The early “Hellraiser” films feature a guy regenerating from the inside out, people being ripped apart by chains, a skinless woman emerging from a bloody mattress and, of course, a villain with dozens of pins sticking out of his face. So it’s an accomplishment that the 10th film, “Hellraiser: Judgment” (2018), is the most disgusting yet.
Tunnicliffe takes the reins
Written and directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe, who has been part of the special effects team since the third film and continued to do impressive work as the team leader for the direct-to-video entries, “Judgment” features scenes so disgusting that to describe them would constitute a spoiler. Certain audience members want to be surprised by how gross a horror film can be. This one is for them.
It also might be for some O.G. “Hellraiser” fans because Tunnicliffe expands the mythology. Pinhead (Paul T. Taylor, debuting in the role) now has supernatural near-equals orbiting in his sphere. The Auditor (Tunnicliffe himself, behind prosthetics of a slashed-up face) judges people and sends them to Hell. And Jophiel (Helena Grace Donald), always surrounded by white light, seems to represent the “mysterious ways” of God, dipping into evil acts for “the greater good.”
“Hellraiser: Judgment” (2018)
Director: Gary J. Tunnicliffe
Writers: Gary J. Tunnicliffe
Stars: Damon Carney, Randy Wayne, Alexandra Harris
The main plot, which comes as a relief every time we break away from the Auditor’s gross-out judgment sequences, is like a Z-grade answer to “Seven” (something I also said about the plot in part five, “Inferno”). Instead of the Seven Deadly Sins, this serial killer – called the Preceptor — takes out people who have broken one of the Ten Commandments.
The acting is respectable. Damon Carney and Randy Wayne lead the way as cop partners Sean and David, who are also brothers. Alexandra Harris joins them as Christine, a newly assigned third partner and overseer – as the overall bosses are worried about Sean’s alcoholism.
It’s been done better, but not grosser
In the practical-effects-driven sequences, Taylor, Tunnicliffe and the other actors (including women who are both topless and faceless – “Hellraiser” characters to be sure) play things out with gusto. Taylor isn’t Doug Bradley – no one can compete with a horror icon who has racked up eight films – but he has sufficient gravitas.
Shooting in Oklahoma City, Tunnicliffe tracks down the grimiest abandoned buildings he can find for three key settings. This isn’t the evocatively rundown Bucharest of “Deader” – surreal places that I don’t mind visiting on screen — but something more viscerally unappealing.
The cops-on-the-prowl plot is more effective in “Inferno.” I suspect the supernatural mythology might be fascinating to some viewers; there are likely religious allusions I’m not aware of. I can see some “Hellraiser” fans loving “Judgment” because it ultimately gets back to Pinhead’s story.
But as “Hellraiser: Judgment” bounces back and forth between gratuitous gags and familiar cop procedural, I never got into it. My final judgment is a respectful “not my cup of tea.”