Trevor (Dean Winters) and his Wife Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) are involved in an off road car accident, after which Kirsty goes missing. As Trevor slowly gets his memory back, the Police begin to investigate him for suspicion of foul play in her disappearance.
After no sign of her in the last two installments, Ashley Laurence makes her return as Kirsty Cotton in this film. But despite the back of the DVD case flat out lying to you, she doesn't have the same kind of lead role that she did in Hellraiser and Hellbound. Most of her appearances past the opening scene are on videotapes and part of flashbacks. Kirsty's return here was controversial with some fans, as we saw her in a much different light. More on that later.
Hellraiser: Hellseeker definitely has an Inferno-style structure to it. I don't know if they were aware of that or not, but for me it isn't a major problem. My problem with Inferno wasn't the structure, but several other things that I addressed in that review. However, I do believe this film would have had more of an impact if it had come before Inferno or chosen a different style. Though it does take several departures from Inferno as well, such as the amnesia plot and our lead Trevor isn't a total prick throughout the entire film. It's also not as visceral. Though it has it's fair share of horrific moments, I think Hellseeker leans more toward being psychological.
Not to mention, Pinhead's role this time around is very key to the story. He has a little more screen time here than in the last film, though not a great deal. He appears in five sequences; the last two of which are inter-cut. Still not featured, but if it were not for his character none of this film's events would be happening. See, it's not necessarily the number of minutes he has onscreen, but the thinking behind how he's used. Again, Doug Bradley gives his usual great performance, and also has a role as a merchant who introduces the box. A nice little nod to the original film I thought.
I think my biggest complaint about the film on the technical side, is that it's too blue. A lot of blue tint being used here in both exterior and interior scenes. It just gets old after a while. I think they mercifully let up on it as the film went along, but it was used quite heavily in the first half. The film was also shot in Vancouver, and no offense to our Canadian visitors, but you can tell. You can always tell when they try to pass Canada off for the United States, where I assume this is supposed to be set. The looks are just not the same.
I thought the casting in this film was pretty successful. I think Dean Winters does a good job of carrying the film; the bulk of which is on his shoulders. He brought a quality to Trevor which was appealing enough to make me want to follow him through the story. The people around him create a pretty good ensemble, but there are a couple who don't make it. The two cops leading the investigation are Detective Lange (William S. Taylor) and Detective Givens (Michael Rogers). I felt Taylor did a good job, but felt Rogers was lacking. I think part of it is that Detective Lange has a bigger role in the film and is given more time to come into his own, while Givens is presented to us as simply the sour cop who wants to give Trevor a hard time. Though, I was a fan of the further significance of their two characters to the story; which you'll understand when you watch the film.
The ladies in the film did a good job. Jody Thompson was good in the role of the sultry Tawny, Sarah-Jane Redmond was passable as Trevor's nympho boss Gwen, and Kaaren De Silva brought a presence to her brief role of Sage. The weak link here for me was Bret (Trevor White). He was just too jittery and awkward for me. I felt he brought down some of the scenes he was in because of that quality. He didn't play well off Dean, and that's unfortunately the only guy he had scenes with.
Back to Kirsty and her role in the film - From what I understand the story was not conceived with her in mind. It was the film's second writer, Tim Day, who suggested bringing her back. Director Rick Bota says on the commentary, that they were about to cast a different actress in the role and rename the character right down to the last minute. So, it doesn't sound as if the role as written was intended for her. That of course presents problems, and makes her seem unlike the character we knew in the first two films in some ways. This shift not only upset some fans, but I've heard Ashley Laurence wasn't too pleased with how it came off either. But, she took the role knowing what Kirsty's fate would be by the end of the film. While controversial and certainly different, I actually liked it. I felt it was a ballsy move and made for an unexpected twist in the narrative.
Bota reveals that there were a couple of scenes with Kirsty, one you'll find on the special features, where there were more references to the previous Hellraiser films. He cut them because he didn't want to alienate the people who were new to the series. I'm sure it's a tricky thing, making a Sequel to a franchise with a built in fanbase while trying to cater to the casual fan, but things like this always bother me. It seems when a situation like this comes up, it's always the casuals who get the consideration. I think that's unfortunate in this case, because the additional dialogue in the scene that's present on the DVD is quite good.
While I felt Hellseeker had a few small plot points which created tangents that went nowhere significant; I do think it's successful overall. While similar to Inferno in structure, it doesn't repeat the mistakes of that film, embraces the mythology, and brings back a familiar face to boot. For my money, it's the best executed Sequel since Hellbound and certainly the best of the DTV Hellraiser films.
Directed by: Rick Bota
Starring: Doug Bradley, Ashley Laurence, Dean Winters, William S. Taylor
Released by: Dimension Films
Special Features
- Commentary by Director Rick Bota
- Alternate Scenes
- Visual Effects Walk-Through With Jamison Goei
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