Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box/Quartet of Torment

[MichaelB]

My copy turned up this afternoon - it would have been sent direct without going via a retailer, so I suspect I got it a day or two early, but I can certainly confirm first-hand that it exists (and looks gorgeous).

[Arrow]

As with the recent limited BFI noirs, I'd wait a few weeks for Amazon to get stock from wherever it's coming from before going into panic mode

I totally forgot about that, probably nothing to worry about then.

[domino harvey]

Got my shipping notice from Amazon and I only just ordered when Arrow made the OOP announcement

[Lazertron]

'Obligatory posting': Mine arrived today, also included is a Hellraiser button and a card "Sorry, I'm late. Traffic has been HELL"

[EddieLarkin]

Arrow should consider addressing the issue regarding Hellraiser III that has cropped up here. No one should be saying definitively that there is a fault, but personally I think the evidence is far more compelling than anything that was offered up for Blood and Black Lace, which regardless was looked into and commented on thoroughly by Arrow.

[_shadow_]

I think people can say there's definitively a fault with a transfer that unveils the edges of a set and the borders of VFX.

I'm surprised that Hellbound comes off the best of an unexpectedly mixed lot, though the shot from the flashback brings to mind the old days of Italian giallo transfers with its odd grain structure (obviously those sections were going to be impacted by their nature as opticals, but I've only ever seen that result in a blurrier image with more contrast, not crazy levels of very sharp grain).

Hellraiser being by far the strongest film artistically, it's disappointing that the transfer leaves much to be desired. The grain level seems elevated more than one would expect, and the contrast has been adjusted so that blown-out peaks like open flames or shafts of sunlight, that were overexposed past the point of recording detail, are rendered lower than they should be, ending up with a sort of underexposed appearance.

Taking down the highlights throws off the contrast of interior shots. Where previously the key light was a window and the fill had the convincing appearance of light bounced from surfaces in the room, the key light is at only a slightly higher level than the fill, which flattens out the contrast and also makes it obvious that artificial lighting is being used to supply the fill. The scenes in Frank's room were formerly shadowy, the light source being a papered-over window contributing a general warm glow and shafts of light, but now seem to be mostly lit from above the set with a much cooler source. It's not that this lighting wasn't present before, but the familiar color and contrast were calibrated to provide the illusion that the illumination came from sunlight outside the room.

[Banasa]

Arrow's response to Hellraiser III

While we appreciate the fact that our framing may look a bit different than on previous editions of Hellraiser III, we would like to point out that older releases incorrectly framed the film in a zoomed and cropped 1.78:1 ratio. When we were working on this film it was confirmed to us that this film, like the other two Hellraiser films, should be masked to its correct theatrical original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which is how we’ve presented it on our release.

Our aim is always to right the wrongs on previous releases and produce a definitive version of the film that is faithful to the original. So whilst it has been suggested that our framing might be a bit off balance, we made the decision to present as much image area as was possible without displaying anything that shouldn’t be visible in the frame. If we were to ‘correct’ for this by shifting the entire picture in one direction, a greater percentage of the image would have had to have been unnecessarily zoomed and cropped. As this is something that would have certainly disappointed more people than allowing for more image area than on previous editions, we decided to maintain the framing as it’s presented on our disc.

Post goes on to mention that the transfers will look as good as what's made available to them, as they sadly couldn't work from the negatives of any of the Hellraiser films.

[tenia]

Arrow should consider addressing the issue regarding Hellraiser III that has cropped up here. No one should be saying definitively that there is a fault, but personally I think the evidence is far more compelling than anything that was offered up for Blood and Black Lace, which regardless was looked into and commented on thoroughly by Arrow.

Here's James White answer about it : http://arrowvideodeck.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm not convinced at all the result avoid "displaying anything that shouldn’t be visible in the frame".

