Hellraiser 7: Deader (2005)

- written June 2005

Amy is a newspaper reporter who has gone to Romania to find this local sect of weird people, called Deaders. Seems their leader has the ability to bring people back from the dead. But once Amy pierces the underground scene, she realizes not everything is what it seems. There’s a certain box that’s gonna get opened and she doesn’t want to be anywhere near when the owner comes to reclaim it.           Overall: I’ve been very, very harsh on the recent “Hellraiser” sequels and it’s because I thoroughly enjoyed the first 2 films so much. This represents another waste of money in a film that might have been ok, had they not tried to associate the “Hellraiser” films with it. It’s not a secret that the original script had nothing to do with the franchise until the production company forced the issue. So we have a few minutes of Pinhead and the box, one small connection to the LeMarchand family and the 85 minutes of what could have been a decent story. In fact, it kept reminding me a lot of "Lord of Illusions" concerning that cult. What really got me peeved the more I’ve thought about this, was the director in his 25 minutes of deleted/extended scenes discussing the original plans for the film and character of “Winter” and how he decided "in passing" to link that character to LeMarchand. That just threw me off the roof right there. It’s "on the fly"...it’s after the script was written...it’s after much of the film was shot...”hey, why don’t we just toss in this quick connection to part 4...thanks!” Ugh!!!!!           So some fans have enjoyed one or more of the sequels since part 4. They remark that these are “Stand Alone” films that have Pinhead in them. But part 2 was on the heels of part 1, part 3 right on part 2. Part 4 finishes up the 3 prior films. So the only ones that are “stand alone” are the crappy ones. But just because they are...doesn’t make it either right…or even a good film. Much of the deleted scenes include Pinhead and the Cenobites. If you are trying to make a “Hellraiser” film then why are you cutting out the connecting material? I think the film is just so “not” a “Hellraiser”-type film. Too much unnecessary nudity to the point that even the director admits he was focusing unnecessarily long on lesbians making out.           It’s a weak film because much of it is dream sequences, flashbacks and more reality-morphing ideas that leave the viewer quite unsure what is real and what is pretending to be real. At one point, Kari Wuhrer stands with a giant knife through her back for upwards of ten minutes neither feeling any pain nor showing any fatigue. But she keeps writhing back and forth in disbelief as the audience is screaming...”oh fall down already.”           To Rick Bota, the director, I say...You still don’t get it yet. If you’re gonna make a “Hellraiser” sequel then make it right. A director of photography is not the same as a director of the film. Just because you can organize well-light shots doesn’t mean the shots make sense...hell, it doesn’t even mean the story makes sense. Just because you were principal cinematographer for “Bloodfist III” doesn’t mean you know what you’re doing!           Comparison: Hellraiser meets Bats

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