Hellraiser - Deader Reviews

Deader is another bland sequel in the dying Hellraiser franchise. I mean, there were some good entries in this series, but why keep making these films if you've run out of ideas? Sure it's always to cash in for a quick buck, but if you can't make a good flick, why even bother? The films are simply not entertaining anymore. What we get is a boring, tired entry in the franchise that really doesn't cut it. I felt it was a bad way to deliver a sequel. Pinhead is no longer a main character, which is a shame, because of course in the Hellraiser series, Pinhead is the main antagonist. This is boring without Pinhead as the main focus of the story. There's nothing that works with this film, and therefore it's not worth your time. This entry is poorly constructed and therefore lacks the sparks that sequels such as Bloodline and Inferno had. This film doesn't deliver anything new to the franchise. What this film gives us, is uninspired ideas that simply don't work for the audience. If you're a Hellraiser nut, you may enjoy this, but to those who lost interest in the series, you may want to skip on this one. Deader is a dud right from the beginning and it's a low budget, cheaply made sequel to a franchise that should have ended long ago. You won't find anything good here, you'll surely just be disappointed by this bland sequel.

Well finally "Hellraiser: Deader" has arrived after a few years gathering dust on the shelf.

I agree with other members that it does seem to breathe some life in to this once outstanding franchise, but as with the other sequels it just lacks what the earlier films had in abundance. My personal view is that you can really tell that this wasn't written as a "Hellraiser" film.

For the first half hour or so except with the odd reference to "The Box" this could have been any other horror film and it kind of remains that way throughout.

The one thing really missing for me as with "Hellraiser: Inferno" and "Hellraiser: Hellseaker" is we just don't see enough of the "Cenobites".

I don't just mean "Pinhead" I mean all of them. You see a few glancing shots of them, but I'm sorry its just not enough. Its does seem a waste not giving them screen time. There are 6 "Cenobites" in this movie ("Pinhead", "Chatterer", "Bound", "Stitch", "Little Sister") & ("Spike" in the bonus material!) why are all these needed for 5 minutes of screen time? To be fair they did seem to play a bigger part in this than Parts V or VI, however they have almost become extras or cameos these days.

I have read a few comments from other users saying that these films are not about "Pinhead" but there is a reason he has been in all of the franchise to date.

I agree that one of the strengths of "Hellraiser" is they are stand alone stories, but in any franchise you need a recurring factor and the "Cenobites" and in particular "Pinhead" is it.

The "Cenobites" are "Hellraiser", which is why the later films don't feel like "Hellraiser" movies at all.

"Hellraiser: Deader" is a good and one of the better sequels to date and should give all fans hope for "Hellraiser: Hellworld" but as I remarked with "Hellraiser: Hellseaker" the fleeting glimpses of the "Cenobites" just are not enough.

Get back to the essence of the movies and set the story around them or let them play a major part again. The later films in this series sadly, could have been so much more.

8-17-08: Been a week since I finished the Hellraiser series in one go. Parts of this and the end of the first movie are the only images sticking with me (and scaring me!). The corpse scene in 'Deader' is firmly planted in my fear garden and I can easily see myself setting up a nightmare in which I am on the Deader ritual table. Added half a star, even though I still hate the plot and think the head Deader wasn't cast well.
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This entry has potential, as there are some really cool sets, a decent lead, and a return to a more Cenobite-grounded story. But the mistake this movie makes is not making any sense whatsoever. With any sort of subjectively/cryptically ordered plot with dream or hallucination sequences, things get tricky for writers and teh audience can quickly be left behind if the director can't put the right visual cues on screen to make up for what the writers didn't do. This movie can't pick up that slack, so it's story becomes quickly frustrating.
PLOT SPOILERS BEGIN: I don't think there needed to be another reference to the leMerchant line because that was what ALL of Bloodline was about! And it does NOT at all explain how this Merchant descendant is able to harness supernatural powers. I get that he's trying to solve the lament configuration by using other people, but I don't understand how he is able to bring them back from the dead as deaders, or how he is able to elude Pinhead's powers using these people as buffers, which would seem to me that these people would just make him more vulnerable to Cenobite attack than fortified against it.
SPOILERS END
Anyway, now I'm totally fed up with most of the movies ending by Pinhead doing the signature chains-n-hooks tears you apart sequence made famous by Barker's work in the first entry, and this movie gives us another one.

This movie did creep me out on some levels though. In terms of making me weirded out by freaky Euro trash scenes, this is a million times better or cooler than Hostel because this is actually freaky, whereas Hostel is just fuckin funny and stupid. The scene with our heroine and the corpse in the beginning of the movie, who becomes a secondary character, is pretty damn cool and memorable - great cinematography and shot angles (someone actually tried!). If the script wasn't so supremely muddy and indecipherable, like most of the Hellraiser movies, I'd be mass recommending this, even with the worst ever ending chain-hooks sequence in BAD BAD CGI.

The poster artwork looks like a cool Pinhead sequel, but the movie is a weird bore.

