Starring: Kari Wuhrer, Doug Bradley, Paul Rhys, Simon Kunz, Marc Warren, Georgina Rylance.
Director: Rick Bota.
While widely known by most of the franchises' fans, it bears repeating here that Deader was originally written as its own stand-alone horror film about a cult in Europe who possess some weird resurrection powers. At some point it was optioned by Dimension Films who, in their infinite wisdom(and understanding that the film probably wouldn't sell)re-purposed the script as a Hellraiser sequel. Director Rick Bota had pleased the studio enough with his previous franchise entry and was once more attached to direct(and would go on to do the next one, the even more inferior Hellworld). Bota once again brings a sense of enthusiasm and effort to the proceedings, really hoping to turn this into as good a film as he possibly could.
That said, I remember liking Deader alright. I even think it may have been an okay film without the Pinhead tie-in...it probably would have insulted the fan base considerably less in the end...but then again maybe not. Bota mostly succeeds in providing a stylish film but is mostly undone by a lot of glaring and awkward rewrites.
There is at least one solid thing going for this film, and it's the casting of the underrated Kari Wuhrer. She's become something of a source of jokes to the audiences due to her having something of the Walken Principle: She'll basically do whatever film is out in front of her. Like Walken, though, she tends to fully commit to all of those projects, and brings a sense of charisma to her roles. I find her rather compelling. While her character-shock reporter Amy-is a pretty standard collection of bad-girl cliches(chain smoking, coffee drinking, unshowered and having a bad attitude and problem with authority, all the while clad in a goth skirt, combat boots and a bomber jacket) Wuhrer still manages to be very watchable.
I don't know if the movie was actually filmed in Bucharest, but it sure looks like Bucharest to me. If it wasn't shot there, they certainly chose good locations and created some good interior sets to make me believe we're in poor neighborhood in Eastern Europe. I've never been to Romania. Is it nice there? I'd like to go to Eastern Europe: I hear the exchange rate is good.
Oh, right, I almost forgot: if nothing else, there is one set piece very early on that is absolutely fantastic. Amy bribes her way into the apartment of Marla, the girl who had filmed the Deader ritual than brought Amy to Romania. The place is decaying, filled with grime and lit by pale strands of what seems like natural light. The apartment is filled with weird, unnatural seeming corners. It's a wonderful set. Then Amy turns the corner and sees. at the end of a long hall, Marla's corpse. Marla is slumped over, seemingly hung from a rope behind her, now seated on a toilet, her eyes rolled back in her head. It's a frightening image, and designed to set off every jump scare nerve you have. Amy climbs forward, reaching past the corpse for an envelope. It's almost not a question of IF that corpse is going to move...it's when. It's an extremely suspenseful scene, and even provides a fake out with a long shot before the scare actually occurs. It's a fantastic sequence, and really shows what Bota is capable of. Great stuff.
The addition of the lament configuration to the dialogue is really awkward, and so is the digital effects work. Honestly, I really do think this movie may have been stronger without the ties to Hellraiser. Every time that mythos is brought up, it feels so ridiculously tacked on and awkward that it almost becomes cringe worthy. The "message from beyond the grave via videotape" is a wonderful device, but to hear her suddenly say "Oh, and the box, don't open it" just breaks it.
The rave-train looks super rad. It's like a constant party on a train...well, no, it's literally that. Do they have those in Romania? I'd be down for that. It's well designed and photographed. Sure, it's a little lowest common denominator with all the topless lesbians making out or what have you, but the set design still looks seedy, subterranean and actually kinda fun in places. Marc Warren as Joey isn't doing the scene many favors with his Steve Zahn impression, but it provides the necessary exposition in a way that isn't super irritating.
The most irritating scene of exposition is when Charles compares Amy to a glutton and proceeds to make six different puns. She's a glutton, he needs her to eat what he can't so he doesn't get mental indigestion, but nobody is stuffing anything down her throat...I almost want to scream "just stop with your metaphor" the whole time he's speaking.
I do feel like nobody quite asked "does this make sense" when this film was being put together, but the plot threads really don't connect or seem to have any internal logic. Amy just jumps from plot point to plot point without recounting any of the information into any sort of narrative that might help the audience (I'm not usually clamoring for more exposition, but sometimes it's necessary). Amy could have used a sidekick, maybe? Someone she could say "this is what's going on" to? Instead she plays Indiana Jones by herself in the Deader's strangely crumbling and kinda/sorta booby trapped headquarters? I know they're a weird cult from eastern europe and that Joey said that they all lived together in a big house but where did the temple of doom come from? Suddenly they're the friggin' Night Breed or whatever.
Winter is a wussy name for a cult leader. Just saying.
Destiny is a lazy plot device. Need a reason for a character to be someplace? Destiny! It's clearly part of the re-write process. You can tell the original plot was for Amy to come snooping around the Deaders and discover some sort of horrible reality and come to terms with her own problems. But the box and Pinhead are involved, so now she needs to do other stuff...stuff that probably could have happened already because Marla had the box. So, why couldn't Marla do it? Destiny. Hell, Marla even tells her she's the damn chosen one. It's terrible.
The scene involving Amy waking up with a knife in her back, bleeding all over the place is pretty well done, though. It could have gone a couple ways, but Bota makes some interesting visual choices, including high angle shots that actually make the tiny bathroom look massive, accentuating Amy's helplessness. Then it's lit entirely by flourescents and lots of blood tossed around...it works pretty well. As a whole, the movie is a pretty jumbled mess, but it has some good scenes.
I don't remember Pinhead being as...well, pudgy...as he is in these later sequels. I know Bradley must be getting up there in age, but the make-up and costume really seem off on him. It's just kind of surprising to notice now, after all these years of watching these things a billion times.
There's a real similarity to Deader and Hellseeker: they work better as craziness and the like...it's the plot that undermines everything. I want to buy into Amy being the chosen one, some vague war between Winter and Pinhead...I just wish it tracked somehow. So Winter is a member of the Merchant lineage? What does that have to do with his powers and gateways to hell and maintaining control of the puzzle box? What does he gain from Amy joining his team? None of this makes much sense.
Final Thoughts: It's a mess, it doesn't make a lot of sense, there's virtually no real plot cohesion or anything...but there are some strong scenes, some decent set design and camerawork, and Kari Wuhrer's strong performance. You win some, you lose some. Overall, like it's immediate predecessor: it's better than it has any right to be.
Final Rating: Two and a Half Stars.
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