Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

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David M.
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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#76 Post by David M. » Tue Jan 15, 2019 6:29 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:17 am
Bizarre 5+ minute commercial from the original VHS of the first movie for "Watch and Wear" Hellraiser-branded attire and accessories. Features clothing draped over assorted bloody body parts!
That's actually on the BD. I'm not sure which disc it's hidden on though.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#77 Post by M Sanderson » Fri Feb 01, 2019 4:39 pm

colinr0380 wrote:
Tue Jan 15, 2019 5:28 pm
Surprisingly he is a bit more positive about Hellraiser III!
At the time it did attract some good reviews including Kim Newman and Time Out’s Nigel Floyd.

I think there’s some very good stuff in the movie and that it improves on some aspects of the original.

My feeling has always been that part 2 is emphatically the weak link.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#78 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Feb 01, 2019 4:56 pm

I would agree M. Sanderson. I really like the main plot of Hellraiser III and the way it interweaves the fate of the naive and exploited first girl (both obviously by the main bad guy and implied by the journalist main character herself, even if it is suggested to more just be a tragic misunderstanding on her part. Awfully ironically the naivety falls away just when it would have been better to have blindly trusted someone the most) becoming perhaps the most tragic Cenobite in the series because we have gotten to know her in depth before she becomes one; the main character's memories of her father (intertwining World War I and Vietnam in a unique manner); and the splitting apart of the main villain into duelling opposite aspects of pure good and evil before the eventual redemption. I even quite like the jump to the United States! The flaws in Part III to me are when the goofy Cenobites with the catchphrases and chasing current trends (CD-head!) appear, because it tips the delicate balance of horror and bizarre events into some more obviously comic areas.

But then that is what ties the third film together with the first two films as well, as I find all three full of great ideas and scenes (the heroine getting trussed up S&M-style and threatened with becoming a Cenobite herself is quite a daring scene late on in Hell on Earth, along with the cathedral defilement scene) as well as having moments that tip too far into the comic. I don't think any of the three films are wholly successful, but I think they mostly succeed with a few clunky moments rather than mostly fail with a few successful parts, if that is a good distinction to make. And when all three films are moving through their finest passages they feature some of the most vivid scenes in the horror genre.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#79 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:25 am

It has been a little while but I have watched through the rest of the material on this set. Hellraiser III is still an interesting mix of goofily silly and quite effectively disturbing. I really like the performances (especially by Terry Farrell, who plays a lot of the wackiness with a commendably straight face,and Paula Marshall's great tragic supporting character arc) and the shift to the United States results in a different look and feel to the film, but not a bad one, just different.

I was struck this time by the way Hellraiser III feels quite influenced by the just released Terminator 2 more than the previous sequels in its own series in some ways. Ashley Laurence's brief to camera videotaped scene ranting crazily about how she is not crazy and all of this stuff actually happened is a bit like Linda Hamilton's introductory scene in the asylum in T2. Similarly Hellraiser III in its last act turns into a kind of relentless chase scene through an industrial hellscape (aka an urban downtown area) until a substitute father figure steps in to finish the baddie off on behalf of the human who has touched his heart. And the abundance of CGI feels like it is trying to be like T2 in never seen before body morphing spectacle, if not quite on the same budget level.

Does that make the big club massacre scene in the middle of Hellraiser III the equivalent of the biker bar scene in T2? I suppose at least Pinhead does not put on shades to "Bad To The Bone", though he is wearing about the same amount of leather as Arnie! (Also I really like the drawn out aftermath of the club massacre with our heroine (luckily) arriving late and picking her way through piles of mutilated bodies into the heart of the horror, and this time it made me think that the drawn out nature of that might be alluding to the expedition of the protagonist into the plague graves in Barker's short story The Life of Death, as she becomes fully contaminated by the horrible sights she is witnessing)

Plus "Hell On Earth" versus "Judgment Day" for subtitles are even similar and could be interchangable in their apocalyptically religious end of days fevour, though that might be stretching a point too far!

