Clive Barker
Hellraiser

Clive Barker is an aesthetic of evil.

An acclaimed horror and theatrical writer, a painter for hobby, and a director of some of his own works, he mocks the fake benevolence of Stephen King, transcends the metaphysics of Lovecraft's "strange eons," and delights in feasting on the favorite dishes of the Marquis de Sade: blood, sperm, desolation, and pain.

Based on one of his short stories, Hellraiser is a descent into the depths of the darkest pain and the most unrestrained hedonism.

But "pain" rhymes with "love," and Hellraiser is, first and foremost, the love and damnation story of Frank Cotton and his adulterous sister-in-law Julia, a passion beyond earthly and corporeal boundaries, a passion beyond human conception.
Ever in search of new pleasures, Frank manages to get his hands on a strange box, ominously called "The Lament Configuration," a key to a parallel world, both terrible and fascinating.
To experience unimaginable pleasures, Frank gives up his mortal remains to the Lords of this alternative reality, the Cenobite demons or angels, depending on the perspective. Realizing his grave mistake, he finds in Julia the only person willing to help him "reconstruct" his body now at the mercy of unspeakable tortures. Meanwhile, his niece Kyrsty strikes a deal with Our Lord of the Cenobites, better known as Pinhead, to free herself, once and for all, from the terrible uncle.

The direction, not up to par, and the very low budget accentuate the claustrophobic and sick nature of the film. The flesh is the absolute protagonist: greedy, lustful, deceitful, cannibalized, tortured, dismembered, and then recomposed in a circle of vice and obscene desires.
The terrible parallel Hell/Paradise is only slightly hinted at (which will have more space in the second episode), leaving to the imagination of the unwary viewer all its dreadful potential.
Excellent work in special effects by Bob Keen, especially in the sadomasochistic costumes of the Cenobites, which have become, thanks also to the poor sequels, true dark icons.

Excellent in its imperfection, the film serves as an ideal bridge between reckless splatter and the ancient terror of unnamed worlds distant yet simultaneously close to ours.
After this work, Barker will only succeed as a writer in recreating his hallucinatory visions and macabre obsessions, while the activity as a director will be put on the back burner.

A B movie elevated to a cult phenomenon. A classic.