Hellraiser: Quartet of Torment - Arrow Video 4K UHD Limited Edition

What can I say, I’m a Hellraiser fan. One could even call me a devote of the lament configuration. Ever since I was a kid at the video store, the cover art with Doug Bradley’s iconic Pinhead and that puzzle box captivated me. Of course, my mom wisely wouldn’t let me rent those movies for a very long, long time. It wasn’t until my teens that I finally got a taste for the hellish bodily horror that awaited me. Prior to seeing these films, my only experience with Clive Barker was seeing Rawhead Rex on television. But one viewing of Hellraiser quickly led me to Hellbound and in turn to the entertaining but wildly silly Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth followed by finding as many novels and comic books of Barker's works I could get my fingers on. Around the same time, Hellraiser: Bloodline hit videotape after its terrible box office run. While an entertaining fourth entry, you could feel the franchise slipping away from itself as it drifted into the hellscape of direct-to-video.

As I already covered the original trilogy in Arrow’s lovely Scarlett Box Limited Edition set, I won’t be adding anything there and just reshare my previous thoughts:

Hellraiser

"You solved the box, we came. Now you must come with us, taste our pleasures."

Pain and suffering are but a couple of the pleasures man can enjoy when taken to the extreme. Pleasure took Frank Cotton (Oliver Smith and Robert Hines) to the depths of hell when he opened the mysterious puzzle box and was torn to pieces by the Cenobites (Doug Bradley, Grace Kirby, Nicholas Vince, and Simon Bamford). When the blood from a cut hand falls on the place where he died, Frank is resurrected. His onetime lover and now sister-in-law Julia (Clare Higgins) must help Frank recover by delivering fresh bodies for him to drain the blood from and rebuild his skinned body. Julia's husband Larry Cotton (Andrew Robinson) is completely unaware, but his young daughter Kirsty (Ashely Laurence) discovers the horrors living in the attic of the family home - and the only way to stop Frank and Julia's murderous schemes is to make a deal with the same devils who tore Frank to pieces. 5/5

Hellbound: Hellraiser II 

"Your suffering will be legendary, even in Hell!"

Mere hours after surviving the horrors of Julia and Frank, Kirsty Cotton is taken to an asylum run by the seemingly benevolent Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham). At first, Kirsty is calmed and reassured as Channard seems to be the only one who believes her, but the truth is far more nefarious. It turns out Channard is much like Frank, an explorer in the further reaches of pain and pleasure and is obsessed with solving the puzzle box and uses one of his obsessive patients named Tiffany (Imogen Boorman) in order to see the Cenobites for himself. After resurrecting Julia, Channard is finally able to solve the box and is taken deep into the labyrinthian hell of the Lament Configuration. Kirsty must rescue Tiffany and once again escape from Julia, the Cenobites, and a newly transformed Dr. Channard. 4.5/5

Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth

"Jesus Christ!"
"Not quite."

It was a simple statue with some weird stuff sculpted into it, but for New York hell-themed club owner J.P. Monroe (Kevin Bernhardt) it's mesmerizing and would make the perfect accent piece for his penthouse above his nightclub. Little does he know it contains the demon Cenobite Pinhead (Doug Bradley). As mysterious deaths surround J.P.'s club, investigative reporter Joey Summers (Terry Farrell) starts digging into the case. When Pinhead is set free, unbound from the and creates a new legion of Cenobites, all hell breaks loose. Guided by a seemingly benevolent spirit of Pinhead's human soul, Joey is the only person capable of solving the puzzle box and banishing Pinhead and his minions back to the black pits of hell where they belong. 3/5

Hellraiser: Bloodline

Going forward I’m going to add some thoughts about Hellraiser: Bloodline. Overall I like this film, but from the choppy editing for a convoluted story to the intermittently anemic set design you can tell this film was once a much more grand production. Already caught in the stranglehold of the Dimension Films machine, the original director Kevin Yagher was replaced by Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers director Joe Chappell to shoot new scenes, reshoot other parts, change character beats, and opt for a happy ending while also cutting out almost half an hour of footage. Justifiably Yagher opted for an Alan Smithee rather than taking direct credit for this Frankensteined final cut. 

