DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 88 minutes, two audio commentaries, deleted scenes with optional commentary, Gag Reel, Making Of featurette, Effects featurettes, and other featurettes

STUDIO: Dimension

RELEASE DATE: 6-7-2005

ANALYSIS: I love the Hellraiser movies and the last one was one of the better direct to video sequels. Alas, the same cannot be said for HELLRAISER: DEADER. It has some great elements for a stand alone horror film, but it falls apart when they decided to make it a Hellraiser sequel. You end up with the writers and director trying to do a Hellraiser Greatest Hits only to see it turn out like a hack job after a screwed up attempt of trying to steal from the brains of Clive Barker and Warren Ellis. The Cenobite make-up and costumes look terrible. Kari Wuhrer cannot even save this turkey. It left me feeling a little deader about the sequels. HELLRAISER: DEADER is dead on arrival.

If you really need to know the plot, it has Kari playing unorthodox journalist Amy Klein who is given an assignment to investigate the Deader cult (whose leader can supposedly bring back the dead) in Bucharest. The Deader cult is lead by a guy who makes Kraven (from UNDERWORLD) seem charismatic. The actor is downright horrible. He has a group of followers who exhibit zero personality. The script is underdeveloped. Pinhead is almost good enough to drag onself through this bomb (unlesss seeing brief glimpses of one of Kari's breasts and bleeding all over is your idea of fun). You have a dead person haunting Amy that comes off like she wished she was kate Winslet while Amy's editor acts like a Jonathan Pryce clone.

VIDEO: 1.85:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

Colors, skin tones, and blacks are good.

AUDIO: English 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English, French, and Spanish (special features not subtitled)

Dialogue is clear. Music and sound effects aren't bad. The audio on deleted scenes sometimes is really low.

SPECIAL FEATURES: The huge assortment of extras are more entertaining than the movie itself. You have two feature audio commentaries with Director Rick Bota (he is joined by Make Effects guy Gary J. Tunncliffe and Dioug Bradley is on the second commentary). A total of 11 deleted and extend scenes are included (with optional Director commentary). Some scenes are interesting while others are dreadfully boring. THE MAKING OF HELLRAISER: DEADER is a 17 minutes look at the movie from it becoming a Hellraiser sequel to behind-the-scene clips to interviews with people involved in the sequel. PRACTICAL EFFECTS WITH GARY J. TURNCLIFFE is basically about they do chains shooting through walls while BEHIND THE VISUAL EFFECTS OF HELLRAISER: DEADER has Visual Effects Supervisor Jamison Goei comment and show how each visual effects sequence was filmed and put together. Also included on the DVD are three photo galleries (Behind-The-Scenes, Set Design sketches, and Deaders), a one minute gag reel, and Location Scouting videos for seven locations.

FINAL ANALYSIS: AVOID THIS SEQUEL. It's a dreadful entry in the Hellraiser series. HELLRAISER: DEADER is dead on it's feet. Let's Hope HELLRAISER: HELLWORLD is better.

this DVD Review is (c)6-5-2005 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com and look for additional content at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia