Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

With the cinematographer, the A.D., and the entire art department fired one week into production, the producers unhappy with director Kevin Yagher's 110- minutes-long cut, the producers hired a new director ( Joe Chappelle, who later had the same decisions forced upon him, during filming of the sixth Halloween film ) the producers edited, rewrote, partially refilmed, and completely restructured this, frustratingly turning it into a hacked to ribbons shell of its former self. The ambitious expansion of the LeMarchand history from the 18th century, following their bloodline for centuries, through the 22nd century, where a distant descendant attempts to break the " curse " on the lineage, the construction of the Lament Configuration, almost like an anthology film, in the 110- minutes-long bootleg/ workprint/ reconstruction, and while it was confusing at first, once I figured out the plot, it was quite good. It genuinely seemed an attempt at expanding the plotlines, rather than just simply rehashing what happened before. But the 80-odd minutes-long theatrical cut omits all but the gore, and the bare essentials of the original plot, and tacking on a silly happy ending, ruining the original downbeat, profound ending. The two different cuts of this film are dramatically different, and a must for fans of this series. The 82 minutes-long cut is okay, not as bad as some have labelled it, but not particularly good, either. The 110 minutes-long cut is flawed, slower paced, but expands dramatically on plot threads which are barely given a passing glance in the theatrical cut.

The fourth instalment of the already-tired Hellraiser franchise signalled the last time that original creator Clive Barker would be involved, and also the final film of the series to be shown on the big screen, with the subsequent sequels heading straight to VHS or DVD. Doug Bradley, who at this point was the only surviving cast member from Barker's terrific 1987 original, described Hellraiser IV: Bloodline as the "shoot from Hell", and its troubled production saw director Kevin Yagher demand his name be removed from the credits, instead opting for the go-to pseudonym Alan Smithee. While things never looked good for the film, Part IV of Miramax's cult franchise isn't actually quite as bad as you would expect.In 2127, engineer Dr. Paul Merchant (Bruce Ramsay) uses a robot to solve the Lament Configuration puzzle box on board space station The Minos. The opening of the box destroys the robot, and Merchant is taken in for questioning by a group of armed guards suspicious of his intentions. Whilst being interrogated by the groups leader, Rimmer (Christine Harnos), Merchant reveals that he is part of a cursed bloodline that stretches back to 18th-century France, where his ancestor, toy-maker Phillip L'Merchant (also Ramsay), builds the box for a rich aristocrat who desires to summon a slave-girl from Hell. While L'Merchant fails to prevent the demon Angelique (Valentina Vargas) arriving in our world, generations later New York architect John Merchant (Ramsay again) is haunted by visions of the box, building a skyscraper resembling the Lament Configuration.After two sequels with little to recommend other than Kenneth Cranham's wonderfully over-the-top thesping, Bloodline at least attempts to inject a fresh take on the Hellraiser universe. The decision to portray the arrival of Hell on Earth over three vastly different time periods is an interesting one, even if it is somewhat clumsily handled and often poorly acted. Yet for the bulk of the film we are stuck in the less-interesting modern day, or 1996, and it is here that Bloodline suffers from formulaic storytelling. The introduction of the demon Angelique offers the chance for some twisted sexual tension between her and Pinhead (Bradley), yet this isn't explored enough, and ultimately fizzles out in favour of more time with the over-exposed, iconic Cenobite, whose role was significantly beefed up by the studio following Yagher's departure. It's certainly one of the best of the series' sequels, yet given how bad the movies that followed are, that's hardly saying much.

