An unfaithful Julia (Clare Higgins) encounters the zombie of her dead lover Frank (Sean Chapman) in the upper room of her new home she shares with Frank’s brother Larry, but she soon discovers that Frank has been to hell and back, literally, and the demons that reside there are desperate to retrieve him after he somehow manages to escape. Welcome to the sadomasochistic underworld created by Clive Barker.
Some movies just etch themselves in one’s mind and this is one of them. As far as I’m concerned ‘Pinhead’ (Doug Bradley) as he’s affectionately known amongst horror fans, is as much of a horror icon as Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers and Leatherface. In the credits, he merely known as ‘Lead Cenobite’ but such was his presence on screen, that he instantly developed a cult following which has grown since his introduction back in 1987.
Anyway, back to the movie and the key element of this masterpiece is the little Chinese puzzle box, that when tampered with by sexual deviant Frank, opens the door to a world that is home to Pinhead and his band of disfigured Cenobites. What is a Cenobite I hear you ask? Well I won’t dare to try and describe how they look but I can tell you that they are seen as ‘demons to some and angels to others’ and show whoever opens the box levels of pain and suffering that well, just watch the movie.
The main story depicts how Frank, having lost his earthly body to Pinhead and Co. is brought back into existence by a drop of blood in the very room where he first opened the door to hell, courtesy of brother Larry. Now, as we know, Julia just happens to be Frank’s ex-mistress and he wastes no time in convincing her to bring him his necessary human sacrifices to complete the regeneration of his body, so they can be together again – of course, this will not be as straightforward as Frank or Julia think and Pinhead will make sure of it.
This movie broke new ground in terms of gore and even though I can happily sit through Hostel and the like, I still wince at the visualisation of hooks through human flesh, which for me, means this movie even after 29 years can still deliver.
Yes, the premise is pretty straightforward, but who wants a horror that thinks it is too smart for the audience, this just ticks all of the boxes, a small cast who do a great job of engaging the viewer to buy into the a simple and effective story very quickly and enough gore to make you at times not want to watch but at the same time, ample strangeness to make see it through to the bitter, twisted end – the prefect ingredients for a horror.