The “Hellraiser” saga is more defined by its antagonists than its protagonists, but its original Final Girl – Ashley Laurence’s Kirsty – was a fan favorite, appearing in the first three installments. In the sixth film, “Hellseeker” (2002), she returns, with Kirsty now an adult.
‘Hellraiser’s’ first Final Girl returns
Laurence’s screen time is somewhere between cameo and full role, although Kirsty is central to the narrative. The leading role isn’t a bad tradeoff for viewers: It’s Dean Winters, a great character actor who is now best known as “Mayhem” in the Allstate commercials.
Winters plays an appropriate mix of bemused, confused and scared as Trevor, Kirsty’s husband. In an opening sequence, he crashes their car into a river; he survives, she apparently drowns, trapped in the car. But the plot thickens – her body doesn’t turn up, and the car door was opened.
“Hellraiser: Hellseeker” (2002)
Director: Rick Bota
Writers: Carl V. Dupré, Tim Day
Stars: Dean Winters, Ashley Laurence, Doug Bradley
Writers Carl V. Depre and Tim Day tap into the vibe of Christopher Nolan’s “Memento” (2000), a popular film at the time, as amnesiac Trevor tries to figure out what’s going on – and we as viewers try to figure out who Trevor was before the crash. Like a lot of amnesiacs in fiction, he’s a nice, innocent guy as far as we can tell.
But signs suggest Trevor wasn’t so great before that. He works a cubicle job reminiscent of “Office Space’s” Initech, and is surprised when his boss (“Millennium’s” Sarah-Jane Redmond, so good at being sexy and scary) makes out with him like it’s their standard arrangement. He seems to have yet another affair going with a cute apartment neighbor, Tawny (Jody Thompson).
Mystery via mood
We as viewers can safely assume Pinhead (Doug Bradley) is behind all of this, since his power to mess with people’s minds is pretty much unlimited. Yet director Rick Bota, in the first of his three “Hellraiser” films, nonetheless establishes a sense of mystery – through the mood rather than the plot.
Trevor is horribly tortured, but he always wakes up from the nightmare physically unscathed. Yet Bota and Winters make us feel the psychological toll this takes on Trevor.
Although the Cenobites are more in the background than they were in the original “Hellraiser” trilogy, Gary J. Tunnicliffe and his effects team continue to make them look suitably disgusting and creepy. Composer Steve Edwards delivers a better score than the recent entries, and Vancouver provides all the gritty and grungy locations we could ask for.
While “Hellseeker” moves along nicely, I did get a sense that Dupre and Day might not truly be giving us a solvable mystery. And that does turn out to be the case – it’s all just Pinhead messing with Trevor. Still, it is suitably disconcerting to follow a “nice” guy who isn’t a nice guy, and to also learn disturbing things about Kirsty.
Because there isn’t a particularly clever resolution, “Hellseeker” falls short of greatness as a horror or mystery film. But it boasts good performances across the board (a notable step up from the previous two films), slick direction and a moral puzzle with some heft.