Given the chance I'm certain that Dimension Pictures will run the Hellraiser franchise into the ground. They're definitely trying their best as this is the seventh(!) entry into the series kickstarted by Clive Barker back in 1987. However, Hellraiser: Deader has the unfortunate fate of being tossed onto DVD two years after being filmed (a mere five months ahead of eighth entry, Hellraiser: Hellworld) as Dimension rushes to clean out their "vaults" as their relationship with distributor Disney starts to disintegrate.

Marking the second time director Rick Bota has been involved in the series (he made 2002's Hellraiser: Hellseeker - and would also direct the next one after this as well) this continues the later Hellraiser movies' trend of containing very little of Pinhead and his Cenobite minions preferring to concentrate on being a "mindf*ck" horror movie that just so happens to have Pinhead in it.

Kari Wuhrer stars as reporter Amy Klein who's just wrapped up her latest story, "How To Be A Crack Whore". She's a no-nonsense kinda gal and when not being generally obnoxious and chain-smoking up a storm she's quite the journalist. It's because of her reputation that her boss decides to give her the scoop on a new story and shows her a tape where a girl shoots herself in the head only to be seemingly resurrected by the leader of the obvious cult that called themselves "Deaders".

Intrigued, Amy heads off to Bucharest to try and get information on the "Deaders" and infiltrate the cult to see if the apparent "miracles" they're performing are true. But she gets more than she bargained for as she ends-up trying to track down the girl on the video only to find her corpse in an apartment (she hung herself) where she finds another video recorded clue and the puzzle box we've come to know and love in the previous Hellraiser movies.

The clues, and the box, lead her on a wild goose chase of the "Deaders" and also cause her to start having all sorts of visions and muddled flashbacks after she opens the box and invites Pinhead into the World of the living. Seems she's Pinheads "bargaining chip" as she's the only way he can be lead to the cult, who have annoyed him by trying to infiltrate his realm of pain and pleasure.

Director Bota certainly keeps the movie visually interesting and the script by Neal Marshall Stevens and Tim Day manages to be somewhat interesting before it gets a bit too heavy-handed and starts to stumble in the last third (which I suppose can be somewhat expected as the script didn't start its life intended to be an entry in the series being tooled later to include Pinhead and everything else), but overall Hellraiser: Deader is another movie you could easily skip unless you're looking to see every single movie in the franchise.

Wuhrer does fine in the lead, the early scene with the hanging corpse is pretty damn creepy and effective, and there's an alright - but expected - "body split" scene (which is promptly followed by an incredibly weak "chest holes" moment); but the movie tries a bit too hard to be off-kilter by throwing in a completely ridiculous subway car scene and many other moments that could be considered "messed-up" but offer little to propel the story forward.

By now the Hellraiser series is just another whipping boy trotted out every couple of years to keep the DVD renting horror fans mildly happy, but it's got to stop sometime... and soon. Not that Dimension already hasn't beaten other horror franchises to death by releasing six Prophecy movies and seven Children Of The Corn films.

Followed by Hellraiser: Hellworld. (Chris Hartley, 9/23/05)

Directed By: Rick Bota.
Written By: Tim Day, Neal Marshall Stevens.

Starring: Kari Wuhrer, Paul Rhys, Simon Kunz, Marc Warren.