Kirsty's deal
Hi folks. So I'm currently watching through the whole series for the first time. The first one was amazing. The second was a decent sequel, if a bit cheesy and awkward in parts. The third and fourth were not spectacular, but they took the series in different directions and I liked them overall. Then I get to Inferno, which it's hard for me to decide quite how I feel about, because on some levels it was good, but it really felt out of place with the rest of the series. Which brings me to Hellseeker.
I was actually quite enjoying this one...a nice creepy feel, and that whole "you never quite know what's real and what's not" thing going constantly through the whole film...up until the point where Kirsty opens the box. That's where I feel like it went off the rails for me, probably because that's the part where it's most painfully obvious that they took an existing unrelated script, awkwardly tried to shove Hellraiser story elements into it, and called it a Hellraiser movie. I would really like to see the original script before they did this...I suspect it might have made for a much better film overall.
I've been reading other fans' thoughts here. Most people who didn't like this movie because it's "not Hellraiser" ONLY liked the parts with Kirsty and hated the rest. I seem to be having the opposite reaction. So let me ask those people a few questions if I may:
1. Why on earth or in hell would Kirsty open that box? Even if she were so distraught at her husband's betrayal that she didn't care anymore, that's about the worst way anybody could pick to commit suicide, especially knowing what she knows. Or did she actually already have the idea in mind that she could try and make another deal with Pinhead? This seems extraordinarily unrealistic, partly because as far as she knows, he "died" in Hellbound and Channard is in charge there now. And even if she did somehow know he was back, last time she made a deal with him he came after her anyway, and she barely escaped. Seems an awfully bad idea all around.
2. Why five souls? Did she pick that number at random? Or did she actually already have it planned out to go ahead and murder her conniving husband, his co-conspirator and his three lovers? If so, that seems EXTRAORDINARILY uncharacteristic. It's one thing to make a deal to send your skinless undead uncle who tried to kill and rape you back to the hell he'd already put himself in, saving yourself in the process. It's quite another to take it upon yourself to become judge, jury and executioner for 5 people who wronged you, and purposely send them to an eternity of torment you know exists. In my opinion that would make her about as evil as any other character in the series. It just doesn't fit.
3. We know she at least shot Trevor. Did she actually kill the rest herself too, or did the cenobites do it for her? This is the part where it being unclear what's real and what's hallucination, which I otherwise really like, makes it even harder for me to try and reconcile the Kirsty/Pinhead elements.
4. How exactly was Trevor led to the box anyway? Where did that "All Problems Solved" card come from? Did he know what the box was, what it did, Kirsty's history with it, etc? If not, what exactly did he think he was doing? If so, why would he expect she would ever willingly open it? This part really makes no sense to me...maybe I missed something?
For all these reasons, I feel like they ruined what might've been an otherwise interesting movie by trying to also make it a Hellraiser movie, and so neither element came out right. I have similar feelings about Inferno, but this one struck me even harder, I think because they actually brought Kirsty back. Reading other posts it seems many people are levelling similar complaints at the 7th-9th films, and now I'm not sure how much I should be looking forward to watching them.