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Hellraiser - Bloodline Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 17 Reviews)

Promising concept that never lives up to its potential
More like 1.5 stars. I've been a big fan of the Hellraiser series for awhile now. It's unfortunate that "Hellraiser: Bloodline" is the worst of the series. The story of "Bloodline" centers on the creation of the infamous puzzle box bearing the Lament Configuration. We are introduced to Phillip Lemarchand, the 18th century French toy maker responsible for the box's creation, and two of his descendants, one a 20th century architect named John Merchant and the other a 22nd century astrophysicist and space station designer named Paul Merchant. All the members of the Lemarchand bloodline try to destroy the Lament Configuration puzzle box with something known as the Elysium Configuration. The problem I had with this film was its inability to fully develop any of the three stories contained within. If the film makers had centered on a specific time frame and developed the story from there, this film would have been much better. It's still watchable, though not really worth watching. It's really disappointing because when I heard the concept of this film a few years back I thought it had great potential. When one views this film, it becomes apparent why director Kevin Yagher took his name off the picture. Sadder still, screenwriter Peter Atkins says "I received sole writing credit but, in retrospect, should probably have followed Kevin's example and taken refuge behind an invented name."

The closest to Barkers original, and the best of the sequals
The forth and aparent final (?) feature in the Hellraiser series is the easilly the most well thought out and constructed of the sequals. Closer to the original film (who knows how part 3 fits in?) than it's predicesors, Bloodline focuses on the infamous box itself, and the man who created it. The film is actually three viginetts strewn together by a future sequence inwhich the decendant of the boxes' creater recalls how it came into existance, what happened to the building at the end of part 3 and finnally how he will destroy Pinhead once and for all and close the door forever. To try to end this story is pointless since the idea of Hell and eternal damnation is endless folk-lore forever inbedded in society. This would have made and interesting premire for a horror anthology. Plagued with low - end funding and choppy plotting, this movie lacks heart. As well the special effects try so hard to be elaberate they become silly and distracting. Sttill the history, atmosphere and finally a satisfing (if negligable) ending make the movie ulltimately worth the time. Watch the first one and this one together, they fit well that way.

A incoherent sequel , which is undineably bad but watchable
Hellraiser : Bloodline , the third sequel to Clive Barker's gore extravaganza is as incoherent as they come as events seem unchained and the style of directing differs from one sequence to the next (obviously because it was directed by Alan Smithee , the union designated name for a director who wanted his name removed , and in the case of that movie he was Kevin Yagher , whose version of the film was mutilated after extensive editing by the producers , and reshoots by other directors). Yet this film isn't as horrible as it's said to be. Indeed the film is muddled , yet some moments of eye-catching visuals and make-up effects , redeem it a bit. And the story seems to have been interesting before it was tampered with in the troubled production. The film also has some frightening moments and will be extremly tempting to fans of the series. So this movie is watchable alright , but you have to be forgiving and put the troubled production in mind in order to stand the clumsiness of it all.

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