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Hellbound: Hellraiser II retains the twisted visual thrill of its predecessor, although seams in the plot are already starting to show.
All Critics (27) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (12) | DVD (7)
Though the script for ''Hellbound'' is related to the Barker story, the film drops its plot whenever a fake-looking monster walks on the screen. Ogling strange creatures is the film's true reason for being. Oct 4, 2018 | Full Review…
Though the script for ''Hellbound'' is related to the Barker story, the film drops its plot whenever a fake-looking monster walks on the screen. Ogling strange creatures is the film's true reason for being.
Caryn James
This follow-up is faster and campier than its mostly somber predecessor, but the basic grim tenets of British horror author Clive Barker's supernatural worldview are still intact. Oct 4, 2018 | Full Review…
This follow-up is faster and campier than its mostly somber predecessor, but the basic grim tenets of British horror author Clive Barker's supernatural worldview are still intact.
Chris Willman
A maggotty carnival of mayhem, mutation and dismemberment, awash in blood and recommended only for those who thrive on such junk. Mar 26, 2009 | Full Review…
A maggotty carnival of mayhem, mutation and dismemberment, awash in blood and recommended only for those who thrive on such junk.
Variety Staff
Simply performs cosmetic surgery on the original. Feb 9, 2006 | Full Review…
Simply performs cosmetic surgery on the original.
Derek Adams
It is simply a series of ugly and bloody episodes strung together one after another like a demo tape by a perverted special-effects man. Jan 1, 2000 | Rating: 0.5/4 | Full Review…
It is simply a series of ugly and bloody episodes strung together one after another like a demo tape by a perverted special-effects man.
Roger Ebert
Even if you discount the cliche's, there are enough bizarre and shocking effects here to satisfy all but the most demanding genre fans. Jan 1, 2000 | Full Review…
Even if you discount the cliche's, there are enough bizarre and shocking effects here to satisfy all but the most demanding genre fans.
Richard Harrington
The acting is good for the most part, though the second film (like most sequels) pushes plot aside in favor of spectacle. Hellbound is gorier, larger, and more accessible than the first. Oct 4, 2018 | Rating: 7/10 | Full Review…
The acting is good for the most part, though the second film (like most sequels) pushes plot aside in favor of spectacle. Hellbound is gorier, larger, and more accessible than the first.
Christopher Monfette
The first (and best) Hellraiser sequel takes us to an Escher-like underworld of surrealist psychodramas. Jun 22, 2018 | Full Review…
The first (and best) Hellraiser sequel takes us to an Escher-like underworld of surrealist psychodramas.
Anton Bitel
It's...the best kind of sequel, one that lets the surviving characters continue their journeys while new characters get to kind of rehash the original's plot with different results. Apr 11, 2018 | Full Review…
It's...the best kind of sequel, one that lets the surviving characters continue their journeys while new characters get to kind of rehash the original's plot with different results.
Brian Collins
"Hellbound" isn't pretty, but it provides a feast of repulsion, inflating the Cenobite reign to epic standards. For utter perversion and relentless ick, it's quite neat. Nov 11, 2017 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…
"Hellbound" isn't pretty, but it provides a feast of repulsion, inflating the Cenobite reign to epic standards. For utter perversion and relentless ick, it's quite neat.
Brian Orndorf
Though there's some good work here, it's a classic example of how not to approach making a sequel. When everything is turned up one notch louder, it's hard to make out anything clearly at all. Apr 13, 2017 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
Though there's some good work here, it's a classic example of how not to approach making a sequel. When everything is turned up one notch louder, it's hard to make out anything clearly at all.
Jennie Kermode
When I first caught it around 1989 on VHS video, it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Sep 13, 2013 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
When I first caught it around 1989 on VHS video, it was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Let's start with the improvements over the Clive Barker predecessor: Christopher Young's baroque score is more akin to a demonic music box this time around and the concept of the demystifying backstory for Pinhead as a field officer is quite tantalizing to ponder. Once those elements have been broached, the film gradually degrades into a senselessly gory retread of the original (along with a lengthy recap and clip show from the indelible first film) with Julie as the incomplete corpse instead of Frank. An inmate flaying his skin of maggots is definitely repulsive and most of the effects border on that level of gratuitous and unnecessary. Upon entering Hell, the sets are kitschy with funhouse mirrors and endless staircases like an MC Escher painting. The images are never truly unnerving and the slapdash defeat of the Cenobites by Channard (and his cheesy stop-motion tentacles) are an insult to their formidable menace. To watch a humanized Pinhead gurgling for breath after a slit throat is depressing indeed. Overall, the brooding film capsizes quickly from brazen 'Snow White' allegories and overblown effects.
Super Reviewer
The follow-up to Clive Barker's Hellraiser is a terrific horror flick with a great cast, great effects and very good directing provided by Tony Randel. As far as sequels are concerned, Hellbound is one of the better sequels in a horror franchise. Usually a sequel tends to lack the power of the original film, however this is not the case for Hellbound. Though not as great as Hellraiser; this film has all the necessary elements to create the effective terror that Hellraiser fans have come to expect. This film is designed to disturb its audience and like the first film, it does it very well. Though Clive Barker didn't direct this film, you can still see his imagination run wild throughout the film. The film succeeds at delivering dark images of melancholic painful terror. This film is a worthy enough sequel to Clive Barker's original masterpiece, and it continues where the first left off. Lead actresses Clare Higgins and Ashley Laurence reprise their roles from the first film, and it brings an even greater sense of continuity to the film. Fans of the first film will most likely enjoy this film, and like the first Hellraiser, it remains a must see film for fans. This is the best sequel in the entire franchise, and as the series progressed; it's easy to see why. If you've enjoyed the first film, then give this one a view, you'll most likely going to enjoy it as much as Barker's classic of terror.
I think I prefer the story line of this one over the first. The first film did drag a bit until the end. It was good to see more of the Cenobites in this one. Parts of it were repetitive though, still very gory and unusual though. If you liked the first check it out.
The first one was just good enough to get me interested in seeing the sequel. The sequel was bad enough to make me never want to see any of the other sequels. Unlike the first movie, this one has no redeeming qualities. The first Hellraiser was cool and inspired. Hellbound seemed to just be cashing in on the success of the first one.
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