[Orlac]

Arrow should consider addressing the issue regarding Hellraiser III that has cropped up here. No one should be saying definitively that there is a fault, but personally I think the evidence is far more compelling than anything that was offered up for Blood and Black Lace, which regardless was looked into and commented on thoroughly by Arrow.

Here's James White answer about it : http://arrowvideodeck.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm not convinced at all the result avoid "displaying anything that shouldn’t be visible in the frame".

I don't buy it at all (though I did buy the release!). Seems like a reverse Blood-and-Black-Lace problem, and they're just hoping it'll go away quietly.

[domino harvey]

Worked my way through the new-to-me sequels and some of the extras and it's definitely a labor of love release, even if none of the films are very good! Hellbound is pretty easily the best of the three, and while still not all that great, at least it's disturbing and icky in the right measure for one of these kind of pictures. Hellraiser III seems like any early to mid 90s horror movie that went straight to HBO, though I fondly remember the VHS case for this one freaking me out in a grocery store as a kid! The "unrated" laserdisc inserts for part three are all inconsequential (no gore or nudity or anything else "unrated" has been added, at least that I can recall) and while I applaud Arrow's exhaustiveness in presenting a branched version, they don't add anything.

From the extras I've watched so far, I most enjoyed the interview with Paula Marshall (one of my first teen crushes), especially the revelation that John Cusack has seen Hellraiser III. Pretty disappointed with the Barker overview offered on the bonus disc however-- I thought from the description we were getting some kind of exhaustive look at his works, but instead we get a YA horror author talking effusively about the works in the most surface level kind of gushing better suited to a YouTube video. The speaker is enthusiastic and seems nice enough, but this was just a waste of time and a real disappointment in terms of missed opportunities to provide a overarching look at Barker's work.

[cdnchris]

I have to admit I never really understood the love for the second one. I've always found it terrible and I keep coming back to it again and again and end up finding it worse each time. It's nonsensical, cheap looking (though not their fault as I understand it), not all that scary. I also have always found it very dull. I've always liked the first one a lot, though I guess it's more because it caught me off guard the first time I watched it. It's a family drama, almost a chamber piece really, but at the same time the film managed to scare the shit out of me. It's rough around the edges but for a feature debut (and an obviously limited budget) I found it unbelievably effective. The last little bit has always disappointed me.

I agree completely on the third one. Typical 90s slasher. But at least Bradley, who I've always liked in the role (even in the REALLY shitty entries), gets a lot to do. I liked being able to see a decent presentation of it finally, thanks to Arrow (despite the misframing), but yeah, not one I'll come back to more than likely, at least often.

[domino harvey]

I still remember Siskel and Ebert mocking the second film for featuring the two female characters yelling each other's names over and over. I didn't think it was that bad here, but this kind of thing was so unbearable in Poltergeist III that I feel like no other film could possibly come close to being as annoying in terms of characters screaming for each other by name.

[swo17]

Baines!

[domino harvey]

Touche! I literally find myself saying that fucker's name outloud in an approximation of the kid's whiny voice every time I think of the Fallen Idol

[beamish13]

Somebody created a smash cut of characters in Poltergeist III yelling "Carol Anne" that I wish I could find again. It was over five minutes in length.

[domino harvey]

This appears to be it

EDIT: Classic YouTube comment on this video:

As cute as she is she probably would have been plain or even ugly in her older years. If you look at all the cute female children movie stars who were so popular and pretty, the ones that grew to ages 25 and older really disappoint. Check it out for yourself, start out with maybe Shirley Temple and you'll find that the really cute kids grow up to be very plain and not outstanding from the every day crowd. Ron Howard, a cute male child actor, may be an exception depending on your taste in men but his brother Clint, an exceptionally cute kid, grew up to be weird and odd looking guy. Just one man's opinion. God Bless.