I liked all of the making of material on the disc (especially Paula Marshall's interview with a great anecdote about being recognised for her role whilst in the crowd at a basketball game by another celebrity!). The silent SFX footage was interesting though twenty minutes of lingering on gore effects got quite intense! (Whilst it is the most low key element I especially liked the shot of the table with a person having to pick up and remove one CD after another six times until the table is bare, presumably so that there is footage of every state the DJ desk is in for the CGI artists to do their work)

The contemporary EPK was fine, and most interesting for featuring some contemporary comments from Clive Barker himself about the third film. It also mentions in an aside before the video abruptly finishes that apparently Clive Barker himself directed the Motörhead music video (though it is credited to Hellraiser III's director, Anthony Hickox on imdb). The music video does not appear on the disc (unless its hidden away as an Easter egg), so I thought I would link to it here: Hellraiser, in which Lemmy torments poor Pinhead with heavy metal and turns out to be a much scarier character than any Cenobite!
___

And I watched the 'Clive Barker Legacy' disc. I absolutely love The Forbidden and it looks fantastic here. The skinning scene still feels incredibly visceral even knowing now that it was just layers of dried paint being peeled off! Salomé may be my favourite film version of that play, despite being completely silent (though Bob Hoskins' reaction to seeing a clip of the 1953 film version playing on a hospital television in Felicia's Journey might come a close second!)

It was also really nice to have those featurettes going beyond the three Hellraiser films collected in the set, with one discussing Barker's writings (I would very much recommend The Thief of Always as another great Barker work, despite being dismissed as just a 'children's book' in the featurette) and adaptations from them into film, whilst the other interviewed directors and actors who were in the rest of the series. Unfortunately I have not seen any of the later Hellraiser films after Bloodlines (which felt like the perfect stopping point really!) to really comment on how in depth they go but it was nice to have some discussion of them here. Its kind of similar to the wider context featurette that Arrow produced a couple of years later for the Ring set.

The Hellraiser Chronicles: A Question of Faith half hour piece was a nice inclusion (particularly for the addition of a filmmaker commentary over it as well, which was unexpected!), but felt a little underwhelming too. I would perhaps complain a bit that it never really felt too much as if the box was motivating the action (to the point of one character mockingly stubbing her cigarette out on it, which is probably the funniest shot in the piece!), and this feels more like a general story of a disgraced priest performing an exorcism to save his similarly disgraced mentor with a bit of Hellraiser stylings layered on top of it rather than feeling particularly from the Hellraiser mythos per se (even the inclusion of the prerequisite hooking chains imagery feels added because it has to be rather than arising naturally).

However it is hard to be too harsh on it as it should really be seen as a nice bonus piece rather than something that has to carry the weight of expectations in a set already packed full of extra material. But on a disc with two even lower-fi black and white, silent short films that manage to be disturbing and beautiful even today, A Question of Faith feels a bit like the way one of the commercial television channels would make a Hellraiser series, which is a wholly different stylistic thing! I do admire the obvious love of the series that inspired the filmmakers though, even if I was also slightly distracted in an early scene by reminiscing that my grandma had the exact same kind of gas fire with a bronze pock-marked metal finish back in the early 90s!
Last edited by colinr0380 on Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

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FigrinDan
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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#80 Post by FigrinDan » Fri Nov 15, 2019 11:18 am

As I understand, the individual releases from Arrow are the same discs that were released in The Scarlet Box. I have had trouble trying to find the US rating for the included Hellbound: Hellraiser II. It is UK Rated 18, but am not able to determine if it is the US R rated cut or Unrated cut. Anyone familiar enough with this film to let me know? Thanks.