Overall, I think Bloodline was pretty good conceptually but far from amazing in final execution. The story was far more ambitious than Hellraiser III and it dovetailed in some interesting aspects of Barker’s original novella while giving fans a suitable origin to the whole nightmare. Where it doesn’t work is how cheap a lot of it looks. The film already had a small budget before the reshoots and story changes, so intermittently the film can look quite beautiful and lavish, and then the film will cut to Pinhead and the rest of the Cenobites sharply backlit while wandering around in front of black drapes. Watching the workprint that’s on this 4K disc, you get an idea of what this film could have been versus what it is. 2.5/5

As a whole, this bloody foursome feels like a complete experience. The films obviously dip in quality, especially under Dimension’s watch, but they’re still a horrifically good time. The first two are genuine classics. The third is a devilishly fun entry, even if it preciously tips more towards camp than horror. The fourth almost was the perfect course correction. Barker was a producer, helped conceive the story with longtime writer Peter Atkins, but it slipped away when studio bosses got a look at the first cut. Then the franchise fell into the dreaded world of direct-to-video hell where it languished for decades. Not all of those were bad, Inferno and Judgment were solid, but there was a lot of awful squished in between. I'm sorry, Pinhead doesn't belong on the internet, that was just stupid. Maybe one day we can get 2022’s Hellraiser on disc and free it from the chains of Netflix. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Arrow Video makes a bargain with the devil to deliver Hellraiser: Quartet of Terror stateside on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray as a four-film four-disc collection. Offering Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, and Hellraiser: Bloodline, each film is cursed to inhabit its own Region Free BD100 disc. This set was previously released in the UK in October of 2023 - that’s the set I bought and have enjoyed for the last year, but sadly didn’t have the time to properly dive into a full review. For the U.S. release, Arrow has essentially offered up the exact same set. We were issued check discs of each film and they’re identical, each of the review discs picked up right where I left off in the UK set. We didn't get retail packaging of the U.S. releases but the details are the same. The discs are housed in a bloody digipak with a red plastic slipcover that completes the image of the hardstock slipcase of Pinhead with little cutout accents. Also included in this terrific set is an amazing 200-page book featuring new essays, writeups about each film, transfer/restoration information, and a number of behind-the-scenes production photos from the various films.

The Hellraiser franchise has endured quite a number of iterations on disc over the years with varying transfers of equally carrying quality. Until this 4K release, Arrow’s Blu-ray Scarlett Box was something of the definitive edition for the first three films. But, with some new scans, restorations, and Dolby Vision HDR we have impressive 2160p sights to see for each film. 

Hellraiser is appropriately creepy and dark. That attic has always had a dank appearance and this transfer is steeped in creepy shadows and dark spaces with flashes of appropriate color - red obviously gets plenty of play. In 2160p, the transfer sees much stronger and sharper details than before but thankfully the added resolution doesn’t betray the incredible makeup and effects work. Similar to past Blu-ray releases, film grain remains a pronounced presence for this film, bordering on a rather noisy textured appearance. But as long as I can remember it’s always had a grainy appearance. The Dolby Vision grade does a terrific job highlighting the dark spaces and the intricate lighting. 4.5/5

Likewise, Hellbound: Hellraiser II tracks much the same as the first film. When we get to the depths of the hospital, it’s another dank creepy location with limited light sources. The main hospital and daylight scenes are brighter and more cheerful. The Dolby Vision grading does a terrific job balancing these two extremes. Colors are just as healthy and bloody as before. Details are impressively sharp, enough so you can clearly see the differences in the Cenobite makeup from the first film to this sequel. The optical effects do still stand out a bit, some don’t quite make the leap. The stop-motion animated tendrils for Channard certainly stand out but they’re just as terrifying as ever. Again like the first, the film grain is still very pronounced but it still feels natural to this one. 4.5/5

Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth earns a very welcome 4K upgrade. While the Scarlet Box Blu-ray was very good, it was also met with issues of framing. Namely the framing was opened too wide and to the right leaving it unscented and exposing a number of effects issues like wires and set extensions that shouldn’t have been seen. Thankfully with this new transfer, that framing issue has been fixed, so when Pinhead holds his black mass at the church, he’s properly centered. Generally, this one looks quite good, but this is when the franchise started to deviate from gritty underground horror to big studio slick polish and the differences in the lighting schemes are notable. Overall details are quite excellent and we can appreciate all of the new Cenobites in all their CD-throwing glory. Dolby Vision again offers the right kind of highlights and accents for all of the horrors. The extended cut makes the upgrade to 4K, but like the past Blu-ray, those extended scenes are still SD inserts so set your expectations ahead of time. 4/5

As for Hellraiser: Bloodline, considering the last time I saw this film was on a crapy multi-film single-disc Blu-ray from Ecobridge - this 2160p Dolby Vision transfer is a massive leap in quality! Now, some of the early CGI effects struggle with the added resolution, the big finale is a particular moment in that regard. The other issue added resolution knocks with this film is it really highlights how cheaply made some of the sets were. Those black velvet drapes really stand out, and I’d never noticed before how many set walls were just corrugated aluminum sheeting. When the visuals are big and expensive, the transfer succeeds beautifully. The carnage and gore look fantastic and the Dolby Vision grading highlights the slick effects work and the creative new Cenobite designs. But again, those CGI bits and pieces have not aged well, thankfully like the average pair of men's underpants, they’re brief. 4/5

For our audio options, each film gets a terrific DTS-HD MA 2.0 and DTS-HD MA 5.1 track to work with. I was originally writing individual notices for each film but then I realized that I was essentially writing the same thing four times. So here goes the abbreviated version. The main trilogy sees the same solid 5.1 options as before. While the previous Arrow Blu-rays offered the films in LPCM 2.0, these new DTS-2.0 tracks are virtually identical, I just didn’t sense any discernible difference there. Now Hellraiser III previously only had that LPCM track, no 5.1 mix, and at the time I felt that was good enough. But now that film also gets a 5.1 upgrade and it’s certainly worth your attention.

In my previous Blu-ray reviews, I preferred the 2.0 options over the 5.1 for the first two films, and that largely stands pat today. The 5.1 mixes are effective and certainly atmospheric and moody, but I just feel the 2.0 tracks are stronger, more natural-sounding mixes. That shifts a bit with Hellraiser III. I would say that the 5.1 edges out the 2.0 given how much bigger and more active the film is. Between the club scenes and the big chaotic Cenobite rampage, the surround channel spread is a bit more focused and impactful for this sequel over the first two. 

Likewise, when we get to Bloodline, the 5.1 is the stronger, but the 2.0 track is no slouch. Like Hellraiser III this film has a number of bigger set pieces that offer more impact in the 5.1 option. While a number of scenes may be confined to tight angular hallways, there’s subtle sound effect usage throughout the channels to grab your attention and make it feel like an immersive experience. Dialog is clean without issue and the score is excellent. 

Taken as a whole these tracks probably aren’t marvels for the ages but they are significant upgrades over past discs. Especially for the latter two sequels that had a tougher time on Blu-ray and DVD than the first two.

Arrow has never skimped on the bonus features, and they don’t start with this box set. In addition to that incredible 200-page hardback book, Arrow once again gives us one hell of a bonus features package for this franchise. We have multiple audio commentaries, numerous featurettes, deleted and extended sequences, extended cuts, expansive documentaries - it’s the whole show. Each film gets its own set of unique extras with additional materials discussing the franchise as a whole and its lasting impact on the Horror genre. Best of all, this isn’t just a collection of archival materials - of which there are many - there are new commentaries, new documentaries, and new featurettes. You literally have dozens of hours of extra entertainment to devour after digging through the main films. 

