarly scars and open wounds. "They're all over me!" the patient keeps screaming. Suddenly, we see things from the patient's perspective: through his eyes, his entire torso is covered in maggots. They writhe across his open sores, slip inside, squirt in and out. The doctor leads the patient to an old, bloody mattress, covered in hooks, and then hands the mental patient a knife. The maggot-hallucinating man begins to furiously slice away at what isn't there, gashing and tearing through what is. Blood spurts and spills everywhere. The patient falls onto the bloody mattress, still screaming wildly about the maggots all over him, as he cuts himself again and again, his blooding soaking into and through the mattress. Shockngly, bloody, meaty hands shoot from the mattress, and begin to strangle him. Suddenly, the patient is wrestling through the blood with a terrifying, skinless human figure. The scene actually somehow gets more disgusting from there.

Yep, this is Hellraiser II.
Hellbound: Hellraiser II was released just one year after its predecessor. The original Hellraiser was also disgusting, and Hellbound seems to make it a matter of pride to be more so. I wish it made it a matter of pride to be as slyly funny as the first film, or even to inject just a little bit of the first's subtle morality-play core. Instead, it's all in on the grossness. And if you like grossness, boy is this the movie for you.
Hellraiser II picks up right after the last one left off, with the freshly traumatized Kirsty Cotton being admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Her father has been killed by her dastardly uncle and stepmom, all thanks to some evil little puzzle box that summons these pin-headed demons, called Cenobites. The Cenobites are generally called by those who've experienced every sensation in life, and are seeking something more. "Something more" generally seems to relate to some weird and hyper-violent S&M stuff (we never actually see it), though it pretty much always ends in getting pulled apart by giant, chain-bound fishhooks (we definitely see it). Kirsty's uncle summoned the Cenobites at the start of the first film, leading to all sorts of wacky, disgusting chaos, and though Kirsty escaped that gruesome adventure with her life intact, her story sounds so ludicrous to the police, she's immediately committed.
Kirsty's about as lucky as a King Tut archaeologist because, of course, her new doctor just so happens to be  secretly obsessed with the Cenobites. Not only does a Cenobite-seeker have to find one of the pinheads' hidden cubes to reach them, but also solve the apparently Rubix-on-steroids box, as well. Now, not only does the not-so-good doctor have Kirsty, but another young female patient who doesn't talk, but does love to solve puzzles. Also, he's recovered this bloody mattress from Kirsty's house that may have just enough goo left over from a recently deceased aunt to resurrect...
And cubes. Lots of cubes.
While I mentioned things I liked about the first Hellraiser that didn't carryover here, I'd like to mention several that did. The first is that same soft, slightly hazy, silky cinematography, which is marvelous considering this film features a change in director from the first. Another is that, despite the low budget, the production crew was able to build some absolutely fantastic sets. A key element in the plot makes the film's title literal, as Kirsty has a horrific vision that leads her to believe her father must be rescued from hell. Turns out, that's where her doctor and her newly resurrected evil step-mom want to go, as well. The underground sets look good enough that as I kid, I was able to trick my mom into thinking that this film was Indian Jones for almost five minutes. Composer, Christopher Young, also returns here, and continues to proves that his lush, romantic scores are some of the best in the horror business.
There are also elements that don't quite carry over as well. The fantastically disgusting creature design with the demons returns, but this is more of a b-movie than the original, and eventually the filmmakers do bite off a little more than they can chew, with an eye-ball and knife-tipped tentacle monster at the end looking like something from Ray Harryhausen. Then again, few things are more fun than something from Ray Harryhausen, and even if that particular Hellbound monster looks cheesy, it's still a blast in action. There are also certain elements of the plot that are resolved in some rather...skinless fashions.
So if you're looking for a cinematic equivalent to Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II will leave you wanting. However, if you're looking for gross, with a side of awesome creature and set-design, and care little about the rest, these 93 minutes are bloody, gooey Christmas.