Editorials
Sin and Damnation – How Scott Derrickson’s Underrated ‘Hellraiser: Inferno’ Rises Above Expectations
At the recent Silver Scream Con, I was surprised to hear Hellraiser star Doug Bradley remark, “The only one in the series I feel doesn’t work is Inferno, for various reasons.” I had always considered the 2000 effort one of the franchise’s stronger offerings, but it had been a while since I revisited the series, so I thought it may not hold up as well as I remembered.
As I’m working my way through the series ahead of David Bruckner‘s reboot, which drops October 7 on Hulu, I can confirm my support for the fifth installment. I have no doubt that Bradley has his reasons for disliking the film – it being the first installment to be released straight to video no doubt required adjustments, not to mention his minuscule screen time as Pinhead – but, even with its shortcomings, I think Hellraiser: Inferno is better than he gives it credit for.
Contrary to rumors, Inferno was not an existing script retrofitted with Hellraiser elements. That would become the norm for the franchise going forward, but this one was pitched as a Hellraiser sequel by writer-director Scott Derrickson – making his feature debut before helming the likes of The Black Phone, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and Doctor Strange – and his then writing partner, Paul Harris Boardman (The Exorcism of Emily Rose).
Inferno was the first Hellraiser installment with no involvement from Clive Barker. In an interview that appeared in his fan club newsletter after the film came out, Barker actively warned people against seeing Inferno. He went on to say, “It’s really terrible and it’s shockingly bad, and should never have been made.” While it’s not difficult to see why Barker didn’t connect with a drastically different direction for his creation, I respectfully disagree with his denunciation.
Inferno doesn’t bother trying to compete with the operatic transgression of the first two Hellraiser films or even the over-the-top fervor of the third installment. Derrickson delivers a Seven-esque psychological thriller with a supernatural twist, peppered with Lynchian surrealism and film noir elements. While this approach often supersedes the franchise’s cornerstones, the tenuous connection is still more organic than in many of the sequels that would follow.
The film centers on Joseph Thorne (Craig Sheffer, Nightbreed), a corrupt Denver police detective with an affinity for puzzles. When a mysterious puzzle box is discovered at the scene of a homicide, Thorne takes it upon himself to solve it, resulting in nightmarish hallucinations. He traces the murder back to The Engineer, an enigmatic figure tied to a kidnapping. The closer Thorne gets to solving the crime, the more implicated he becomes, while his grip on reality loosens.
The premise is intriguing, even if the resolution isn’t wholly satisfying. Tonally and aesthetically, Inferno shares more in common with Jacob’s Ladder, Angel Heart, or Silent Hill than Hellraiser. Derrickson, working with cinematographer Nathan Hope (The Fog (2005), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), focuses more on atmosphere than gore – but the franchise’s signature blending of bloodshed and eroticism is intact.
Derrickson’s evangelical upbringing (from which he has since distanced himself) made him an interesting candidate to play in such a philosophical sandbox. In a 2002 article written for Christian Century, the filmmaker explains that the movie was a personal rebellion against Christian art’s discomfort with tension and ambiguity. “I wanted to make a movie about sin and damnation that ended with sin and damnation. After all, isn’t that the experience of many people?”
Despite Barker’s lack of support, casting the star of Nightbreed in the lead role was a sign of good faith. Sheffer’s character becomes increasingly distasteful as the plot progresses. Bradley’s screen time is limited, but the use of Pinhead as a neutral judge among humans is more harmonious with the character’s original intention than the previous two entries. James Remar (Dexter, The Warriors) appears as Throne’s therapist, largely serving as a Hellraiser lore exposition dump.
Nicholas Turturro, having just wrapped his seven-season run on NYPD Blue, plays Thorne’s partner who attempts to be a moral compass. Nicholas Sadler (Sometimes They Come Back) has a memorable turn as a drug-dealing ice cream man. The supporting cast also includes Michael Shamus Wiles (Breaking Bad), Alexandra Barrese (The Hangover), Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives), and Carmen Argenziano (Stargate SG-1).
Although he initially didn’t feel he was right for the project, Derrickson is proud of the film. “I still have a soft place in my heart for that film, but the script was really great. The script was better than the movie that I directed,” he divulged during a recent interview on Post Mortem with Mick Garris. The film was green-lit on the first draft and then “highly developed” through various drafts before shooting began on a modest $2 million budget.
Perhaps genre fans would have been more inclined to embrace Inferno had it been made independent of the Hellraiser banner, but that double-edged sword would have meant an uphill battle for discovery in the crowded home video market. In a time when “direct to video” was considered a red flag – often connoting a lack of quality, budget, studio confidence, or some combination therein – Hellraiser: Inferno rose above expectations to deliver something different.
Editorials
‘Bloodstone: Subspecies II’ Revisited: A Bigger, Bolder Follow-Up to Full Moon’s Vampire Cult Classic
Horror sequels are a peculiar thing. In most cases, follow-ups to scary movies tend to retread the same formula with different victims and more over-the-top scares. This is because audiences tend to be more interested in the antagonists of these pictures than anything else, with even main characters becoming disposable when the time comes to produce a sequel.
That’s why some of the most memorable horror sequels are the ones that actually manage to hold onto interesting survivors from previous films while also pushing the story forward instead of having the same thing happen again to a different group of people. From Scream 2 to Dream Warriors (and arguably even The Exorcist III: Legion), there are quite a few of these innovative sequels to go around.
