HELLRAISER: HELLSEEKER (2002)
Starring Dean Winters and Ken Camroux
Another disappointing direct-to-video sequel in the "Hellraiser" franchise, this clunker is ambitious in the screenplay department, trying to craft a surreal memory-loss story a la "Memento," and tries hard to keep you guessing what's really going on. Sadly, the very fact that it is a Hellraiser movie means you know what's going on: The Cenobites are up to something. I call horror films like this "hallucination horrors," and they usually don't work, but they're becoming increasingly popular.
Many fans were looking forward to this release because of the much-touted return of Ashley Lawrence, star of the first two "Hellraiser" films. It was believed she would at least have a starring role in the sixth movie. But her character Kirsty -- the hero who outwitted Pinhead in the first films -- is quickly dispatched in the opening five minutes of the film. The real protagonist of the story is her husband () who walks around dazed and confused from an automobile accident as police try to locate the missing corpse of his wife, who has obviously been abducted by the Cenobites.
Like the last lame "Hellraiser" film, this one suffers from a miniscule budget, which means few Cenobites ever show up. Kirsty also should habe been the film's protagonist, but clearly the producers didn't want to spend to have her show up for more than a cameo. There are some interesting special effects, including a CGI scene where a giant slug emerges from Winter's mouth during one of his many annoying visions and nightmares.
But with so few Cenobites and Pinhead himself only making a cameo, and saying stupid things like "You can't run from your past," "Hellraiser: Hellseeker" doesn't even feel like a Hellraiser movie. How many times does the star of this movie see something scary only to wake up suddenly to discover it was only a nightmare? Twelve dozen? Things get a little better toward the end when our hero learns his real predicament, and Lawrence is briefly bought back into the story for another cameo. But it's way too late. The first 4/5 of this movie just feel like padding for the very end, which itself doesn't come close to being as cool as anything in the first Hellraiser films.