Countdown, Day 5: Hellraiser

Clive Barker’s Hellraiser (1987) is so ridiculous that I can’t help but love it. I’m honestly not even sure what I want to say about it. The design of the Cenobites is so very memorable, and the 1980s hair and costumes are . . . also memorable. There are moments or images that are truly horrific, then the film will cross a line and it becomes hard not to laugh. It’s just so much. 

Kirsty Cotton: Who are you?
Lead Cenobite: Explorers… in the further regions of experience. Demons to some, angels to others.
Kirsty Cotton: It was a mistake! I didn’t… I didn’t mean to open it! It was a mistake! You can… GO TO HELL!
Female Cenobite: We can’t. Not alone.
Lead Cenobite: You solved the box, we came. Now you must come with us, taste our pleasures.
Kirsty Cotton: Please! Go away and leave me alone!
Lead Cenobite: Oh, no tears please. It’s a waste of good suffering!

Earlier countdown entries:

1. Night of the Living Dead, dir. George Romero (1968)
2. Dawn of the Dead, dir. George Romero (1978)
3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, dir. Philip Kaufman (1978)
4. Get Out, dir. Jordan Peele (2017)