Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

Hellraiser: Judgment Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 10, 2018

Jean-Paul Sartre’s iconic Existentialist play No Exit posited three lost souls locked in a room supposedly “down under” (like, hell) where, as the play’s very (English language) title may indicate, egress is impossible. At least Sartre’s characters had the good fortune (?) to be confined to a relatively decent abode that, according to Sartre’s stage directions, should be furnished in classical French style, a gambit which may in fact remind some of a supposedly “heavenly” (or at least something similar) locale in the psychedelic conclusion to Stanley Kubrick’s equally iconic 2001: A Space Odyssey. There are three (human) characters chasing a nefarious (hellish?) serial killer in Hellraiser: Judgment, the latest installment in the seemingly unending franchise that began way back in 1987 with the original Hellraiser, though some curmudgeons may feel like they’re the ones stuck in hell in this fitfully engaging but kind of diffused feeling sequel, one whose obvious budget limitations keep the furnishings decidedly on the dowdy side (yes, that's a joke). As even any diehard Hellraiser fans will probably agree, the franchise has certainly suffered from the so-called law of diminishing returns as it has wended its way through ten films, but those very same longtime fans may in fact find some elements of Hellraiser: Judgment satisfying enough to warrant checking this “installment” out. To say that Hellraiser: Judgment is at least relatively better than some of the other latter day follow ups is probably damning with faint praise (to put it mildly), but the film at least attempts to deal with some dangling plot threads from previous films while also obviously trying to set things up for another ten films (heaven — or hell — forfend).

The Hellraiser franchise has had a kind of interesting history on Blu-ray, and some and only some of the releases can be read about by clicking on the following links:

Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box Blu-ray review (Arrow's set includes the first three films)

Hellraiser Series: Multi-Feature (contains the next four sequels, Hellraiser: Bloodline , Hellraiser: Inferno, Hellraiser: Hellseeker, and Hellraiser: Deader)

Hellraiser: Hellworld

Hellraiser: Revelations

Hellraiser: Judgment has a rather long pre-credits sequence which documents a discussion between Pinhead (Paul T. Taylor) and The Auditor (Gary J. Tunnicliffe, who also wrote and directed) which almost sounds like something out of American Gods: Season 1, with mentions of old gods, or at least old sins, having given way to new “shiny objects”, be they divine or demonic. The two quickly decide on a strategy to document various sinners’ iniquities in a plot that ends up playing quasi-Biblically in at least somewhat the same way as efforts like Se7en.

And in fact the whole opening vignette, while unabashedly revolting in some ways, is also arguably the strongest thing about the film, with a sense of menace and unpredictability that the rest of the story really can’t quite sustain, especially after three cops get involved with murders that are again seemingly inspired by scriptural elements of yore. That said, the opening vignette is intentionally provocative in a way that is almost at The Human Centipede: The Complete Sequence levels, to the point that I only kinda sorta joke when I say “if you have a thing about seeing hogtied naked women slurp up vomit and you only have one film to see this year, you’d probably best make it Hellraiser: Judgment”. In a kind of weird shunting aside of what one would assume should be the main character, Pinhead kind of just sits off in a room by himself evidently thinking things over, while The Auditor assumes center stage as he questions a child molester, whose sins are recorded on a Steampunk-esque looking device and which later lead to a "verdict" rendered by those aforementioned evidently very hungry naked women.

The cop procedural side of things is decidedly more mundane, and a lot talkier, as Sean (Damon Carney) and David Carter (Randy Wayne), along with Christine Egerton (Alexandra Harris) go The X-Files route (replete with really shiny flashlights illuminating shadowy interiors) as they investigate what seem to be paranormal intrusions into our plane of existence. The tether between the scenes involving The Auditor and the cops becomes clearer later in the film when one of the police characters ends up as an “interrogation” subject himself.

Perhaps only because I reviewed it relatively recently, there were certain plot dynamics in play in Hellraiser: Judgment which at least kind of reminded me of some elements in Jigsaw, another recent attempt to rejigger and/or reinvent a venerable franchise. The ping ponging back and forth between procedural elements and the more supernatural aspects of the story was one such similarity, but what really struck me was how both of these films obviously want to honor a by now labyrinthine mythology (which almost inevitably includes competing plot points and/or storylines), while also at the same time setting things on a new course which is obviously designed to keep the franchise alive and kicking for several films yet to come. It's perhaps a fool's errand, and one which Hellraiser: Judgment in my estimation has a harder time achieving than the Saw reboot. There are some interesting stylistic flourishes here, and occasional (but actually kind of intermittent) forays into horrifying gore, but maybe Pinhead isn't thinking in that chair he's repeatedly seen in throughout this film -- he may in fact be taking a well deserved nap.

Hellraiser: Judgment Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hellraiser: Judgment is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Whatever the narrative deficits in the film, stylistically this is rather interesting a lot of the time, with grading that tends to exist either in sepia tones or blue hues, as can be seen in several of the screenshots accompanying this review. There are a number of digital tweaks that have been applied to the imagery, some of which intentionally mask detail levels, including moments that are "distressed" looking with digital grain, or some of the otherworldly moments where The Auditor interacts with his "supervisor" (see screenshot 5), where detail is intentionally is virtually nonexistent. Director Tunnicliffe exploits extreme close-ups quite a bit of the time (as can again be gleaned from some of the screenshots accompanying this review), and detail and fine detail levels tend to be quite high during these moments, despite often pretty severe color grading and other tweaks that alter things like contrast and brightness.

Hellraiser: Judgment Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hellraiser: Judgment features an appealingly forceful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that offers great support for huge washes of low end courtesy of both score and LFE. What might almost be characterized as waves of low ambient hum often build menacingly in the soundtrack, offering a perhaps subliminal level of angst. Gore effects are also often accompanied by pretty visceral sounding additions to the soundtrack, especially in a couple of evisceration scenes. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly on this problem free track.

Hellraiser: Judgment Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p; 7:10)


• Gag Reel (1080p; 4:23)

Hellraiser: Judgment Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite the almost unavoidably offensive aspects of the opening vignette, I actually thought Hellraiser: Judgment might pull the whole reboot thing off with at least a modicum of style, but once the police angle showed up, things ground to a pretty substantial halt, only picking up energy once The Auditor and his wacky crew got involved with one of the main human characters. There are obvious production design inadequacies here which probably stem from a limited budget, but some of the special effects work is rather well done, and the film boasts an interesting style, two elements which may make it more palatable for the avid Hellraiser fan than for the general horror film public. Technical merits (especially audio) are generally excellent for those considering a purchase.