The Corner Penthouse

The Hellraiser franchise has been one of the longest-running in the horror genre. To date there are 10 films in the series: Hellraiser (1987), Hellbound (1988), Hell on Earth (1992), Bloodline (1996), Inferno (2000), Hellseeker (2002), Hellworld (2005), Deader (2005), Revelations (2011), and the latest entry - Hellraiser: Judgment. I have seen every one of these films (save for maybe Revelations), and what's unique about this series is that most of the films after the first two have been standalone films that have had little to nothing to do with the ones that came before or after it. That's not a surprise since most of them are based on scripts that did not start off as Hellraiser projects. That doesn't change with Judgment, but that doesn't necessarily make it a bad film.


Hellraiser: Judgment opens with Pinhead (Paul T. Taylor) and The Auditor (Gary J. Tunnicliffe, who also wrote and directed) discussing sins, which then segues into a rather disgusting (and purposely so) sequence in which a child molester named Watkins goes through the duo's new interview and cleansing process. First The Auditor types up his responses on a typewriter using Watkins' blood as the ink. Those typed pages are then eaten and regurgitated by The Assessor (John Gulager), and that vomit is slopped up by a trio of naked hog-tied women known as The Jury. After they render their verdict, the subject is taken to be cleansed by The Butcher (Joel Decker) and The Surgeon (Jillyan Blundell), with the latter wearing an S&M gas mask outfit while sitting on a plank on the former's back. After they do their thing, the subject's blood is "money shotted" onto The Jury's bare breasts.


After that engrossing opening sequence, the film becomes a cop procedural for the bulk of its short runtime. Brothers Sean (Damon Carney) and David Carter (Randy Wayne) team up with Christine Egerton (Alexandra Harris) to find an elusive serial killer known as The Preceptor. His crimes are based on The Ten Commandments, which gives the film a sort of Se7en vibe to it. Occasionally, we go from these real world scenes to those on the paranormal plane with The Auditor taking the lead, while Pinhead just kind of sits off in a room by himself for some reason. The Auditor gets far more screen time than the supposedly main character.


It isn't until the very end that Pinhead gets something of significance to do, in a scene that bookends the film with gore, as much of the middle isn't very gory or scary. That's probably the big issue I had with the film. It played more like a cop drama than a horror film. Sure, it engaged me from start to finish, and I enjoyed the ride, but at the end, I couldn't have helped but to feel that if you pulled out the supernatural elements, the film still would have worked just fine.


Be sure to look out for horror legend Heather Langenkamp in a nearly unrecognizable cameo as the landlady, and a post-credits scene that could be used to set up future films in this series.


As revealed by the unaltered footage on the gag reel, the police station exterior is actually the Oklahoma Flower Market at 36 North Broadway Circle in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.


At a runtime of 1:21:08, Hellraiser: Judgment is presented in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio with an 1080p transfer. Picture is crisp and clear with no issues that I noticed. On the audio side, there's an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio audio track, which is loud and clear. The film contains 16 chapters and includes English SDH and Spanish subtitles. The first print run includes a slipsleeve. Interestingly, the movie was filmed between February 15th and March 5th, 2016, so it took two years for it to be released.


A small selection of new bonus features were created for this release, all of which are in HD.

• 2 Deleted and Extended Scenes: "Extended Watkins Cleansing" and "Egerton Goes To Church" (7:10)
• Gag Reel (4:23)

I actually enjoyed the gag reel very much, perhaps even more so than the main feature itself - but DON'T watch it before watching the film as it spoils the twist. With Heather Langenkamp having a small role in the film, it seems only fitting that Freddy Krueger has a walk-on cameo in the gag reel.


Hellraiser: Judgment, which is available on Blu-ray and DVD, is the latest in a film series that ran its course a decade or two ago. Why they keep pumping out sequels instead of just rebooting the damn thing is beyond me. Original Pinhead Doug Bradley left after the first eight films. When the original star of a film series decides its time to move on - see Steve Guttenburg in the Police Academy series or Anna Faris in the Scary Movie series - perhaps viewers should, too.


Final Verdict: Recommended only to diehard Hellraiser fans only. All others Rent or Skip.

You can buy the earlier Hellraiser films on Blu-ray at Amazon using these links: The Scarlet Box Trilogy (first three films), Hellraiser Collection (next four films), Deader, and Revelations.


Images 2, 3, 4, and 8 were provided by Lionsgate. Images 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10 were grabbed from the movie on the disc. The Blu-ray has been provided by Lionsgate for review on this site.