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Paul Moran
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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#81 Post by Paul Moran » Sat Nov 16, 2019 8:51 am

FigrinDan wrote:
Fri Nov 15, 2019 11:18 am
As I understand, the individual releases from Arrow are the same discs that were released in The Scarlet Box. I have had trouble trying to find the US rating for the included Hellbound: Hellraiser II. It is UK Rated 18, but am not able to determine if it is the US R rated cut or Unrated cut. Anyone familiar enough with this film to let me know? Thanks.
According to Rewind, it is the Unrated cut.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#82 Post by Finch » Fri Apr 10, 2020 6:03 pm


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Adam X
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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#83 Post by Adam X » Sun Apr 12, 2020 11:18 am

Given how many times a remake has been in the works, I'm personally not holding my breath. I've not seen The Night House, but David Bruckner directing is pooosibly interesting. David S. Goyer on the other hand has been involved in more bad cinema than good, though who's to say whose fault that was. Spyglass being quoted as saying it'd be “loyal, yet evolved” however, doesn't bode very well (plus do we really need a Scream reboot!), though I'm not sure anything could get worse than all of the Dimension-produced 'sequels'.

Whatever and whenever anything happens, at least we'll still have Clive Barker's original novella & film.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#84 Post by yoloswegmaster » Thu Jul 27, 2023 6:28 pm

4K boxset coming in October:

Image

Brand new 4K restorations of all four films from the original camera negatives by Arrow Films
Ultra High Definition (2160p) presentations of all four films in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original lossless stereo and DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio for all four films
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Ages of Desire, an exclusive 200-page hardback book with new writing from Clive Barker archivists Phil and Sarah Stokes
Limited edition layered packaging featuring brand new Pinhead artwork

DISC 1 - HELLRAISER

Brand new audio commentary featuring genre historian (and unit publicist of Hellraiser) Stephen Jones with author and film critic Kim Newman
Archival audio commentary with writer/director Clive Barker and actor Ashley Laurence, moderated by Peter Atkins
Archival audio commentary with writer/director Clive Barker
Power of Imagination – brand new 60-minute discussion about Hellraiser and the work of Clive Barker by film scholars Sorcha Ní Fhlainn (editor of Clive Barker: Dark Imaginer) and Karmel Kniprath
Unboxing Hellraiser – brand new visual essay celebrating the Lament Configuration by genre author Alexandra Benedict (The Beauty of Murder)
The Pursuit of Possibilities – brand new 60-minute discussion between acclaimed horror authors Paula D. Ashe (We Are Here To Hurt Each Other) and Eric LaRocca (Everything the Dark Eats) celebrating the queerness of Hellraiser and the importance of Clive Barker as a queer writer
Flesh is a Trap – brand new visual essay exploring body horror and transcendence in the work of Clive Barker by genre author Guy Adams (The World House)
Newly uncovered extended EPK interviews with Clive Barker and stars Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, and effects artist Bob Keen, shot during the making of Hellraiser, with a new introduction by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman
Original 1987 Electronic Press Kit
Being Frank: Sean Chapman on Hellraiser – archival interview with the actor
Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellraiser – archival interview with the iconic actor about his first appearance as ‘Pinhead’
Soundtrack Hell: The Story of the Abandoned Coil Score – archival interview with Coil member Stephen Thrower
Trailers and TV spots
Image gallery
Draft screenplays

DISC 2 - HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II

Brand new audio commentary featuring Stephen Jones and Kim Newman
Archival audio commentary with director Tony Randel, writer Peter Atkins and actor Ashley Laurence
Audio commentary with director Tony Randel and writer Peter Atkins
Hell Was What They Wanted! – brand new 80-minute appreciation of Hellbound, the Hellraiser mythos and the work of Clive Barker by horror authors George Daniel Lea (Born in Blood) and Kit Power (The Finite)
That Rat-Slice Sound – brand new appreciation of composer Christopher Young’s scores for Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II by Guy Adams
Archival on-set interview with Clive Barker
Archival on-set interview with cast and crew
Behind the scenes footage
Being Frank: Sean Chapman on Hellbound – archival interview about the actor’s return to the role of Frank Cotton
Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellbound – archival interview with the iconic actor about his second appearance as ‘Pinhead’
Lost in the Labyrinth – archival featurette featuring interviews with Barker, Randel, Keen, Atkins and others
Trailers and TV spots
Image gallery

