Hellraiser Review (1987) Worth Watching?

It's about a woman discovering the newly resurrected, partially formed, body of her brother-in-law. She starts killing for him to revitalize his body so he can escape the demonic beings that are pursuing him after he escaped their sadistic underworld.

Hellraiser was directed by Clive Barker (Nightbreed) and stars Sean Chapman, Clare Higgins (from A Fantastic Fear Of Everything), Andrew Robinson (from Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings), Ashley Laurence (from Warlock III: The End Of Innocence) and Robert Hines.

He'll tear your soul apart.

Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman) a hedonist, wants insurmountable pleasure and because of this, he buys and later opened the Lament Configuration Box from. a merchant in Morocco. What he ultimately encounters, sexless and mutilated "monsters", is not something he expected. He learns his pleasure is death and an eternity of pain, and what lies within were more than eager to teach him.

Julia Cotton (Clare Higgins) has an obsession with Frank, who happens to be her brother-in-law. She had an affair with him shortly before she married his brother, Larry (Andrew Robinson). Larry and Julia move into the home once owned by Larry's grandmother. Once they move in we can see that Frank had been squatting there before purchasing the box. Julia had been longing for him since their dalliance.

After an accident, while moving a mattress into the home, Larry cuts his hand open, and his blood spills onto the floor. The spot where Larry's blood is spilled is also where Frank died, culminating in his resurrection.

When Julia comes upon a newly resurrected and ghoulish Frank it doesn’t take long for him to attain her allegiance, no matter the cost. Frank is looking to resurrect himself completely, and there is only one way to.do it: murder.

Lastly, we have Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence). Kirsty is Larry’s daughter, an extremely headstrong girl who would stop at nothing to understand his stepmother's (she never wanted nor asked for), odd behavior. Eventually, Kirsty comes across the deathly shell of her uncle Frank, dragging her into Frank and Julia's macabre Bonnie and Clyde act.

Kirsty is successful in taking the puzzle box, which infuriates Frank. Kirsty manages to open the box, same as her Uncle Frank, and she comes up close and personal with what lurks within it.

Miraculously, The Cenobites, grotesque creatures from an interdimensional realm of hell meant to collect procurers of the box aren't the worst monsters in this film.

The movie is as visually stunning as it is gory and can be as touching as it is nauseating.

Hellraiser captivated many when it was released in 1987 because it was the first of its kind. There had never really been a mainstream film that delved deeply into sadomasochism, gore, with a sprinkle of an extremely toxic love story. It was pretty unheard of.