A strange cult exists where the members have found the secret to being undead. The main reporter character walks around with a knife in her back for over a day - this grossed me out a bit. There's a weird subway ride. There's a freaky suicide scene in an apartment bathroom with the Hellraiser cube gripped in the dead girl's hands. It's all strange and doesn't make much sense. It's another form of hell, yet unexplored. This was all loosely connected to the Hellraiser series. I didn't like it much.

The series is definitely becoming formulaic, and yet they're still watchable 7 films on. Impressive.

A weak entry, with a plot I do not care, and with a Pinhead that looked exhausted and forgettable, though Kari Wuhrer as Amy Klein was quite a performance. The final scene echoes the original Hellraiser's ending, but to be honest, parts 1 , 2, and 5 are the only strong installments of this far-fetched horror franchise.

This was the first movie in the Hellraiser series I had ever seen and I have to say I was pretty impressed. Up until the cheesy ending, it was full of suspense and disturbing images. In other words, elements a good horror movie should have. I am very interested in seeing the first one as I can only imagine it is the best of the series.

Granted, the idea of making a film where the main character is in her own personal hell and not knowing it until the end is cleverly put together, but as for being gory, someone send they people back to Hollywood and had them go back to school.
The dead effects were not that bone chilling, and someone needs to teach these people how to act dead and not move.
I would agree with a fellow critic that the stories get more interesting, but there is always something missing or off that does not feel right.
I only wish that they could put more creepiness dialogs for Bradley instead of the dark clichés. sounding like the dialog from Freddy. Plus why is it every time he is send back to the box he has to yell out 'NO!' I would think that this hell is where he would be more happy.
Message to future Hellraiser filmmakers: PLEASE work on making a real horror flick!

This film isn't as good as some of the previous ones but definitely not bad...it was really good. The main issue I have with this one is that Pinhead and the Cenobites aren't in much of the movie at all. It is a Hellraiser film so it should have a lot of time with Pinhead and the Cenobites but it is still really good. It is interesting and keeps you wondering what is gonna happen the whole way through. It has the typical creepy vibe with decadent and gorey visuals that you come to expect from these films. This one is the 2nd of 3 of the Hellraiser films that Rick Bota has directed. The first one he directed was Hellraiser 6: Hellseeker which was awesome...I loved it! Then he made this one which wasn't as good as 6 but still good. The last one he made was the last in the series so far which is Hellraiser: Hellworld. I would say if you liked the other ones then you'll like this one as well.

Lame, lame movie. I wasn't very sure what the hell the plot was about and wished the main character would stop screaming already. Also how does killing yourself close a puzzle box? o.0

Probably one of the last Hellraiser films I'll get to work on. Third time I get to play Chatterer. I really like how the film turned out, even if it's altered from another story and made to fit the Hellraiser mythos.

THE most god awful Hellraiser sequel I've seen. Boring. I had an inner struggle just trying to keep from turning this rubbish off. I felt obligated to implement FF a few times. I probably should have done so even more then that.

Not bad,a pschological trot along thru death and the unkown. And you learn why you don't mess with Pinhead.

Orignally not even a Hellraiser film. This is obvious. It's a good movie, but you could have easily included no cenobites and it would have been just as good.

After the 3rd installment, they should have just stopped making them. It's not the same without Pinhead or the Cenobytes.

Another entry into my favorite series, Deader offers a reporter's investigation into a strange cult and it's leader who insists that potential members solve the Lament Configuration

This is an obviously post-Ring inspired movie, at least it seems that way to me. It kinda left me feeling like "Season of the Witch" in Halloween left me.. WHERE THE HELL WAS PINHEAD? Anyway. It was so-so.

Rogue journalist Amy Klein heads off to Bucharest to investigate a youth cult led by the mysterious Winter, who supposedly has the ability to bring the dead back to life. Her attempt to infiltrate their ranks will bring her closer to her own death than she ever imagined! Learning nothing from the failures of the third film, HELLRAISER: DEADER follows yet another news reporter that has become wrapped up in a murderous plot involving everyone's favorite puzzle box. The original script by Full Moon frequent Benjamin Carr had nothing to do with HELLRAISER to begin with, which helps to explain why the plot seems so detached from the series. Kari Wuhrer plays the typical bad girl reporter who is filled with spunk and attitude, but lacks any real personality. Her character is a generic stereotype that fails to involve the audience in her troubles. What is worse, Amy never really uncovers anything useful about the Deaders outside of the location of their hideout, nor does she ever determine how Winter has managed to undermine death, leaving much left unexplained by the ending. While Rick Bota brings back the clean visual palette from HELLSEEKER, nothing in DEADER manages to make up for the bland and boring plot.

-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies

Nothing to watch except the acting of beautiful Kari Wuhrer.

After watching this Hellraiser I am convinced it should stay closer to the writers work. I felt there was so many unanswered questions in this movie but most enjoyable. Just the right amount blood to make it work. This one has promises.