DISC 3 - HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH

Alternative Unrated version (contains standard definition inserts)
Brand new audio commentary featuring Stephen Jones and Kim Newman
Archival audio commentary with screenwriter Peter Atkins (Theatrical Cut only)
Archival audio commentary with director Anthony Hickox and actor Doug Bradley (Unrated Version only)
Previously unseen extended EPK featuring interviews with Clive Barker and Doug Bradley
FX dailies
Time with Terri – archival interview with actor Paula Marshall
Raising Hell on Earth – archival interview with director Anthony Hickox
Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellraiser III – archival interview with the iconic actor about his third appearance as ‘Pinhead’
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery

DISC 4 - HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE

Brand new audio commentary featuring screenwriter Peter Atkins, with Stephen Jones and Kim Newman
The Beauty of Suffering – brand new featurette exploring the Cenobites' connection to goth, fetish cultures and BDSM
Newly uncovered workprint version of the film, providing a fascinating insight into how it changed during post production
Hellraiser Evolutions – archival documentary on the evolution of the franchise and its enduring legacy, featuring interviews with Scott Derrickson (director, Hellraiser: Inferno), Rick Bota (director, Hellraiser: Hellseeker, Deader and Hellworld), Stuart Gordon (director, Re-Animator, From Beyond) and others
Books of Blood and Beyond: The Literary Works of Clive Barker – archival appreciation by horror author David Gatwalk of Barker’s written work, from The Books of Blood to The Scarlet Gospels
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Easter egg

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#85 Post by beamish14 » Fri Jul 28, 2023 10:23 am

That workprint of Bloodline has been a holy grail for years

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#86 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Jul 28, 2023 11:33 am

I'm glad to see Bloodline finally getting acknowledged as I have always felt that the first four films should be bracketed together, not least because the ending of Hell On Earth involves the Lament Configuration box being buried in the cement foundations of what comes to be the building that the 'present day' scenes of the fourth film are set in. After we had the backstory of Pinhead in Hellraiser III, Bloodline is the history of the box, going from creation to eventual destruction through the story of the cursed generations of the family who created it. Having said that I am a little annoyed that Bloodline could not have been included in the previous set, but the upgrade to UHD, inclusion of the Stephen Jones and Kim Newman commentaries and the workprint of Bloodline certainly helps a bit to mitigate that! Plus all the added extra features.

Although it looks like the Clive Barker: Legacy disc (including the crucial to the genesis of Hellraiser, and wonderful in themselves, early avant-garde shorts The Forbidden and Salome) has been replaced by the focus on Bloodline, which means that the Scarlet Box is still very much worth hanging on to for completeness.
beamish14 wrote:
Fri Jul 28, 2023 10:23 am
That workprint of Bloodline has been a holy grail for years
There was an excellent article in Shivers magazine soon after the film's release which helped to unpick what happened to Bloodline between the workprint and the theatrical version. I will try and look it out but off the top of my head the massive change that rather damaged the coherence of the film was that originally there was a much more linear sequence of events which followed the creation of the Lament Configuration box in 18th Century France before moving to the present day US for the majority of its story, and which then climaxed with the notorious 'Pinhead in Space' future spaceship section. But the studio apparently wanted to get to the space scenes quicker which led to apparently a massive chunk of the period France section being removed (which ruins the more restrained build up to the opening of the box and introduction of the new Pinhead-equivalent in the figure of Angelique, which gets rather undermined when you have already seen pre-emptive glimpses of Pinhead posturing on a spacestation!) and scenes being intercut with each other to the point of incoherence. Plus the centrepiece horror section involving the creation of the siamese twin cenobite was cut down (the twins being played by Mark and Michael Polish, who more famously would go on to become writer-directors in the late 90s with the likes of Twin Falls Idaho and Northfork).