We start out in the year 2127 on the space station Minos with Dr. Paul Merchant (Bruce Ramsay) using a remote controlled droid to open the Lament Configuration in a sealed chamber. The droid succeeds only to be blown to pieces as "a most unsatisfying victim," as Pinhead puts it. Meanwhile, the station is stormed by a small group of Marines sent to capture Dr. Merchant for hijacking the very station he designed. He's captured before he can put his potential plan into action, and thus, pleads with them to allow him to finish his work. After enough pleading, he convinces the female marine to hear his story. Merchant tells of how his ancestor, Phillip L'Marchant (also played by Bruce Ramsay), created the puzzle box in the eighteenth century based on the specific instructions of the most famous magician in France, Duc De L'Isle (Mickey Cottrel). Phillip never could've imagined what it would unlock. De L'Isle used the box to bring forth a demon in a woman's skin, and named her Angelique (Valentina Vargas). Paul says that Phillip witnessed this devilry and attempted to undo it by designing the Elysium Configuration - something he would be incapable of implementing as it had to do with the reflecting of light beams to be a counteracting prison for these demons...the Cenobites. The design was passed down through the family's bloodline (hence, the subtitle), and eventually, the twentieith century descendant, John Merchant (Ramsay, again), a achitect / computer designer, had potentially built what could become the Elysium Configuration, but Pinhead states that it could be a very large doorway (the office bulding featured at the conclusion of the previous film). Angelique attempts to seduce its secrets from John, but Pinhead states that seduction is useless as pain and suffering are the way of hell now. Pinhead attempts to trap John by holding his family prisoner, but in the end, both sides lose. In the twenty-second century, Dr. Paul Merchant believes that he can destroy the Cenobites once and for all, but the marines' untimely arrival have prevented that. Naturally, no one believes his elaborate story, but he must find a way to destroy the Cenobites or else the bloodline will end with him.Barker's original vision was something far more grisly and seedy than what was shot. Still, the film holds together with a decent story. The scenes in eighteenth century France are probably the best in the film as they are the most Hellraiser-like. It also has the richest art direction, and actually contains no Pinhead. To me, it is the most fascinating segment of the film. Though, as the film goes on, we see the further divergence from the original, established mythology. Pinhead once again creates his own Cenobites despite not having the power to do so. Performance wise, Doug Bradley seems quite comfortable here, playing bringing back the coldness of the character.Bruce Ramsay shows a great flexiblity as he portrays Phillip, John, and Paul. Each one is a different type of character. Phillip being the niave "little man," John being the protective father, and Paul being the intelligent and cunning one of the lot. I hand it to him for showing the diversity of his acting abilities.The overall style and look of the film is very slick and smooth. There's less artistry and more commercial sensibilities in place with the cinematography and direction.There are several cut scenes including "Angelique's Party" in the first time period, and in fact, the story was to be totally chronological instead of starting with Paul's narration from the future. More things were undoubtedly cut, and it would be wonderful to see a Director's Cut someday, but it seems highly unlikely. Also, these marines are idiots, and it would've been better if they were more like the Marines out of Aliens or the team from Predator. Capable, intelligent, believable, and highly aware. These marines are just meat ready to be ripped apart by Pinhead's chains. Even the grunts from Jason X would've been greatly better than these slaughtered lambs. Anyway, it had potential, and probably still does in that aforementioned, yet unseen director's cut. All that I will mention about Clive Barker's vision, if it had been adhered to, is it woulve' been a far more visceral and nasty film with Phillip L'Merchant being a highly disturbed serial killer obsessed with creating dozens of puzzle boxes, and a deeper, more textured backstory overall being explored. As it stands now, Hellraiser: Bloodline fails in some places, has some shining moments, but all in all, still delivers some chilling scenes with a good story, great makeup work, and good visual effects.

I'm certainly in the extreme minority of people who can appreciate the ambition behind Bloodline. Though the film got hacked up and reduced the plot to a mess (as only Dimension and Joe Chappelle could do it!), the multiple story lines stretched over three time periods makes for an interesting take on the Hellraiser mythos. It also features some slick gore and makeup gags, which comes as no surprise considering Kevin Yagher was at the helm (before he was unceremoniously dumped in post-production); A three part anthology spanning five centuries, it explores the origin of the puzzle boxes and the family that created them.The movie worked as an excellent slipcase for the entire series. It gave us a definitive start to the story, wrapped up threads from the earlier movies and gave us a definitive ending.