Clive Barker Podcast’s Scene of the Week
Hello Everyone,
For this edition of Clive Barker Podcast’s Scene of the Week I’ve chosen the resurrection of Frank from Hellraiser.
Great films have that one scene that really hooks (pun intended) the viewer into the story that the filmmakers are trying to tell them. Many fans would—and rightfully so–argue that the scene with Frank opening the box and unleashing the Cenobites at the beginning would be enough for any casual film goer to be intrigued with Hellraiser, but for me the scene where Frank begins to rejuvenate himself back into human form is the moment that I knew I was going to love this movie.
The scene gets started on a gory note with the extreme closeups of Larry’s blood hitting the hardwood floor of the attic. Then we see Frank’s newly formed beating heart underneath the floorboards. Christopher Young’s excellent score finally erupts into a violent crescendo as Frank’s arms shoot up from the floor as his body begins to rebuild itself.
From there we witness one of the best practical effect sequences that still holds up better than most recent CGI that’s used in movies today. I like make-up effects that have a realistic texture to them. Horror film’s from the eighties were filled with these kinds of moments which is why a lot of them have enjoyed such longevity with fans over the years.
On a side note, I’m sure many of the hardcore fans will know that originally this scene wasn’t even planned to be in the movie. It was part of the re-shoots that were financed by New World Pictures to give the movie that extra punch they felt it needed.
Good call!
Enjoy!
Definitely a good call to put this one in. It’s an attention grabber.
I absolutely love this scene. I’ve always loved “creation”/resurrection scenes in movies, since they do the opposite of scenes I DON’T like (that is, destruction), and this is, ironically, one of the most beautiful, watching a man being created/reborn (even if he is rather immoral as the rest of the movie shows). to realize that this man was reborn from just a few drops of blood is a rather extraordinary thought, and links perfectly to the fact that each of us was created from just two cells. I SO wish there were more scenes like this in movies these days… thank you for posting and calling attention to it! <3