Hellbound: Hellraiser II

Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a 1988 British-American body horror film directed by Tony Randel and starring Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Kenneth Cranham and Doug Bradley. The film is the second entry in the Hellraiser saga and draws heavily upon (and was made by much of the same cast and crew as) its precursor, Hellraiser. Clive Barker, who wrote and directed the previous film, wrote the story and was the sequel's executive producer.

Plot
We see the origin of Pinhead as a British military officer, Elliott Spencer, who uses the Lament Configuration, the doorway to the world of the Cenobites, and becomes a Cenobite.

Kirsty Cotton has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital, still haunted by visions of the unspeakable horror that destroyed her family. Interviewed by Doctor Channard, and his assistant, Kyle MacRae, she tells her account of the events depicted in the first film, and pleads with them to destroy the bloody mattress her murderous stepmother, Julia Cotton, died upon. Despite her frantic urging, MacRae is the only one who seems to believe her.

However, it is revealed that the obsessive Dr. Channard has been searching for the Lament Configuration for years, and has several similar boxes. Dr. Channard also has several patients locked in the maintenance level of the hospital. After hearing Kirsty's story, he has the mattress brought to his home, and has one of his more deranged patients (from maintenance) lie on the mattress and cut himself with a straight razor. The resulting bloodflow frees Julia from the Cenobite dimension, as it did with Frank in the first film, though Julia's physical form is immediately whole, only lacking skin due to the amount of blood. MacRae is a witness, having snuck inside Dr. Channard's house to investigate Kirsty's claims, and found multiple puzzle boxes and diagrams depicting various body parts, as well as a chalkboard with mysterious writing on it.

Meanwhile, Kirsty meets a young patient named Tiffany. Tiffany, who hasn't spoken for years, demonstrates an amazing aptitude for puzzles. Later that night Kirsty is awakened in her room to a vision of her skinless father, who tells her in writing that he's in Hell and to help him. Come morning, MacRae arrives back at the hospital and informs Kirsty he believes everything is true. The two decide to return to Dr. Channard's house so Kirsty can attempt to save her father who she believes is still trapped in Hell.

Meanwhile, Dr. Channard, seduced by Julia, has surreptitiously brought more mentally ill patients to his home for her to feed on. When Kirsty and the others arrive at Channard's home, MacRae heads to the attic, and discovers the grisly remains of their bodies. Julia, her skin almost completely regenerated, appears and kills him, consuming his essence and completing her regeneration. Kirsty hears the commotion and rushes up to the attic, and walks in on the scene. Enraged, she attacks Julia, but is knocked unconscious.

Channard kidnaps Tiffany and he and Julia use her as a proxy to unlock the Lament Configuration puzzle box and enter the world of Pinhead and the Cenobites. Here it is learned that the act of opening the Lament Configuration is not in and of itself reason to be targeted by the Cenobites. As Pinhead states, stopping his fellow Cenobites from attacking Tiffany, it is "not hands that call [them], but desire." Thus, it was Channard´s desire who made him use Tiffany to open the box and he is the Cenobites´ target. When Kirsty enters Channard's office, she finds the box Tiffany had used and frantically tries to return it to its normal configuration. The Cenobites find her, Pinhead seizing the opportunity to change the box to a more complex configuration and lock open the doors to the labyrinth. Pinhead tells Kirsty she is free to explore the maze but they'll be waiting to capture and torture her.

Channard and Julia enter the Labyrinth of Hell which is run by the god Leviathan, who dwells in the shape of a gigantic, elongated diamond rotating in space above the labyrinth and emanating black beams which make Channard remember some of the atrocities he has committed. Julia calls Leviathan the "god of flesh, hunger, and desire...the Lord of the Labyrinth." Julia betrays Channard to the Labyrinth to be turned into a Cenobite; as Channard screams during the procedure, Julia reveals that she has a mission to bring souls to Leviathan, including Channard's.

Kirsty ventures into the Cenobites' domain and encounters Frank Cotton. He reveals that he is condemned to Hell, and that his punishment is to be teased and seduced by writhing female figures on beds that withdraw into the walls, depriving him of any pleasure. He also reveals that he tricked her by pretending to be her father to lure her into Hell so that he can use her for his own pleasures. At this point, Julia appears and destroys Frank in revenge for killing her.

Kirsty and Tiffany encounter Pinhead and the other Cenobites. Kirsty shows Pinhead a photograph of him that she took from Channard's study, and he gradually remembers that he was human, as the other Cenobites also remember they were human. Suddenly, Channard appears. In an attempt at seizing power, Channard kills Pinhead and his minions, as they stand between Channard and Kirsty and Tiffany. Before dying, Pinhead, who has been transformed by Channard's power back into Elliott Spencer, exchanges a poignant glance with Kirsty.

