Judgment Soap Box

Hellraiser review Clive Barker’s pinhead horror brings its message back.

In this gorefest that is blackly comic, which was released in the last 30 years, a couple confronts an army of demons from hell as they move into an eerie old house. As grotesque as soap shows … Hellraiser.

The most gruesome of soap shows … Hellraiser. Photograph: New World/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock

“No tears please, it’s the waste of your good pain!” Thirty years on, the reissue of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser increases its mostly deliberate black-comic horror.

Clare Higgins gives an entertainingly elegant performance as Julia and returns with her new partner Larry (Andrew Robinson) to reside in his mother’s creepy London home but discovers it hidden inside is the mangled corpse of Larry’s brother, as well as her ex-love – Frank (Sean Chapman) who traded his body to demons from the netherworld who are summoned by an ancient, occult item.

The demons are the famous and bizarrely beautiful white man with spikes that hang from his head. However, she still loves the pants off this disgusting Vesalian flayed monster and agrees to lure men into the home during the daytime to allow Frank to take them down and feast on blood, which will bring him back to his full humanity.

Extremely absurd and totally absurd – yet incredibly powerful and imaginative Guignol festival that is reminiscent of the most horrific soap operas, where one bad move can open the door to hell.