It is a fascinating film though - you can see influences from Cronos (in the period France section), Poltergeist III (in the present day 'terrorised in an apartment block' section) and, um, I guess Critters 4 in the space section! Aging horror film franchises jumping the shark by being set in space for their fourth - or even later - installment became a meme with all of these films, including the same year as Bloodline's Leprechaun 4: In Space and 2002's Jason X!
Last edited by colinr0380 on Fri Jul 28, 2023 12:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#87 Post by The Curious Sofa » Fri Jul 28, 2023 12:16 pm

Anticipating the space set instalment, there often is an urban/hood/high rise instalment, which kind of happens with Hellraiser too, as it moves from a suburban setting to LA by number 3. I'm hoping for The Evil Dead to head into space next after it just cleared that hurdle.

I first saw Hellraiser III at a pre-release screening at Fantasy Filmfest in Germany and it was far more gory than the unrated version. Anthony Hickox was there to introduce the movie and explained that it was the cut they sent to the MPA and that version was never meant to get a release.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

#88 Post by beamish14 » Fri Jul 28, 2023 12:22 pm

Writer Peter Atkins did a Q&A in between the first two films at the American Cinematheque in 2022 and had some very amusing/horrifying stories about dealing with Bob Weinstein on Bloodline, whose moods seemed to vacillate wildly depending on what drugs he was taking

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#89 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Jul 28, 2023 12:44 pm

I suppose that the timing was against Hellraiser: Bloodline as well, in pushing it way down the priority list for the Weinsteins, as this was released in March 1996 and in December of that year The English Patient was turning Miramax into the doyenne of the Academy Awards, but also simultaneously back in the 'genre ghetto' of the Dimension Films label December '96 was also the point at which the first Scream film became a massive success too, revitalised the slasher film trend with an added dose of knowing meta-irony and ended up defining the 90s in horror. In comparison to Scream, Bloodline felt like the end of a certain trend of films rather than new blood in the genre.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#90 Post by M Sanderson » Fri Jul 28, 2023 4:17 pm

I've always wanted Hellraiser 4 and 5 to come to 4k, but thought we'd be lucky if Vinegar Syndrome, or a similar company, would get round to it. Glad it's Arrow - Psycho 1-4 and Hellraiser 1-4 UHD upgrades are serious acquisitions - as I have long been frustrated by VS's encodes/compression on their 4ks (not only Death Wish 2).

(*Which is the best current presentation of part V: Inferno - the German media book, an SD upscale, or the US/Australian Blu-rays? ... and who is likely to give this film a fresh lick of paint? It is somewhat coveted, given its direction by the talented Scott Derrickson, the presence of Craig "Nightbreed" Scheffer and a reputation as "Hellraiser: Bad Lieutenant" plus surreal Lynchian scenes.)

Really surprising announcement. An opportunity to try again with part 2 - I've been watching a few Tony Randel films and he can be superb (Ticks and Amityville 1992).

And to see part IV, which apparently has some style and ambition even after being mutilated.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#91 Post by beamish14 » Fri Jul 28, 2023 7:13 pm

M Sanderson wrote:
Fri Jul 28, 2023 4:17 pm
I
Really surprising announcement. An opportunity to try again with part 2 - I've been watching a few Tony Randel films and he can be superb (Ticks and Amityville 1992).

Like John Lafia of Child’s Play 2 fame, he directed an amazing sequel to an iconic original but clearly had limited options available to him later in his career. Randel was an executive at New World Pictures, and Barker must have really had strong faith in his abilities

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#92 Post by Finch » Mon Jul 31, 2023 3:06 pm

Re Bloodline workprint

Image

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#93 Post by M Sanderson » Thu Aug 03, 2023 5:49 pm

beamish14 wrote:
Fri Jul 28, 2023 7:13 pm
M Sanderson wrote:
Fri Jul 28, 2023 4:17 pm
I
Really surprising announcement. An opportunity to try again with part 2 - I've been watching a few Tony Randel films and he can be superb (Ticks and Amityville 1992).

