Hellraiser: Deader (2005)

Director: Rick Bota
Notable Cast: Kari Wuhrer, Paul Rhys, Simon Kunz, Marc Warren, Doug Bradley, Georgina Rylance

Drat, drat and double drat! They were doing so good! I mean Hellseeker faltered a bit from Inferno, but now the Hellraiser franchise is slowly circling the drain again and it starts with the significant fall in quality of Deader. Not that this seventh entry is all bad and in fact the film has a lot of fun and twisted ideas on hand that could have potentially ignited another solid entry into the franchise, but the execution of the film is stale and can't keep the concept afloat. This leaves Deader as a film that's more or less for fans only and even then it comes off as disappointing.

Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002)

Director: Rick Bota
Notable Cast: Dean Winters, William S. Taylor, Michael Rogers, Ashley Laurence, Rachel Hayward, Doug Bradley

"Welcome to the worst nightmare of all...reality."

The Hellraiser series has seem some serious highs and lows. Comparing where it started to the low it hit with three and four to the unseen backhand that was the redemption of Inferno, this franchise has seen it all. So if the fifth film worked so well (that film being Inferno for those new to the series) why the hell not try to make it work again? Well, for Hellseeker, it's a great idea that never got the execution quite down to work as well as the concept did for Inferno. It's still a successful and atmospheric film that works in building its version of hell, but it just lacks a bit connection.