Hellraiser IV: Bloodline

Hellraiser in Space: Well it was only a matter of time before the Hellraiser franchise took its place among the stars. Now Pinhead can trade space stories with Jason Voorhees, the Leprechaun, and the Critters. And while this sequel wasn’t that bad, I mean it was directed by Hollywood legend Alan freaking Smithee, I know that there are 5 direct-to-video sequels AFTER this one still waiting for me. So we’re already in space and there are FIVE more sequels after this one. I’m assuming that any attempt at canon is out the air locks after part four but we’ll see. I have to get through this review first and see what patience remains…

The Film:

In the future…

Bloodline starts in the future, on a space station designed by Paul Merchant (Bruce Ramsay). Merchant is using a robotic interface to manipulate the infamous puzzle box and when he succeeds in opening the box the robot is immediately destroyed. Before Merchant can continue whatever he’s up to he is stopped by armed security forces that come aboard. They are trying to arrest Merchant for hijacking the station and moving it out of its assigned orbit. Merchant uses the story of his family’s history to attempt to explain why he needs the use of the station.

In the past…

In 18^th century France popular toymaker Phillip Lemarchand (also Bruce Ramsay) is finishing a work commissioned by the aristocrat Duc de L’Isle (Mickey Cottrell) – the puzzle box. Duc de L’Isle is steeped in black arts and he wants to use the box in a ritual to summon and trap a demon. He and his assistant Jacques (the cinematic debut of Mr. Adam Scott!) abduct a peasant girl, kill her and skin her, then drape the skin over the summoning circle. As de L’Isle continues his ritual we see the skin begin to take shape again and Angelique (Valentina Vargas) the demon now has a new home with de L’Isle as her “master”. Angelique agrees so long as de L’Isle doesn’t stand “in Hell’s way” but it seems like she’s probably just playing along.

However, since de L’Isle is too eager to get his ritual going, he doesn’t bother to wait until Lemarchand is a good distance away and the toymaker peeks in through the windows and sees the whole thing. Horrified at having contributed to such evil, Lemarchand runs home to attempt to work on another box that would have the power to contain or destroy demons. While Lemarchand continues his work, Angelique seems to quickly be tiring of de L’Isle so she seduces Jacques and murders de L’Isle. As Lemarchand finishes his box configuration that would stop evil he also attempts to sneak back into de L’Isle’s house to steal back the original box. Lemarchand finds the corpse of de L’Isle and the murderous duo Jacques and Angelique who tell Lemarchand that his bloodline is cursed for his part in the evil ritual and then Lemarchand is also killed. But his family lives on…

In the “present”…

Moving ahead a couple of centuries we see that Angelique and Jacques are still kicking around doing whatever apparently immortal beings do. The present day descendant of Lemarchand, John Merchant (Bruce Ramsay once again), is an architect in the U.S. who is being awarded for the building that just happens to be the one from the end of Part III, the one whose looks are inspired by the puzzle box. So that bit of recognition happens to catch the attention of the evil duo. Angelique wants to see the new Mr. Merchant and see if she can use her demonic feminine wiles to make Merchant do her bidding. Jacques doesn’t really want to bother with the whole thing, or maybe he just doesn’t want to get ditched, but since he’s standing in Hell’s way Angelique finally dispatches him.

Back in the states, Angelique does her best to get it on with John Merchant and find the box. Despite his having a wife and family he isn’t strong enough to avoid temptation. I mean it is demonic temptation so he should get a pass, right? Angelique also finds the box in the basement of Merchant’s building and manages to bring Pinhead back. The two demons conspire to force Merchant into designing a portal between the “real” world and their dimension so that they don’t have to bother with the stupid puzzle box anymore. There’s also a demon hound or something but I found it to be too stupid to warrant any further writing.

Merchant sure isn’t eager to help a temptress and a guy with pins coming out of his face but they kidnap his son for leverage. Fortunately, the Lemarchand blood means that Merchant also has the insight into how to design that trap that his ancestor failed to accomplish so he tries to play along with the Cenobites in hopes of luring them into that same trap (only more elaborate now because it’s not the crappy 18^th century). Pinhead gets wise to the trick though and beheads Merchant. Merchant’s wife, however, came across the box and was able to use it to banish Pinhead and Angelique once again… for a while anyway…

Back to the future…

So space station Merchant has finished telling his story up to that point and notes that he had used the robot to open the box bringing out Pinhead and company but the security showed up before he was able to finish his task. So all that time the Cenobites have been on the station and now they make their presence known by totally fucking up all the security folks. Merchant and the main security guard take off since the guard finally realizes that Merchant isn’t full of crap. Merchant has also setup a holographic decoy to trick Pinhead and escape the station. Silly Pinhead, I guess they don’t have high tech gadgets of trickery in the hell dimension.

Speaking of high tech trickery, the entire space station, designed by Merchant, is a giant set of mirrors setup with the old Lemerchand configuration that is meant to trap and destroy the demons. So in this last moment we have what appears to be the end of Pinhead and company.

Overall…

Not as bad as I was expecting all things considered but it wasn’t quite “there”. I’m curious to see that the director’s cut (or cuts) would have done differently had he been allowed to see it through (and not fork over director’s credit to A. Smithee). So there is some blood and gore, the summoning of Angelique at the beginning is probably my favorite moment.

All in all, even though it’s “the space one” it actually has some stuff going for it including the origin of the puzzle box, but it doesn’t quite live up to the originals. Still, “B” for effort.

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