Directed by Rick Bota (Hellraiser: Hellworld, Hellraiser: Deader), Hellraiser: Hellseeker is the sixth film in the Hellraiser series, and one that brings back the character of Kirsty, last seen in Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. Much like Hellraiser: Inferno, this one feels very much like it was an unrelated horror that then had the mythos of Pinhead and the lament configuration jammed into it (turns out that once again was actually the case!).
One day while out for a drive, Trevor (Dean Winters - John Wick) and his wife Kirsty (Ashley Laurence - Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II) get into a car accident that results in their vehicle plunging into a river. While Trevor is able to escape, he is helpless to save his wife who seemingly drowns. Sometime later and Trevor is doing the best to get on with his life, it is difficult though as since the accident he has suffered crippling headaches, hallucinations, and amnesia about the time leading up to the crash. Adding more stress is the constant questioning from Detective Lange (William S. Taylor - Watchmen), who is convinced that Trevor knows more than he is letting on about the fate of Kirsty, whose body was missing from the submerged car when it was brought to the surface. Increasingly unable to tell reality from imagination, Trevor's world begins to slowly unravel, as memories long buried come back to the surface, giving the man a different story to what he had come to believe.
With the past few films in the series being only tangentially related to each other, it was cool to see this is kind of a sequel to the second film, I loved that the character of Kirsty was brought back. Short but sweet that turned out, as she is dead within the first few minutes of the ninety minute movie. Thankfully she still appears throughout the movie, both from the memories that Trevor slowly unlocks about his past, and also in hallucinations, and even in home videos that he had made. Trevor wasn't exactly a likeable protagonist, mainly for me due to how little he appeared to be mourning his wife. It isn't clear exactly how long after the prologue the movie takes place, but he walks around in mild annoyance and confusion, rather than a broken man. While he isn't an apparent straight bad guy, that the protagonist of Inferno certainly was, there was still a seedy vibe to the film, and a Silent Hill/Jacob's Ladder type feeling that permeated his journey. To be fair to this one, the story of a man suffering memory loss, led to some good moments, the eventual resolution initially wasn't too much of a shock twist, but it had some unexpected parts to it.
The relation to Hellraiser was again slight with this one, with some early 2000's CG credit sequence showing the iconic puzzle box I had some hopes, but it barely makes much of an appearance, nor do the cenobites. Doug Bradley (all previous Hellraiser films) reprises his legendary role as Pinhead, and he shines again here, but much like Inferno, the character barely makes an appearance, only being in a handful of scenes (less than five minutes of screentime). Nor do other cenobites really appear much, mainly it is Trevor spying a cenobite in the distance wearing a trenchcoat every now and again. One part of the story I did like was the hint that everything involving the puzzle box may have already occured before the film's start, with the slow reveals of Trevor's past drip feeding clues that suggest that everything scary Trevor is experiencing is due to having came into contact with the device.
There isn't much call for too many special effects, when they do feature some of them are pure awful early 2000's CG, such as when Trevor vomits up a large eel from his mouth, and when during a dream sequence Detective Lange grows an extra head (looks so artificial and cheesy!). It's a shame these effects were used there, as towards the end of the movie there is a great sequence that uses actual practical effects, and looks infinitely better as a result.
There isn't much call for too many special effects, when they do feature some of them are pure awful early 2000's CG, such as when Trevor vomits up a large eel from his mouth, and when during a dream sequence Detective Lange grows an extra head (looks so artificial and cheesy!). It's a shame these effects were used there, as towards the end of the movie there is a great sequence that uses actual practical effects, and looks infinitely better as a result.
This may technically be a sequel to the second movie in the series, but the vibe made this feel like a companion piece to Inferno. Both took place in a grimy world where sinister things keep occuring, and both feature protagonists who at the very least are very unreliable characters to follow around. If Hellraiser, Office Space, Jacob's Ladder and Memento had a baby it may look something a little like this. I expected an utter trash fire, but truth be told, it wasn't bad, and I didn't feel bad for having taken the time to watch Hellraiser: Hellseeker.
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