The original two Hellraiser films are absolute classics, and while I quite liked the boisterous third part - I'd really rather they stopped making sequels after Hellbound. You really can't go into any post-Hellbound sequel expecting anything resembling a good film, and that is truer than ever when it comes to the ones directed by Rick Bota. The first film I saw from him was the eighth part, Hellworld, and I don't rate it too highly - however, it's certainly the best one he's done. Hellseeker sees the return of Ashley Laurence to the series in the role of Kirsty, and the good news is that she still has the charming good looks that made her role in the first two films so good. The good news stops there, however, as just like the rubbish seventh part; Hellseeker sees Rick Bota in dull mystery territory once again. The plot sees Laurence killed in the first few seconds, and we then follow her husband (played by someone called Dean Winters) as the world around him is turned on its head. He's surrounded by slutty women, and the cops think he killed his wife...maybe he's in hell...
What's really annoying about this film is that buried somewhere beneath the messy screenplay, is the grounds for a fairly good plot. When the film finally reveals itself in the final ten minutes, the short sequences that put everything together are miles better than the rest of the film, and it makes me wonder why the writers decided to make the film work from the standard hallucination filled plot when there's was a far darker, much more interesting and, most of all, far more relevant to the series, story waiting in the wings. It's obvious that whoever's in charge of these new Hellraiser films doesn't give a damn about the series and the fans...but what doesn't make sense is that, if a good one was made, word of mouth would get round and more profit would eventually be made. It's a massive shame really, as the original Hellraiser deserves better than crap like this. Anyway, the film is boring, features hardly any horror and even the best part of the film - namely the last ten minutes - is dogged by the fact that the film could have been a million times better. Overall, unless you're a real hardcore fan of the seriesÂ…this really isn't worth ninety minutes of anyone's time.