5.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Kirsty Cotton returns to fight Pinhead in the sixth film in the Hellraiser series.
Starring: Ashley Laurence, Doug Bradley, Dean Winters, William S. Taylor, Michael J RogersHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 44% |
Mystery | 13% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.87:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Personally, I prefer pain.
There's something to be said for tenacity, but there's also a point where a whole lot of something just becomes too much of nothing, when wasted
effort for naught just becomes overkill. This holds true in cinema, and within the Horror genre in particular. The original Hellraiser dazzled Horror aficionados with its wonderful combination of
chilling Noir and grisly Horror. Even the sequel carried over many of the same qualities. Yet here is the sixth film in the
series, Hellraiser: Hellseeker, a completely derivative picture released straight to home video and made on a rather low budget with a flimsy
script leading the way. To the picture's credit, it casts a capable actor in the lead role, retains fan favorite Doug Bradley in the role of Pinhead, and sees
the return Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence), heroine of the first film and playing a large yet largely unseen role. Unfortunately, those pluses
don't outweigh the minuses. Hellseeker is competent on a base level and fans will enjoy a few grotesque visuals, but in total the movie serves
no real purpose other than to extend a series that's worn down its welcome.
Protect yourself from mayhem like Pinhead.
Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker's Blu-ray transfer isn't hellish, but neither is it Heavenly. This is, generally, a flat, dim, uninspired picture that benefits from the boosted resolution of Blu-ray but otherwise fares little better than a DVD. Details never impress. The image offers basic clarity and stability, but fine detail is lacking across the board. A lack of sharpness renders backgrounds a bit fuzzy, while faces, clothes, and other up-close visuals rarely enjoy more than simple, no-frills texturing. Colors are flat, and transitions along darker edges, such as shadowy faces, is poor. Light grain is evident in places, while other spots appear a bit smoothed over. This is an uneven transfer that does nothing remotely well but nothing egregiously poor, either. For a few dollars, though, it's unrealistic to expect more.
Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker fails to ignite sound systems, serving up a paltry, sonically uninteresting DTS-HD MA 2.0 lossless soundtrack. This is a direct to video picture, so low production values are a given, and a mediocre soundtrack is almost expected. There's an evident lifelessness to the track; it's one of little effort beyond delivering the basics. It lacks energy and sounds stale. Music plays routinely but efficiently across the front. Clarity is acceptable, no more and no less. A middling low end sensation sneaks out to play a few times but adds little heft or value to the track. There is fair spacing to reverberating voices, and general dialogue plays with suitable clarity. Basic sound effects, like squeaky brakes on a bus, are fine but unassuming and hardly lifelike. The track get the job done -- the spoken word is clear, and no effect or musical note sounds truly muddled -- but this is a low effort, low yield presentation.
Echo Bridge's Blu-ray release of Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker contains no supplements.
Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker is a rather unimaginative Horror picture, exactly the kind of thing one would expect of the sixth installment of a franchise on the DTV path. It efforts to return the series to its roots with the return of Actress Ashley Laurence, but her appearance is limited despite her character playing central to the plot. The other players -- including Winters and Bradley -- sleepwalk through their parts. Bradley appears on the screen less frequently than Laurence, leaving the movie in Winters' capable hands but also in a script that's confused and direction that's scattered. This is a serviceable time waster, but only diehard franchise fans really need apply. Echo Bridge's Blu-ray release doesn't impress. It features mediocre video and audio and no extras. Skip it.
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