Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a 1988 supernatural horror fantasy film directed by Tony Randel and starring Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence and Kenneth Cranham. It is the second film in the Hellraiser franchise, and draws heavily upon its precursor, Hellraiser, which was released a year before with much of the same cast and crew. Laurence reprises her role as Kirsty Cotton, who is admitted into a psychiatric hospital after the events of the first film. There, the head doctor (Cranham) unleashes the Cenobites, a group of sadomasochistic beings from another dimension.
Clive Barker, who wrote and directed the first Hellraiser film, wrote the story of Hellraiser II and served as executive producer. Hellraiser II is an international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, and was screened at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on 9 September 1988, with mixed reviews upon release. It grossed $12.1 million at the box office and was followed by Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth in 1992.
Contents
Plot
In the 1920s British Raj, British military officer Elliot Spencer is transformed into the Cenobite "Pinhead" after opening the Lament Configuration.
Shortly after her father is killed by Frank Cotton, Kirsty Cotton is admitted into a psychiatric hospital. Interviewed by Dr. Channard and his assistant, Kyle MacRae, she tells her account of the events and pleads with them to destroy the bloody mattress on which her murderous stepmother, Julia Cotton, died.
After hearing Kirsty's story, Dr. Channard, who is secretly obsessed with the Lament Configuration, has the mattress brought to his home and convinces a mentally ill patient named Mr. Browning to lie on it and cut himself with a razor. The resulting blood frees a skinless Julia from the Cenobite dimension, and she subsequently consumes Mr. Browning for energy. Having snuck inside Channard's house to investigate Kirsty's claims, Kyle (while hiding) witnesses the event and flees in terror.
Kirsty meets a young mute patient named Tiffany, who demonstrates an amazing aptitude for puzzles. Later that night, Kirsty is awakened in her room by a vision of a grisly, skinless figure whom she believes to be her father, and who writes a message in blood, begging her to rescue him from Hell. Kyle returns to the hospital and tells Kirsty he believes everything is true. The two return to Channard's house.
Meanwhile, Channard, seduced by Julia, has brought more mentally ill patients to his home for her to feed on, in order to complete her regeneration. Kirsty and Kyle arrive at Channard's home, where a now fully regenerated Julia kills Kyle and knocks Kirsty unconscious.
Channard and Julia kidnap Tiffany and force her to unlock the Lament Configuration so that they can enter the labyrinth-like world of Pinhead and the Cenobites. The Cenobites momentarily spare Tiffany, aware that while she was physically responsible for unlocking the Lament Configuration, the actual intention and desire behind it were Channard's. In Hell, the entity Leviathan—in the shape of a gigantic, elongated diamond—rotates in space above the labyrinth, shooting out black beams that make Channard remember some of the atrocities he committed. Julia calls Leviathan the "god of flesh, hunger, and desire... the Lord of the Labyrinth". Kirsty, who now possesses the Lament Configuration, follows them in.
Production
Development
New World Pictures greenlit Hellbound as the first film was still in post-production. Because of the limited budget of the first film, Clive Barker and producer Christopher Figg felt there were many unanswered questions left behind that the sequel was conceived with this in mind. Due to a stressful experience making the first film, Barker opted not to return as director, although he remained as an executive producer and story writer.
Michael McDowell was in talks to write the screenplay and direct, but rewrites of Beetlejuice and health issues had him bow out early in pre-production. American filmmaker Tony Randel, a longtime New World Pictures employee and an uncredited editor on the first film, was hired as director due to his experience working with Barker. Hellbound would be his directorial debut, but he had previously contributed uncredited directing work on Def-Con 4 and Godzilla 1985. Peter Atkins, an associate of Barker's from his days as a playwright, was hired to write the script.
Writing
The script originally featured the return of Larry Cotton, but Andrew Robinson declined to reprise the role. Several reasons were given for this including disagreement over fees and a clash of schedules although nothing has ever been confirmed. In the documentary Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, Robinson stated he disliked the script and thus decided to not return as his character was finished anyway. Writer Peter Atkins said that though he liked Robinson as an actor, he was relieved that he declined as it made the narrative work a lot better in the finished project.
In earlier drafts, the character of Dr Channard was called Malahide.
