Hellraiser (1987) on Netflix
Frank Cotton opens a puzzle box and is torn apart by hooked chains. His brother Larry and Larry's wife Julia move into his house, where a drop of blood brings Frank back.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.9/10155,915 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes71%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Morocco, the hedonist Frank Cotton buys a puzzle box that is said to open a door to a realm of otherworldly pleasure. He solves it in his bare attic, and hooked chains tear him apart. His brother Larry later moves into the house with his second wife, Julia, hoping to repair their marriage; he does not know that Julia had an affair with Frank before the wedding. When Larry cuts his hand while moving furniture, his blood drips through the attic floorboards onto Frank's remains, and Frank returns in a ghoulish form. Still obsessed with him, Julia agrees to help rebuild his body, collecting men from bars and bringing them to the attic, where Frank drains their lives.
Cast
- Leon Davisas 2nd Victim
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Hellraiser (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Barker asked Christopher Figg how small a budget would have to be for someone to hire him as a first-time director; Figg said under a million dollars, doable if the film was just about a house and some monsters with largely unknown actors, and New World Pictures funded it for $900,000.
- Barker admitted he knew so little about filmmaking that he “didn't know the difference between a 10-millimetre lens and a 35-millimetre lens”, adding that if someone had shown him a plate of spaghetti and called it a lens he might have believed them.
- Doug Bradley had trouble hitting his marks in make-up because he could not see through his black contact lenses, and he was afraid of tripping over Pinhead's skirts.
- The puzzle box props, the Lament Configuration, were made from wood and cut-out brass by special effects designer Simon Sayce, who would lie on the floor under the Cenobites during takes in case one was dropped, to spare himself the eight hours it took to build another.
- Clive Barker had to make cuts after the MPAA originally gave the film an X rating, among them two and a half shots from the first hammer murder, including a close-up of the hammer lodged in the victim's head.
- Barker said the seduction scene between Julia and Frank was initially far more explicit, including a version with spanking that the MPAA did not appreciate; he was told he could have two consecutive buttock thrusts from Frank, but that three was deemed obscene.
- Hellraiser was initially banned in Ontario on a 3-2 vote for its brutal graphic violence, blood-letting, degradation and torture, and passed only in August 1987 after about 40 seconds were cut, including an extended hook torture scene and squirming rats nailed to a wall.
- Clive Barker signed away the story and character rights to the production company before the first film was even released, not realizing the critical and financial success it would be.
