{"id":364993,"date":"2025-12-24T02:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T02:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/364993\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T02:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T02:07:07","slug":"37-years-ago-a-shocking-horror-sequel-debuted-two-days-before-christmas-and-its-the-best-in-the-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/364993\/","title":{"rendered":"37 Years Ago, a Shocking Horror Sequel Debuted Two Days Before Christmas (And It’s the Best in the Series)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A wide array of movies tend to find themselves released right around Christmas. Even today, when theaters are struggling, Christmas is as sure a thing as there is. People will absolutely be going to the theater, so there better be something new. And there always is. In fact, it\u2019s typical for multiple movies to open on the 25th, and another one or two released within the few days prior to that. It\u2019s when blockbusters hit the big screen, or modestly budgeted comedies (e.g. this year\u2019s Anaconda<\/a>), or big-budget movies that the studios are afraid will flop<\/a>, so might as well get it out on a day where it can recoup at least some of its budget (think 47 Ronin).<\/p>\n

But there are limits. There are some movies out there that seem like a flat-out odd choice to release around the holidays. For instance, Hellbound: Hellraiser II.<\/p>\n

Hellbound on the Big Screen & What Makes the Second Hellraiser a Winner?<\/p>\n

\"\"image courtesy of new world pictures<\/p>\n

There have been 11 total Hellraiser movies, and only four of them went to the big screen. Then, movies five through 10 all went direct-to-video and, most recently, the reboot was a Hulu original. It\u2019s an inherently niche IP, so that\u2019s not but so surprising. It never performed like a Friday the 13th or a Halloween.<\/p>\n

Even still, the first film made $14.5 million in 1987, which was enough to get it a sequel. And, when it hit theaters on December 23rd the following year, it ended up with just over $12 million. About a quarter of that was made over the course of its first four days. And, while that was less than the first film opened to, it\u2019s hard to call it a failure of a debut.<\/p>\n

New World Pictures\u2019 goal was indeed to have it serve as counterprogramming. Not to mention, releasing it just 15 months after film one allowed it to capitalize on its success. It worked well enough, and it was certainly far different from the other major movies that were eating up December business: Rain Man, Twins, The Naked Gun!, and the one-two combo of Beaches and Working Girl (both of which opened the same day). And that\u2019s not all, as December also saw the releases of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Tequila Sunrise. <\/p>\n

In other words, Hellbound had some especially steep competition. Was it wise to make it a Christmas release? It made four times its estimated $3 million budget, so all\u2019s well that ends well. This is especially true considering Hellraiser II has accrued just a rabid a cult following as the original film. It\u2019s easy to see how that came to be, as the first sequel was really the only one to capture the uniquely grim creative direction of the first movie.<\/p>\n

Speaking of that first movie<\/a>, Hellraiser was definitely a case where the first time out the gate was the best time. But Hellbound nips at its heels. It\u2019s almost as if they\u2019re really one three-hour movie split into two parts.<\/p>\n

There is much that works about Hellbound. Christopher Young\u2019s score is still great, and his additions to capture the spirit of this film\u2019s rendition of Hell is haunting. Speaking of this film\u2019s Hell, it\u2019s hard to imagine the underworld conveyed in such an interesting way. Instead of a lake of fire, residents are instead trapped in what amounts to a litany of barren, echoing hallways occasionally branching off into rooms of temptation in which you can take no part. It\u2019s very memorable.<\/p>\n

And, while Julia Cotton\u2019s dispatching of unsuspecting men to resurrect dear uncle Frank is still the best main plot of the franchise, Hellbound\u2018s resurrection of Julia gives her (and performer Clare Higgins) plenty to work with. She\u2019s fully in devious, scheming villain mode, be it the moment where she tricks and murders Dr. Kyle MacRae (Aliens\u2018 William Hope) or her long con to sacrifice Dr. Phillip Channard. <\/p>\n

In Dr. Channard we get a second villain who is nearly as compelling as Julia. He wants to know a world he\u2019s never witnessed, yet he\u2019s unprepared for the consequences of such an exploration. Then, when those consequences occur, he\u2019s terrified\u2026only to then embrace them with the perfectly delivered line \u201cAnd to think I hesitated.\u201d Like with the first film, Hellbound is keen on crafting deep villains. We even get to see a bit more of the Cenobites this time around, and they too are given something of an arc.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean Kirsty Cotton is left by the wayside. In fact, she gets a stronger plot in Hellbound than she did the first time. Specifically, she wants to venture into Hell to rescue her father. She remains noble and compassionate in a world filled with pain and selfishness. Not to mention, we also get to see her take on a maternal dynamic with young Tiffany, which allows the wonderful Ashley Laurence to imbue her character with a further layer of maturity.<\/p>\n

Hellbound: Hellraiser II was a perfect follow-up<\/a> to the events of the first movie, and it\u2019s just unfortunate the franchise never again captured the first two films\u2019 level of quality or their spirit. But, as good as the movie remains that, if there\u2019s a franchise that does not bring to mind snowmen and candy canes, it has got to be Hellraiser.<\/p>\n

Stream Hellbound: Hellraiser II on Prime Video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A wide array of movies tend to find themselves released right around Christmas. Even today, when theaters are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,75,156516,156517,337,10215],"class_list":{"0":"post-364993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-hellbound-hellraiser-ii","12":"tag-hellraiser","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-regular-feature"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}