Hellraiser: The Experiment

[cyberghostface]

Warning for gore 

From Heavy Metal #288.

A group of scientists are watching a monkey try to solve the Lament Configuration.

Comments

[icon_uk]

I've always liked that aspect of the concept behind the Lament Configuration and the other means of calling the Cenobites, that it's the obsession to solve the puzzle, not necessarily the hand that opens it, that counts.

There's a scene in the Hellraiser: Bloodline movie where a robot solves the puzzle and is yanked apart by the chains as the Cenobites arrrive, and that never felt right. a robot can't be obsessive like that, but it's programmer can. (But that movie also implied that LeMarchand died the night he made his first puzzle, the Lament Configuration. Which begs the question of where all the other puzzle boxes we've seen he was repsonsible for (See Hellraiser 2), came from.

[crinos]

Well by Bloodlines the series had kind of decayed, in that the Hell that the Cenobites come from became more of a traditional idea of Hell, which it really wasn't in the original novel and movie. There, the Cenobites were beings who were obsessed with sensation to the point they no longer differentiated between pain and pleasure, and in the novel they even tried to warn the guy who summoned them that what they offered may not be what he was expecting or wanted.

Another thing in the Bloodlines movie was that the being who had the Lament Configuration made in the original segment wasn't a Cenobite, she was more of a traditional Succubus like demon, and then when she meets Pinhead in the second segment he tells her that things have changed in Hell and they don't bother with temptation and stuff, and by the third segment we see she's become a cenobite herself.

Another fun fact: The reason Pinhead became the main cenobite in the movies is because the other three people playing Cenobites couldn't really see or talk in their elaborate makeup (I think the fat guy was the leader in the novels) and so he sort of became the leader by default.

[cyberghostface]

Lol, in the original novella Pinhead has jewels at the end of his pins and he speaks in an feminine voice. I think he has a grand total of two lines. So it’s kind of funny seeing him on the cover of the recent editions given how minor he is.

[crinos]

Well, as mentioned he did become the face of the franchise. thanks to the movies. Its kind of how like they rereleased Dante's Inferno a few years ago to coincide with the video game they released (I played it, and it was pretty fun for what it was, which was a run of the mill God of War clone) and they put badass crusader Dante on the cover when nothing even remotely close happens in the actual story.

And again, never read the original novela, but as I understand it all the Cenobites have basically modified and mutilated themselves to the point they were essentially sexless.

[shakalooloo]

Yeah, the Cenobites were never meant to be the monsters. But it seems like even Barker himself has forgotten that now; his last novel Scarlet Gospels serves as a sequel showing how the Cenobite hates being called Pinhead and goes on a murderous rampage to kill all the world's magicians and then usurp Satan. It even goes so far as to replace the Leviathan Labyrinth version of Hell with a more generic, boring underworld full of nondescript demons.

Do not read the Scarlet Gospels if you have any love for Hellraiser or the days when Clive Barker was a good writer. He uses 'in point of fact' far too many times...

[icon_uk]

I just started to read it this past week, but have not been impressed so far.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, the rot set in in Hellraiser 3 when completely random people were turned into Cenobites against their will.

IIRC Bloodlines was supposed to introduce the Angelus Configuration, the gateway to heaven, which would not be as advertised any more than Hell was, but instead we got the Hell banishing light pattern thingie...

[kamino_neko]

That would have been interesting. (I've actually never seen the movies past the first...read The Hellbound Heart and love the comics, though. Face is best Cenobite.)

[icon_uk]

The comics have generally been superb, much better than anything outside the first two movies.

If you haven't seen "Hellbound: Hellraiser 2" I do recommend it as it continues the story of Kirsty (and Julia) , gives an origin to Pinhead, explains a little more about Leviathan and Hell (and coins the term outlined in the above story that "it is not hands that call, but desire"), and also lets us see what happens when someone more obsessively crazy than the Cenobites gets involved in their world and a REALLY disturbing revelation about Chatterer.

Oh, and it also has an AMAZING music score.

[kamino_neko]

Thanks...it sounds good...I'll be sure to check it out.

[bruinsfan]

Julia's monologue to Dr. Channard is a thing of beauty.

[adriantullberg]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kswWeezE7hA

[icon_uk]

My favourite track remains the demented carnival music of "Hall of Mirrors"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMA9Jnaznp4

[kamino_neko]

And now I've watched it (would have watched it earlier, but wanted to rewatch the first, first)...yeah, that was a good movie. Knowing that there was going to be a 'revelation about Chatterer', I figured out what it was going to be as soon as the Female died, and was certain when Butterball got it, which dulled the effect a bit, but still..

[shakalooloo]

The other reason the Lead Cenobite became the series lead monster was because Barker had intended for Julia to take over in the second movie, but Clare Higgins didn't want to do any more.

[icon_uk]

Did he? But Clare Higgins came back for the second movie, it was Andrew G Robinson who only did the first one.

I suspect that Pinheads instant elevation to iconic horror status was as much a part of that as anything. He had a unique, disturbing and photogenic look which was easy to market. Julia's look was grotesque but not as "different" as Pinhead.

[flint_marko]

The plan actually was for her to be the big bad after the second movie.

You can see it in the original script, where Julia returns at the end.

http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/hellraiser_II.html

[kamino_neko]

Wait...Larry was Garak? ... I totally should have seen the resemblance...even with the makeup altering most of his features, the eyes should have been a giveaway.

[bruinsfan]

Wasn't it implied that it was Dr. Merchant's intent to open the box that summoned them, even if the Lament Configuration itself was in the hands of a non-sentient robot? As I recall, the Cenobites emerged in the presence of the box in the second movie, but spared Tiffany in favor of hunting down Dr. Channard.

[icon_uk]

Could well be, it's been a while since I watched that one.

[sindra]

Good Guy Pinhead.

[superfangirl1]

I'm a big fan of the Hellraiser movies. I absolutely love this and enjoy the art.