[beamish13]

This appears to be it

Fantastic! Thank you

[colinr0380]

I love Hellbound, although I do think that the removal men coda was an unnecessary final capper to the film (I much prefer the beautiful previous shot of Kirsty and Tiffany walking off down the tree lined path as the true close to the film). But since the original Hellraiser falls apart in its relatively unnecessary 'action' climax too, I'm resigned to the films being so wild and experimental in other areas that the endings are perhaps inevitably slightly disappointing. The horror is held just a beat too long that the terror turns a bit goofy.

I would certainly agree that Hellbound feels much stronger (as with the original Hellraiser) during the building menace of the first half. Although there is little to match the labyrinth of hell imagery in the second half even these days, despite it all being mostly based around a couple of locations and a corridor or two. I also think that the scene involving the skinless, recently reanimated stepmother standing in an all-white room pensively staring into a mirror whilst smoking (sort of becoming the femme fatale and mirroring Frank in the previous film as one of the last echoes of the noir-style adultery plot from Hellraiser) is one of the most powerful images of 80s horror and perhaps horror in general. Both of the 'bad guys' here are fascinating figures to watch (interestingly operatic, especially in Dr Channard's move from straight-laced repression to over-the-top monster) compared to our wide eyed, and literally speechless in one case, heroines!

On Poltergeist III, the Carol Anne repetition was rather aggravating, but that's a film where narrative and dialogue are far, far less important than all of the brilliant (though incessant if being uncharitable!) tricks involving mirror imagery! "Carol Anne" literally becomes a mantra (or invocation) throughout that film!

I've always found the scariest, and seemingly least noted, part about Poltergeist III (even by the film itself, which glosses over the character's final fate) is that the boyfriend never escapes from the netherworld!

[beamish13]

On Poltergeist III, the Carol Anne repetition was rather aggravating, but that's a film where narrative and dialogue are far, far less important than all of the brilliant (though incessant if being uncharitable!) tricks involving mirror imagery! "Carol Anne" literally becomes a mantra (or invocation) throughout that film!

I've always found the scariest, and seemingly least noted, part about Poltergeist III (even by the film itself, which glosses over the character's final fate) is that the boyfriend never escapes from the netherworld!

Those are interesting points. Yes, I recall some of the mirror effects being memorable, and the idea of it being an urban horror film that's almost exclusively confined to an ultra-modern building could've been interesting (see High Rise)

[colinr0380]

Poltergeist III is a great film for that sense of the horrors of modernist architecture driving everyone crazy. Tom Skerritt's job is even related to this as I think either the architect or building manager of the almost completed building, having to deal with freezing pipes and mirrored walls suddenly cracking in the early scenes. When combined with the teens breaking into the swimming pool late at night when they should have been babysitting Carol Anne, along with having to deal with both a smarmy child psychiatrist and a diminuitive psychic barging in to provide unsolicited (and eventually pointless) advice, this film is really about the descent into hell of a married couple having their ordered world totally twisted around them!

[domino harvey]

Siskel and Ebert's review of Hellbound (Go to 4:25)

And for good measure, Siskel and Ebert’s review of Poltergeist III (Go to 13:33)— This is one of their tense episodes where the two hate each other, so you can see the tension throughout, but they’re basically on the same page and mercilessly mock the film’s use of “Carol Anne”. Also, while rewatching just now, I nearly choked on my lunch during this A+ comic exchange:

SpoilerShow

Ebert: You gotta wonder about the tenants in a building like this, seeing their building get trashed in a movie like this. I hope they got free tickets—
Siskel: —I hope they didn’t!

[_shadow_]

Random fact - Todd Haynes chose Alex Nepomniaschy as his DP for Safe based on his work on Poltergeist III.

[domino harvey]

Announced for US release

[cdnchris]

Wow, and if I'm reading it right it will include everything in the UK version. I'm impressed they were able to get the third film. Since they were able to get it it's almost (almost) a shame they couldn't get the rest and do a Halloween type set with all of the films, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone to be exposed to the last film in the series.

[dwk]

According to Arrow's US distributor, the US version of the Scarlet Box will be limited to 10,000 copies