A more elaborate backstory for Pinhead was scripted, but was cut, due to lack of funds, after the budget was slashed.
Casting
Nicholas Vince, who plays the Chatterer, received a hook to the jaw while filming a scene involving his character being impaled on a swinging torture rack surrounded by the many hanging chains. He also requested his character have eyes to help his vision, which caused some discontent with fans who derided the new design. A scene in which the character has his vision restored was removed from the final cut, resulting in some bad continuity—since his introductory scene in Hellbound features him in his original eyeless state.
British Shakespearean actor Kenneth Cranham, who plays Channard, claimed his involvement was due to his grandson pestering him to take up the offer, being a fan of the original. Francis Matthews was also offered the role.
Oliver Smith, who played Skinless Frank in the original due to his skinny frame (allowing the body makeup to be realistic), reprised his role along with two extra roles as Browning (the mental patient with delusional parasitosis) and as the skinless figure Kirsty sees in the hospital who writes "I Am in Hell Help Me" in blood on the wall.
Filming
Aside from Barker, most of the crew from the first film returned, including cinematographer Robin Vidgeon and effects designer Bob Keen.
The picture was due to have a much larger budget but it decreased after financial issues with New World Pictures. Tony Randel claims the dark tone of the film reflected his own mindset on the world at the time.
Filming took place mainly at Pinewood Studios. Heatherden Hall in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire was used for the exterior shots of the Channard Institute.
Soundtrack
Composer Christopher Young also returned to compose a more bombastic score larger in scope. For the horn-like sound supposedly emanating from Leviathan in the center of Hell's labyrinth, he had the morse code for the word god incorporated.
Deleted and alternate scenes
Originally, there was going to be an extra scene during the ending when Kirsty and Tiffany are running from Channard. The scene was planned so that during their escape the duo run into a doctor and nurse. The doctor demands to know what are they doing. Kirsty backs away in horror when suddenly the doctor and nurse turn into Pinhead and the Female Cenobite, before she and Tiffany continue running. The scene was filmed but was ultimately dropped from the final cut for two reasons. One was because the filmmakers thought that having actor Doug Bradley as a normal doctor would confuse the viewers, and another was because the special effects for the scene turned out poorly, so it was decided to discard it altogether. However, a photographer who was on set took some photos of Pinhead and the Female Cenobite dressed as surgeons which were used for promotion of the film, and were also used on some VHS/DVD covers, confusing fans and starting rumors about an "infamous deleted surgery scene". Some trailers do show a few shots from this unfinished scene, as well as parts of another deleted scene with Chatterer stopping the elevator with his hand and jumping at Kirsty and Tiffany. The lost scene was eventually rediscovered on a VHS workprint and announced as an extra for Arrow Video's Blu-ray reissue of the first three films in the series.
Another scene that was filmed, but then deleted, was Kirsty and Tiffany being chased by the creature known as the Engineer in the first installment.
Julia was originally intended to survive the end of the film, appearing as the head embedded in the "Hell Pillar" during the final scene. However, Clare Higgins did not want to return for more sequels, and requested her character be killed off.
Release
Hellbound was initially rated X by the Motion Picture Association of America, which would have limited it to those 17 and older. Barker attributed this to preferring explicit displays of the grotesque rather than hinting at it. Six minutes were cut to qualify for an R rating.
Hellbound: Hellraiser II was shown at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on 9 September 1988. It was released in the United States on 23 December.
Reception
Box office
During its theatrical release, Hellbound grossed $12,090,735 in the United States and Canada, and in the UK,
Hellbound: Hellraiser II opened at #1 in June 1989 with about £575k and eventually reached roughly £1.74 million.
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 53% of 34 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Hellbound: Hellraiser II retains the twisted visual thrill of its predecessor, although seams in the plot are already starting to show." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 41 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times described it as "some kind of avant-garde film strip in which there is no beginning, no middle, no end, but simply a series of gruesome images that can be watched in any order", giving it half a star. Caryn James of The New York Times wished for more plot and fewer "silly" effects: "Ogling strange creatures is the film's true reason for being". In a more positive review, Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times called it "faster and campier" than its predecessor, "more of an action/adventure picture this time around, if still an exceptionally grisly one".
Sequel
A sequel titled Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, was released in 1992.