Hellraiser

• Audio Commentary featuring Stephen Jones and Kim Newman
• Audio Commentary featuring Clive Barker and Ashley Laurence 
• Audio Commentary featuring Clive Barker
• Power of Imagination (HD 58:15)
• Unboxing Hellraiser (HD 21:53)
• The Pursuit of Possibilities (HD 40:57)
• Flesh is a Trap (HD 18:19)
• Behind the Scenes:
• Intro by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman (HD 10:30)
• Extended Clive Barker EPK (SD 4:49)
• Extended Andrew Robinson EPK (SD 4:24)
• Extended Clare Higgins EPK (SD 3:18)
• Extended Ashley Laurence EPK (SD 3:07)
• Extended Creature & Effects EPK (SD 9:28)
• Original 1987 EPK (SD 6:00)
• Archival Special Features:
• Being Frank: Sean Chapman on Hellraiser (HD 26:22)
• Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellraiser (HD 12:32)
• Soundtrack Hell: The Story of the Abandoned Coil Score (HD 18:09)
• Hellraiser: Resurrection (HD 24:27)
• Trailers
• TV Spots
• Image Galleries

Hellbound: Hellraiser II

• Audio Commentary featuring Srephen Jones and Kim Newman
• Audio Commentary featuring Tony Randel, Peter Atkins, and Ashley Laurence
• Audio Commentary featuring Tony Randel and Peter Atkins
• Hell Was What They Wanted (HD 1:25:17)
• That Rat-Slice Sound (HD 11:54)
• Behind the Scenes: Clive Barker on set Interview (SD 3:18)
• Cast and Crew on set Interviews (SD 4:45)
• Behind the Scenes Footage (SD 1:51)
• Archival Special Features:
• Being Frank: Sean Chapman on Hellbound (HD 11:35)
• Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellbound: Hellraiser II (SD 10:52)
• Hellbound: Hellraiser II - Lost in the Labyrinth (SD 17:03)
• Deleted Surgeon Scene (SD 4:51)
• Trailers
• TV Spots
• Image Galleries 

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth

• Unrated Version (UHD w/ SD inserts 1:36:21)
• Audio Commentary featuring Stephen Jones and Kim Newman
• Audio Commentary featuring Peter Atkins
• Audio Commentary featuring Anthony Hickox and Doug Bradley
• Behind the Scenes:
• EPK (SD 12:15)
• FX Dailies (SD 23:49)
• Archival Special Features:
• Time With Terri (HD 14:53)
• Raising Hell on Earth (SD 13:59)
• Under the Skin (SD 13:46)
• Theatrical Trailer 
• Image Gallery

Hellraiser: Bloodline

• Audio Commentary featuring Stepehn Jones, Kim Newman, and Peter Atkins.
• The Beauty of Suffering (HD 27:48)
• Workpint Version (SD 1:22:11)
• More Alternate Footage (SD 5:11)
• Hellraiser Evolutions (HD 48:15)
• The Books of Blood and Beyond (HD 19:23
• Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery

Hellraiser certainly isn’t a perfect franchise. Clive Barker’s vision of hell and torment started on excellent footing with the first two, but once Pinhead became a studio character, the quality dipped dramatically. While the third and fourth films are entertaining, they’re mere shadows of the glorious first films. Then things really went sour when the franchise became direct-to-video rental shop fodder. Thanks to Arrow Video, we can thoroughly enjoy the four-film Hellraiser: Quartet of Terror on 4k UHD. Each film is given a damned impressive 2160p Dolby Vision upgrade easily surpassing previous disc releases. Each film also benefits from impressive 2.0 and 5.1 options. Then there are the hours of excellent new and archival extra features to dig through before you even get a chance to dive into the 200-page book! This set is a masterful release and a genuine highlight of 2024 (stateside at least, if you were in the UK or imported, 2023 was your big year). What’s left to say? If you love these movies and you didn’t import the U.K. release a year ago, this is an essential pickup. Highly Recommended