However, if there’s one franchise that deserves more attention when discussing bigger and better continuations that make the most of episodic filmmaking, it has to be Ted Nicolaou’s Subspecies.
The Full Moon classic spawned an indie horror icon, but bizarre sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II is even more beloved than its predecessor.
Building a Bigger Vampire Saga
While the film itself takes place almost immediately after the events of the first movie, Bloodstone only entered production a couple of years after the release of the original as both Charles Band and Nicolaou weighed the pros and cons of returning to Romania to continue the series. In an effort to maximize efficiency, the team decided to invest in a trilogy where parts II and III, now fully written by Nicolaou, would be filmed simultaneously over the course of a single grueling shoot.
Much like the first Subspecies, Bloodstone’s low budget meant that the filmmakers once again had to cut corners and re-use as many of their resources as possible. Thankfully, the process was much easier this time around as Nicolaou, with the help of Romanian cinematographer Vlad Paunescu and his wife Oana, became more acquainted with local customs and made new friends. Shooting abroad still came with its own unique set of challenges due to a lack of translators and the occasional safety concerns, but the crew managed to make things work by filming things guerrilla-style and setting up shop in abandoned caves and real medieval ruins.
The director’s newfound contacts, coupled with the relative success of the first movie, meant that he was basically given free rein over an assortment of shooting locations usually considered off-limits for indie horror. That’s why Bloodstone features insanely ambitious lighting and effects work even during scenes shot in the middle of a bustling Bucharest. The filmmakers went so far as to project Radu’s Nosferatu-like shadows over local monuments as if he were a Romanian boogeyman, an idea that was actually encouraged by local cinephiles.
In fact, many of the more elaborate scenes here had originally been planned for the first movie before being discarded due to the lack of available resources. It was only with the support of Romanian fans and filmmakers that Bloodstone was able to give Radu a chance to be even more menacing the second time around.
Michelle’s Transformation Takes Center Stage
However, when it came to the American part of the crew, not everyone was able or willing to return for another round of Romanian adventuring. That’s why Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) is unceremoniously killed off at the beginning of the film while the role of Michelle had to be recast. Denice Duff took over for Laura Mae Tate, with the character now being joined by her sister, Rebecca, played by Melanie Shatner (yes, that Shatner).
In the finished film, we follow Michelle as she awakens to her new life as a vampire and discovers that Radu has murdered her lover. Struggling with grief and her newfound bloodlust, Michelle contacts her sister overseas, with Rebecca soon travelling to Romania on an ill-advised rescue mission. Meanwhile, Radu (Anders Hove) reaches out to his undead Mummy (Pamela Gordon, underneath heavy layers of impressive makeup effects) and promises to deliver her the coveted Bloodstone artifact while also making Michelle his eternal consort.
Revisiting the movie, I was impressed with how introspective this story is when compared to the original. The sequel assumes that you’re already familiar with the previously established characters, so the story wastes no time in exploring the immediate aftermath of the previous film’s events. From Michelle’s reluctant transformation into a creature of the night to Radu’s obvious mommy issues, Nicolaou is way more interested in pushing these characters into new and uncharted territory rather than recycling existing plot points.
Practical Effects and Gothic Atmosphere Still Impress
Yet, much like the first film, it’s Romania itself that makes the movie worth watching. The ruins of Castle Vladislav are even more majestic now, and visiting the moody streets of Bucharest with its surprisingly punk-rock nightlife made for a nice change of pace when compared to the original film’s quiet village setting. Once again, the abundance of interesting locations makes the movie feel much more expensive than it really is, with the filmmakers surrounding our characters with a living, breathing environment that would be impossible to recreate in a studio.
The increased freedom also allowed Nicolaou to flex his filmmaking muscles and tackle more ambitious blocking/composition in the sequel. The low budget and tropey script mean that the visuals don’t always work, but it’s consistently clear that this neo-expressionist style could only come from a passionate team attempting to pay homage to the shadowy horror classics of yesteryear. If the retro atmosphere isn’t enough for you, there’s enough practical gore here to satisfy even the most demanding of horror hounds!
Radu himself is also far more interesting now that Hove is more comfortable working alongside an international crew, with the actor having gone on record explaining that, while he spent more time drinking vodka than working while shooting the first movie, the sequel was a much more creatively satisfying experience for everyone involved. The character’s relationship with his abusive Mummy is also a highlight of the expanded mythology, especially since the practical effects that bring her to life are just as freaky now as they were back in ’93.
My only real gripe with the horror elements of the picture comes from the glaring absence of the diminutive stop-motion minions from the first film, though I guess the surprisingly entertaining addition of Professor Popescu (Michael Denish) and his archeological antics mostly make up for that.
Bloodstone: Subspecies II is obviously the middle chapter of a trilogy, with the ending feeling a lot less definitive than its predecessor as several plot threads are left to dangle in the wind, but I appreciate how the flick explores new ground while remaining faithful to nearly all the ideas that made the original such a good time. While I don’t think it’s as big of an improvement over the first movie as some fans make it out to be, Bloodstone is definitely worth revisiting if you’re a fan of old-fashioned vampire yarns.
Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion to this initial trilogy, Bloodlust: Subspecies III!
You must be logged in to post a comment.