Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Tony Randel

Writers:

Clive Barker (story)
Peter Atkins (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 December 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

It will tear your soul apart... again.

Plot:

Kirsty is brought to an institution after the death of her family, where the occult-obsessive head resurrects Julia and unleashes the Cenobites once again.

Plot Keywords:

Puzzle | Demon | Hell | Mattress | Psychiatric Hospital

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Clare Higgins	...	Julia Cotton
Ashley Laurence	...	Kirsty Cotton
Kenneth Cranham	...	Dr. Philip Channard / Channard Cenobite
Imogen Boorman	...	Tiffany
Sean Chapman	...	Frank Cotton (also archive footage)
William Hope	...	Kyle MacRae
Doug Bradley	...	Pinhead / Captain Elliot Spencer
Barbie Wilde	...	Female Cenobite
Simon Bamford	...	Butterball Cenobite
Nicholas Vince	...	Chatterer Cenobite
Oliver Smith	...	Browning / Skinless Frank
Angus MacInnes	...	Detective Ronson (as Angus McInnes)
Deborah Joel	...	Skinless Julia
James Tillitt	...	Officer Cortez
Bradley Lavelle	...	Officer Kucich

Also Known As:

Hellraiser II

Runtime:

97 min | USA:99 min (uncut version) | Germany:78 min (TV version) (heavily cut) | West Germany:88 min (theatrical version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

West Germany:18 (video rating) (heavily cut) | New Zealand:R16 | Sweden:15 | Finland:K-18 (DVD rating) | Australia:R | Canada:R | France:-12 | Iceland:(Banned) | Iceland:16 (cut) | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | Norway:18 | Singapore:R21 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Film Futures

Trivia:

Andrew Robinson refused to reprise his role as Larry Cotton, forcing hasty script rewrites. This partially accounts for the muddled story structure of the final film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the Cenobites appear in Dr. Channard's office, the curtains are ripped away from the window, and you can see the string that rips them away.

Quotes:

Pinhead: Ah, Kirsty. We thought we lost you.
Female Cenobite: So sweet of you to come back.
Pinhead: How can it send us back, child? We're already here... and so are you!
[Pinhead transforms the box into the Leviathan Configuration]
Kirsty Cotton: I didn't open the box!
Female Cenobite: "Didn't open the box." And what was it last time, "Didn't know what the box was?" And yet, we do keep finding each other, don't we?
Pinhead: Oh, Kirsty. So eager to play, so reluctant to admit it.
Female Cenobite: Perhaps you're teasing us. Are you teasing us?
Kirsty Cotton: I've come for my father!
[the Cenobites laugh at that]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Edited into Hellbound: Hellraiser II - Lost in the Labyrinth (2000) (V)

A roller coaster ride of violence and sheer terror!

After the strange events of the first movie,Kirsty is sent to a Institution for the Mentally Sick, commanded by the mysterious Dr. Channard,a crazed psychologist who is willing to open the doors of hell by manipulating the Puzzle Box.In doing so,Channard brings Kirsty's perverse stepmother Julia back to life,and consequently he provokes the rage of the dreadful cenobites,the cruel and evil creatures that give pleasure and pain in the same measure.Hellbound Hellraiser 2 is an extremely well-done film,thanks to the generous budget given to newcomer filmmaker Tony Randel and a first-rate production.The special effects are simply terrific (specially considering the time in which the movie was done,1988) and they create a bombastic,scary visual.I never saw a movie with such an incredible scenery and imagery,except maybe for Dark City.Clive Barker's vision of hell is brought to life with mastery through the work of Randel and Director of Photography Robin Vidgeon. The plot sustains the tension and keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish,though the first half hour of Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a little bit slow and descriptive (but never boring); a great portion of the action and the terror is concentrated in the last minutes. The last thirty ones are a realistic and gutsy "tour de force" through fear,violence and suffering.This is definitively a masterpiece, but not for the squeamish.Hellbound: Hellraiser II is rated R for extreme violence and sex scenes,it runs 99 minutes(uncut version released by Anchor Bay).It stars Clare Higgins as Julia, Ashley Laurence as Kirsty, Imogen Boorman as Tiffany,William Hope as Kyle McRae and Kenneth Cranham as Dr. Channard.If you like this movie, you might also enjoy Phenomena and Suspiria.