Like John Lafia of Child’s Play 2 fame, he directed an amazing sequel to an iconic original but clearly had limited options available to him later in his career. Randel was an executive at New World Pictures, and Barker must have really had strong faith in his abilities
never seen Child's Play 2 but heard it goes all out, getting surreal and expressionistic.

re Randel - I'd love to revisit Fist of the North Star and Children of the Night if they ever get upgraded.


Wondering what Arrow's next big 4k upgrade will be, after Psycho & Hellraiser 1-4 boxes, maybe next year. Phantasm, Re-Animator?

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#94 Post by colinr0380 » Thu Aug 03, 2023 6:16 pm

I am not sure about surreal and expressionistic, but I quite like Child's Play 2, although it does kind of "Alien 3" its main character's backstory by compounding Andy's misfortunes by removing his mother between installments and then having him being tentatively adopted (by Jenny Agutter no less!), which allows the film to tackle ideas of children in care and how once Andy starts begging for people to take him seriously about that homicidal doll again, notions of how easy it is for foster parents to return 'problem' children back to the agency as 'damaged goods'. Which pairs up well with how Andy was treated in the first film, when he is disbelieved by all the adults around him and even placed in an insane asylum under suspicion of having killed his babysitter. I think tackling those kind of issues make those first two films in particular fascinating and dealing with some quite difficult themes under the guise of a silly horror film (especially the way that in both films Chucky 'remains under cover' for the first half by hiding behind the actions of the boy, with the implication that he is acting as Andy's unrestrained id, and one which Andy has to battle against to move on and 'grow up' from. I sometimes amuse myself by wondering if the boy in the Toy Story films was himself named Andy as a sly nod to the Child's Play series!), and in retrospect it probably set the series up directly in the sights as a good target for tabloid controversy in the UK by the time of the third entry.

It also may be worth thinking of Child's Play 2 as tonally similar to the more brutally cynical with a blackly comicbook misanthropic streak Robocop 2 that came out around the same time. Plus Child's Play 2 does have Grace Zabriske in a supporting role as the rather uncaring adoption agency worker, who (spoiler)
SpoilerShow
gets a memorable death by photocopier!
Last edited by colinr0380 on Sat Aug 05, 2023 7:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#95 Post by Mr Sausage » Thu Aug 03, 2023 6:50 pm

"Surreal and expressionistic" is overstating things. It's the kind of horror sequel that doesn't do what the original did all that well, but compensates for that by taking the breaks off and going a bit nuts, especially in the climax. It's not especially good, but it is a lot of fun. That said, there are much, much nuttier sequels in this ongoing(!) series, like Seed of Chucky and Cult of Chucky.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#96 Post by Finch » Thu Aug 03, 2023 8:39 pm

At the pace that the set is selling, we might see standalone releases of each film sooner than later.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#97 Post by M Sanderson » Thu Aug 03, 2023 9:52 pm

Child's Play 2 does sound intriguing, going by responses on this thread and also reviews on Letterboxd. I was all set to buy the Shout 4k until I heard about issues with the audio track. I did like Holland's original, as fun and well crafted as his Fright Night, both of which were very pleasant to watch in 4k.

Intrigued by the Robocop 2 comparison. I did actually like how much further that went, darker, more extreme, less disciplined, and more all over the shop in its cartoon satire. This is another film I would actually hope for Shout to upgrade (something they are getting reliably good at).

Anyway, hoping this Hellraiser box makes someone, somewhere, make an effort for part 5: Inferno, which has some terrific work by Scott Derrickson. Which I have never even seen in full HD.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#98 Post by Grand Wazoo » Wed Oct 25, 2023 8:16 pm

Does someone have the region A UHD rights to some or all films in this box? Or do we think it may be one of those Arrow releases that appear stateside down the line like the Ringu box?

