Hellbound: Hellraiser II Studio:
VCI
Starring:
Clare Higgins
Ashley Laurence
Kenneth Cranham		 Director:
Tony Randel		 Regional code:
2		 Disc Format:
Single Sided, Single Layer
Screenplay:
Peter Atkins		 Aspect Ratio:
16:9		 Anamorphic:
Yes
Year:
1988		 Sound:
Dolby Digital 2.0		 Subtitles:
None
Genre:
Horror
Extra disc featues:
Interviews, behind the scenes montage, photo library (printable from DVD-ROM), 3 theatrical trailers, sub plots, animated menus with music / fx		 Length:
90mins
   

Review of the DVD - rating: * * * 1/2

Review of the film - rating: *
If anyone ever makes a movie called The Sow's Ear, you can count on VCI doing a Silk Purse Collector's Edition. This steaming pile of bilge deserves nothing less than a tag on its celluloid toe, but VCI give us heaps of extras to wade through. There's 6 minutes of interviews with the stars and crew - including Clive Barker - and at least they seem to be having fun. The behind the scenes montage is a couple of minutes of mute random footage edited to the theme music, while the extensive photo library boasts the ability to print from DVD-ROM, making this the first UK disc with additional features for PC owners. The 3 trailers are near identical, and awful.

The picture and sound are both similarly pretty dreadful, by virtue of the movie itself being so badly made. There's more grain than Somerset in August, giving the authorers no chance, and the overall tone looks cheap and nasty. The sound reminded me of Screen Three of a 70's Odeon, despite some heavy use of the surround channel. Meanwhile, the whole thing is nicely put together with appropriately unpleasant menu screens (the main one is nothing but a slowly beating, bloody heart).

In all, I guess this vision of Hell must be some people's idea of heaven, and this disc is for them. But I'm just saying my prayers that they'll never make a Hellraiser III.

 When the tag line is "It will tear your soul apart... again", you know that imagination is not high on the agenda. Badly made, written and (frequently) acted, there are only two positive aspects to the whole unpleasant ordeal. One; the feeling of euphoria you get when it's finally all over, and two; gaining an insight into what Hell is really like - this movie on infinite repeat.

I'm off to church.