I believe it’s in his book Story where Robert McKee explains that the creation of a good story doesn’t just entail the construction of the story but the telling of it. This idea returned to me following my viewing of Hellraiser: Revelations. The film’s largely negative consensus is somewhat accurate. The effects are cheap, the look is cheap and the dialogue is awful. The story however is, in my opinion, quite decent. Perhaps the overall problem is its failure to follow McKee’s principle. It’s a decent story, just poorly told.

The ninth instalment in the series, Hellraiser: Revelations sees the families of two missing men trying to have dinner in their absence. They are interrupted by the sudden appearance of one of their missing sons. The families ask him for the whereabouts of the other son. As the night progresses, the delirious man begins to tells his story, which starts in Mexico with the pursuit of a strange puzzle box.

What I Expected

I remember when the trailer for Revelations hit the net back in 2011. Like everyone else, I thought it was awful. It looked like American Pie crossed with Hellraiser, which could be an interesting mix but this didn’t look like it.

I was expecting the all-time worst Hellraiser, worse than Hellworld. I was expecting to be bored by the one-dimensional characters and frustrated by its use of the found-footage technique. I was expecting to have nothing to say beyond ‘it’s awful.’

What I Got

Revelations is as cheap and poorly made as its trailer indicates but I can’t help but admire its intentions.

Revelations is a family-drama that reintroduces elements of the original Hellraiser’s mythology. I don’t want to spoil anything (yes, it has things to be spoiled) but I will reveal that the plot involves a resurrection and a cenobite transformation, the latter I haven’t seen since Bloodline I think.

The families we’re introduced to appear to be ordinary well-off Los Angelenos who’re grieving their two missing sons. When one returns, we begin to learn that certain members of both families are hiding dark secrets, secrets that gradually spill out following the son’s reappearance. These are not just flawed individuals, these are people who have acted wrongfully and tried to hide it. They’re not beautifully written but they’re very appropriate for a Hellraiser story as, like Doctor Faustus, they almost deserve what they get in the end.

Is it good? Not really. The constant switching between the found footage and the narrative is unnecessarily baffling, the dialogue is terrible, particularly Pinhead’s as all his lines sound like desperate attempts to sound as deep and meaningful as his quotes from the first couple of Hellraisers, and the performances and overall production value certainly doesn’t help.

While I can understand the universal contempt Revelations received, I cannot call it the worst Hellraiser. Despite what many fans and critics have said, Revelations is attempting to do something dignified. It tries to take the themes and lore of the original Hellraiser and place it in a new context, the problems are simply in the execution. You can say it’s badly made but I don’t think you can truly say you hate it. I can’t anyway.

I give Hellraiser: Revelations a fair 4 out of 10.

One more to go….