Kirsty later tricks Doctor Channard by donning the deceased Julia's skin, giving Tiffany the opportunity to finish the Lament Configuration puzzle, killing Doctor Channard, altering Leviathan into the box shape of a Lament Configuration, and allowing them to return home and close the gate between the two worlds. The movie ends with Kirsty and Tiffany leaving the now unoccupied hospital. Two men are removing what remains in the doctor's house and one of the movers comes across a blood-stained mattress on the floor. As he bends down to examine it, two arms reach out from the pool of blood, killing him as they withdraw, taking his upper half with them.

When the second mover finally enters and observes the scene, a large spinning pillar rises from the bloody floor, decorated with several Cenobite faces inset, including Pinhead's. Staring at the ghastly faces, one of them (the vagrant from the first film) speaks to the mover, asking his usual question: "What's your pleasure, sir?".

Production
Clive Barker returned as executive producer for the sequel. Tony Randel directed due to his experience of working with Barker on Hellraiser. Randel claims the dark tone of the movie reflected his own mindset on the world at the time. The picture was due to have a much larger budget but it decreased after financial issues with New World Pictures.

Nicholas Vince, who plays the Chatterer, received a hook to the jaw while filming a scene involving his character being impaled on a swinging torture rack surrounded by the many hanging chains. It has been claimed that the camera man stopped filming just at that instance. He also requested his character have eyes to help his vision, which caused some discontent with fans, who derided the new design. A scene in which the character receives his "vision" was removed from the final cut, causing some confusion at his introductory scene in Hellbound featuring him in his original "eyeless" guise.

Originally, there was going to be an extra scene during the ending when Kirsty and Tiffany are running from Channard. The scene was planned so that during their escape the duo run into a doctor and nurse. The doctor demands to know what are they doing. Kirsty backs away in horror when suddenly the doctor and nurse turn into Pinhead and the Female Cenobite, before her and Tiffany continue running. The scene was filmed but was ultimately dropped from the final cut for two reasons. One was because the filmmakers thought that having actor Doug Bradley as a normal doctor would confuse the viewers, and another was because the special effects for the scene turned out poorly, so it was decided to discard it altogether. However, a photographer who was on set took some photos of Pinhead and the Female Cenobite dressed as surgeons which were used for promotion of the film, and were also used on some VHS/DVD covers of the movie, confusing fans and starting rumors about an "infamous deleted surgery scene". Some trailers do show a few shots from this unfinished scene, as well as parts of another deleted scene with Chatterer stopping the elevator with his hand and jumping at Kirsty and Tiffany. The lost scene was eventually rediscovered on a VHS workprint and announced as an extra for Arrow Video's Blu-ray reissue of the first three films in the series.

British Shakespearean actor Kenneth Cranham, who plays Channard, claimed his involvement was due to his grandson pestering him to take up the offer, being a fan of the original.

Oliver Smith, who played Skinless Frank in the original due to his skinny frame (allowing the body makeup to be realistic), reprised his role along with two extra roles as Browning (the mental patient with delusional parasitosis) and as the skinless figure Kirsty sees in the hospital who writes "I Am In Hell Help Me" in blood on the wall.

Composer Christopher Young also returned to compose a more bombastic score larger in scope. For the horn-like sound supposedly emanating from Leviathan in the center of Hell's labyrinth, he had the morse code for the word god incorporated.

Alternate screenplay
An alternate script with Kirsty's father Larry exists, written before Andrew Robinson declined to reprise the role. Many reasons were given for this including disagreement over fees and a clash of schedules although nothing has ever been confirmed. Dr. Channard was originally called Dr. Malahide but this was changed by the director. It was revealed in the Documentary "Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser 2" from Andrew Robinson that he was not a fan of the script and decided to not return as his character was finished anyway. Writer Peter Atkins said that despite liking Andrew Robinson as an actor he was relieved that he declined as it made the narrative work a lot better in the finished project.

Release
Hellbound: Hellraiser II was shown at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on 9 September 1988. It was later shown in Los Angeles and New York on 23 December 1988.

Reception
Hellbound was initially rated X by the Motion Picture Association of America, which would have limited it to those 17 and older. Barker attributed this to preferring explicit displays of the grotesque rather than hinting at it. Released December 1988 in the US, Hellbound grossed $12,090,735 (US) and £980,503 (UK).

Critical response was initially mixed, and many critics cited stronger violence and an incoherent plot. Flimsy props and sets have also been criticized, as well as praised for their scope and design for such a low-budget picture. Critics later commended the film on strong visuals that echo and match Barker's own original. The film has a 56% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10.