7/10
Decent enough documentary.
16 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Hellraiser: Resurrection is not another straight-to-video sequel to Clive Barker's excellent Hellraiser (1987) even though it might sound like it, no it is in fact a 24 minute documentary featured on a few of the Hellraiser DVD's that interviews various people associated with the film.

Hellraiser: Resurrection starts off with Hellraiser's writer & director Clive Barker saying, & I quote, 'this is the last time I will talk about this son of a b*tch of a movie' which says to me he's bored of the whole Hellraiser thing. Anyway, this is a decent if slight documentary that luckily wasn't conceived merely as a promotional or self congratulatory back patting session & as such the participants speak relatively freely. There are a few interesting anecdote's & the interviewees reminisce about the time they spent working on the film. There's also a good ambiance here with the interviewees placed in appropriate surroundings, Barker is partly interviewed while sitting down in the center of a circle of candles on the floor in a darkly lit rundown room!

As a whole it's fairly forgettable stuff but there are shots of barker's original sketches which he sold the films idea with, there's a brief section on how he came to direct the film & Bob Keen talks about the special effects while sitting in front of a shelf full of weird & wonderful latex creations...

That's about it really although there are scenes & interviews with masochistic people who like to hang themselves on hooks in real life which I thought was a neat touch! Interestingly it seems that Clare Higgins who played Julia has never done any interviews about her roles in the first two Hellraiser films, she doesn't appear in any commentary track either which leads me to believe maybe she isn't entirely happy about being associated with them & she is definitely noticeable by her absence which is a shame as I'd have liked to have heard from her about them.

As a free extra on a DVD it's great value, it's worth a watch, it's an absolute must for fans of the film & it's more than just a standard promotional piece designed to massage everyone's ego's...
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