Posted on: January 5, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Hellraiser 20th Anniversary / 2007 Anchor Bay / 93 Minutes / http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com /

Hellraiser is one of those lines of horror movies that seem to get the shaft when compared to either the Jason or Freddy movies. The plots are always interesting, the deaths always innovative, but yet the films typically reside at a level below that of the more established horror franchises. Luckily, Anchor Bay noticed that the movie originally came out 20 years ago, and have cut a new version of the film for anyone that is interested. For those individuals that already have a DVD version of Hellraiser and just are buying the 20th anniversary edition for the added features, don’t worry – Anchor Bay has kept the features from previous editions of the DVD on this anniversary edition.

The things that are new about the 20th Anniversary version is that Anchor Bay has commissioned interviews with all of the movie’s stars. This means, individuals are able to go and have an interview pick the brains of Doug “Pinhead” Bradley, along with both Andrew Robinson and Ashley Lawrence. While there is not much more in the way of footage that is presented to viewers of the movie (or of the previous iterations of Hellraiser on DVD), the competitive price makes it a strong buy – this is not a collector’s edition that is supposed to go for thirty or forty dollars, but rather clocks in typically below $20 (although some places may still sell the DVD for $25). What I found myself continually going back into was the “Hellcomposer” segment on the DVD. In this, there is an interview with the individual that composed the incidental music for the film – Christopher Young – and why exactly the film’s music ended up the way it ultimately did.

The electronic screenplay for Hellraiser is another nice touch, while the Clive Barker commentary provides individuals the best idea of what the film attempted to do – Hellraiser was originally written by Clive Barker and one best bet that the author would have a better reasoning for why certain things were chose rather than any actor that was present on the film, no matter how spiky their head may have been. Pick this up for Christmas for any individual who does not yet have Hellraiser on DVD. The footage is strong, given the fact that the movie was originally released in 1987; here’s to hoping the same treatment is waiting later movies in the franchise.

Rating: 7.1/10

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