Texas Alamo Drafthouse Screening of ‘Hellraiser’

The first time I saw Hellraiser it was on a terrible VHS copy that was muddled with horrible tracking lines. Most of the beautiful visuals for the movie were lost, but at least all the gory makeup effects by Image Animation I could still see. Thankfully the story was so good that I persevered and came away with one my favorite horror films of all time. You can read my more in depth review of the film here.

Through the years the film has been remastered on laserdisc, dvd, and finally bluray. I believed Arrow Video’s 2K presentation of the film released on their massive The Scarlet Box was the best I was ever going to see it, but that wasn’t until last week when I got to see the original film at the Texas Alamo Drafthouse. I didn’t think I was going to make it to the screening at all because I got lost in Texas for over two hours, but thanks to Arlington native and talented special effects makeup artist Katie Urby of Little Spark Films, I was able to get there in time. She actually joined me too which was very nice.

When we walked into the theater I was expecting the movie to be going, but I was surprised to see all of the Cenobite actors on stage talking about the movie and taking questions from the audience. My favorite part was Doug talking about the origin of Pinhead and the character of the Dutchman from Clive Barker’s play Hunters in the Snow. Most of the stories recounted by the actors can be found in the exhaustive Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II documentary by Deadmouse Productions. That’s okay because I’ll never get tired of hearing them.

It was also cool to see Paul T. Taylor (Pinhead from Hellraiser: Judgement) in attendance. He even asked a question to the group about what would be their favorite Clive Barker play to be produced. Then, Doug, had Paul stand up to take a bow. I thought that was really cool of Doug to do. Make no mistake, Paul has been accepted into the Cenobite circle by all the other actors from the films. Which I believe is great! Then all the actors were given a huge round of applause, and the movie finally started.

Hellraiser on the big screen is a totally different experience. I felt more claustrophobic than I ever have watching it, especially in the early scenes with Julia murdering for Frank. Christopher Young’s score has never sounded better. The sound system was booming during Frank’s resurrection. I got chills down my spine when the bell toll filled the theater before the Cenobites made their first appearance. Maybe I’m blind, but I never noticed the Female Cenobite fingering her throat before. Also, I’ve never seen Frank standing behind Julia when she enters the attic after he’s fed for the first time. Robin Vidgeon cinematography looked fantastic too! So overall an excellent experience that I will never forget. If you ever get the chance, don’t pass up seeing Hellraiser on the big screen.

I’d like to thank Ryan Danhauser for buying me a ticket to the event. He was originally going to attend, but sadly his plane was delayed at the last minute. Again I want to send a huge shout again to Kate Urby for saving me when I got lost at the Dallas Forthworth Airport. That place was felt like it was part of Leviathan’s Labrythinth from Hellbound! Thank you so much.

In the next week everyone from the Podcast will share their own adventures at this year’s Texas Frightmare Weekend. It was a blast and we can’t stress enough how much we appreciate our listeners again for helping us get there.

Updated 5/14/2018:

Here’s the video of the live discussion filmed by fan Ali Boogeythapa who was also at the event. She did a wonderful job. Also thanks to Loki N Pace for finding it!