Hellraiser: Revelations is an American horror film written by Gary Tunnicliffe and directed by Víctor García (30 Days of Night: Blood Trails; Return to House on Haunted Hill; Mirrors 2). It is the ninth film in the Hellraiser film series, and the first entry in the series since Hellraiser: Bloodline to be based on an original script, instead of incorporating series antagonist Pinhead into an unrelated horror story.
The film was produced in a matter of weeks due to an obligation on Dimension Films‘ part to release another Hellraiser film or risk losing the rights to the franchise. Due to the quick turnaround time, series star Doug Bradley declined to participate, making this the first entry in the series in which he does not play Pinhead. Instead, Pinhead was played by Stephan Smith Collins.
It was released in a single theatre in California for a crew screening that was ostensibly open to the public, then released to DVD in October 2011.
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Plot teaser:
Best friends Steven Craven and Nico Bradley run away from home and travel to Mexico. They film themselves engaging in several days’ worth of drunken partying. The boys later disappear. The Mexican authorities return their belongings to their parents, including a videotape made by Steven that apparently documents their final moments.
A year later, the families of the two missing boys gather for dinner. Tensions rise when Emma, Steven’s sister and Nico’s girlfriend, expresses frustration with their lack of closure. She demands that her mother reveal the contents of Steven’s videotape, which she has been obsessively watching in private.
Later, Emma sneaks a look at the tape, which documents Steven and Nico picking up a girl in a bar. A flashback reveals that Nico casually murdered the girl while having sex in the bar’s restroom, and later threatened to implicate Steven in the killing to force him to continue their “vacation” together…
Hellraiser films on Horrorpedia: Hellraiser | Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth | Hellraiser: Hellseeker | Hellraiser: Deader | Hellraiser: Hellworld | Hellraiser: Revelations
Reviews:
“All of the ideas and themes to back up the film are there, but are so thread-bare, nothing resonates. Furthermore, the characters are ill-defined; they’re nothing but weak shadows of the archetypes one would find in a Hellraiser story. It also certainly doesn’t help that Pinhead is so insultingly portrayed (Doug Bradley wanted no part of this) that any time he’s on screen, you’re either chuckling or slapped into silence by the silliness of it all.” Ryan Turek, Shock Till You Drop
Despite what Clive Barker might say about Revelations not being his Hellraiser, the reality of it is that it follows the original far closer than any of the other Hellraiser sequels ever did … Hellraiser: Revelations eventually almost becomes a Hellraiser film that feels like it has been rewritten by way of a Brett Easton Ellis novel about the children of privilege taking an anarchic pleasure in attacking the world they come from. All of which makes for something undeniably original and entertaining.” Richard Scheib, Moria
“At its core, the movie is just a really poorly redone version of the first movie, following most of the same plot points, but beefing up the original Uncle Frank plot into something much larger and less sense making. The movie was rushed with not any time to re-write or tighten the script or to make it coherent. Doug Bradley, the actor who played Pinhead in all eight Hellraiser movies leading up to this shot it down because he didn’t think the movie was up to par with the rest of the franchise. In a franchise with the last four movies being direct to video sequels that rival any SyFy Original Pictures, this was the one he said “No” to. That’s how bad this movie is.” Dane Sager, Under the Gun
