The Problematic Morality of the New Hellraiser Film
The original 1987 Hellraiser was never an upper-tier horror film. It lacked the craft of Halloween, the dramatic intensity of The Exorcist, and the inventive charisma of The Nightmare on Elm Street.
Still, it stood ahead of derivative dreck like Friday the 13th, Critters, and a host of ’80s flicks largely forgotten or relegated to the cultural graveyard.
But where I always thought the original Hellraiser exceeded expectations as a gory B-movie was in its moral messaging. An odd thing to say, perhaps, about a story where deformed demons from hell torture people with chains and hooks. But Clive Barker’s story — based on his novella The Hellbound Heart — had the trappings of Catholicism’s divine retribution. The original is like a Victorian Gothic crossed with a hardcore BDSM porno, but anchored with the thematic strength of a fairy tale.
The main theme being that obsession with pleasure leads to self-destruction. In the first film, Frank, a low-life deviant always trying to push the boundaries of self-gratification through sexual experimentation, gets more than he bargained for when the Cenobites give him an experience “beyond limits.” Hell by overstimulation, if not excruciating pain. While we’re perhaps initially somewhat sympathetic to Frank’s plight — he all but assaults his brother’s wife when he comes…
