Hellraiser: Judgment Movie Review
Three detectives investigate a serial killer known as Preceptor, a sadistic madman whose murders are based on the Ten Commandments--no points for originality there. Meanwhile, Pinhead and the Auditor of the Stygian Inquisition (Gary J. Tunnicliffe) are devising ways to collect new souls. Let me answer the question you are probably asking if you have not already seen this movie--no, Doug Bradley does not come back to the series for the tenth installment; instead, we have Paul T. Taylor taking over the role of Pinhead, and while no Doug Bradley, he is a step up from the guy we saw play the lead Cenobite in the ninth film.
He looks a lot like the Pinhead we know and love
The direction of Pinhead's crew is a little different here, and the Cenobites are largely gone, replaced by the Stygian Inquisition, a less fearsome looking gang with no interest in the pleasures of the humans they interact with. While The Auditor is an interesting character, if you are a fan of the early Hellraiser films, you may find yourself longing for the days of the Cenobites--I know I did. We get a very brief cameo from Heather Langenkamp of A Nightmare On Elm Street fame, but if you blink you will miss her--even if you don't blink, you may not recognize her. The story of the cops is rather bland, and the "police work" of the three leaves a lot to be desired. The movie actually gets off to a decent start, but really slows down and absolutely drags after that--any time we are not seeing Hell's denizens we struggle to stay awake or even into the movie. Things do pick up, however, at the end--we get a "twist" we see coming a mile away, followed by Pinhead finally unleashing some violence, complete with the chains he uses in previous outings. The conclusion, involving God and Jophiel (Helena Grace Donald), is quite contrived, but it does beg the question "Is living on Earth worse than living in Hell itself?" Stick around after the credits to see a tease of what will likely be the first look at the 11th film...please just stop. This series has long since been dead--that said, Hellraiser: Judgment at least feels like a Hellraiser movie, and, for whatever it's worth, is the best film in the series since Hellraiser III.
On A Scale Of One To Ten: 5
Hellraiser: Judgment Movie Trailer
Links To My Reviews of the Rest of the Franchise:
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