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#99 Post by dwk » Wed Oct 25, 2023 9:27 pm

Parts 1 and 2 are owned by Lakeshore (now a subsidiary of Village Roadshow), while parts 3 and 4 are owned by Miramax (whose home video rights are controlled by Paramount.) Arrow has US deals with both companies, so a US release is possible.

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Re: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

#100 Post by cdnchris » Fri Nov 03, 2023 12:14 pm

Watching the "work print' for Bloodline was... interesting. This movie never had a hope in hell of actually being good, and if Yagher's actual cut eventually surfaced, I'd put money down on it still being a turd, if a polished one. But this edit still manages to help it, with it now mostly told in order.

I've not seen it since it was released on VHS, but I recall the film not making much sense, at least in the motivations of the two antagonists, Angelique and Pinhead. My understanding was whatever Ramsay's character is trying to do (and Ramsay is still completely devoid of personality in this edit), it would destroy Pinhead, or at least close the gate to Hell (or something), but then maybe allow the gate to stay open, which is what Pinhead wanted, and maybe Angelique, but then it also seemed like Angelique thought it would destroy Pinhead. Or not. And I don't think it was clear why she would even want that. Watching the original version (which looks ridiculously good, I must add) still didn't clarify anything. Why would Angelique wish to open the box at one point, only for it to drag her back to Hell? It seemed evident (to me, at least) that's what would happen.

Well, holy shit, this edit actually clarifies a lot of that, and what's frustrating is that it's not a lot of exposition, so as to why it was cut and altered, I have no clue. Basically, this edit clarifies what Angelique wants and makes her conflict with Pinhead more explicit. I feel like they were trying to make their thing more flirty or whatever it was supposed to be in the finished version, but it doesn't come off that way and makes zero sense. When she comes back on the space station (and the whole "space" thing, I should add, actually feels more organic in this cut since the movie no longer throws you into it with such WTF-ness) and appears more docile, it makes sense. Also, that scene where she seems to have wanted to open the box only to get dragged back to hell is entirely different and makes far more sense, and it just comes to the order of how things are edited. In the original, she has the box opened, only for the chains to come out and grab her and drag her back. In this edit, it's clear she's actually trying to "kill" Pinhead, only for him to call the chains and trap her in them. It's later, when the box is opened that she is pulled in.

But then I'm lost as to why they would do any of this. The movie was a lost cause, but it was literally a couple of extra lines and a slight change in editing, and the film makes far more sense. And it's not like the story drastically changed. The edit also clarifies why the building Ramsay has constructed is more of a threat, and again, it's an added shot of him trying to run the lights and a couple of extra lines of dialogue. It's wild how a few tweaks and adjustments manage to improve things.

And then, of course, after I watched it, I realized I legitimately hoped this would turn out to be good, as the idea behind the film is not actually bad. And it's still not good. It has moments, but it's still terrible. And I also realized that I have so much invested in this series despite the fact I really only genuinely like one of the films, which is the first one, that I keep hoping to find another one that could come close. Derrickson's take is probably the only other one I can say is "okay" at least, but they all pretty much suck after the first. I saw the original much later while in college in the late '90s, and it was the first horror film that really got to me, the first one I can say actually scared me. There's genuine "evil" in it, and what's funny is it is all found in the two central human characters, not the cenobites at all, who are literally just there because it's their 9 to 5 job, which is what the sequels always seem to get wrong. I even watched Revelations, easily one of the worst films ever made (despite seeming to understand what made the first one work, funny enough), with the hope of finding something like the first again. But yeah, it's clear Bloodline never had a chance.

Edit: I'm also dying to know how excited Adam Scott was to be called back in to do reshoots and have his role expanded only to then see the finished film.

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