Demons to Some... Angels to Others
So I have found recently that I lost copies of Hellraisers 1 and 2 in my move back to Boston. This is somewhat disconcerting. This is also seemingly unlikely as I have an office filled with Hellraiser toys and the living room has Hellraiser decorations. In fact there was a time that I watched Hellraiser 1 or 2 every weekend especially when I was studying for a test during college.
People have been asking why I love Hellraiser so much and it's an interesting thing to contemplate. I guess I had accepted my love of Hellraiser so much that I had stopped really knowing why I loved it so much. I no longer thought about the movies... and I forgot to watch them.
Anyhow... the "box" or Lament Configuration in the movie was a device that brought the unlikely, fantastic and horrible into the lives of the characters. A Pandora's box. Only one character in movie one really actually understood what the box meant and after having opened it spends the whole movie attempting to escape it. So apparently once you have knowledge of this sort there is no going back. This is the biblical story of Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge and being cast from Paradise.
"The mind is a labyrinth, ladies and gentlemen, a puzzle. And while the paths of the brain are plainly visible, its ways deceptively apparent, its destinations are unknown. Its secrets still secret. And, if we are honest, it is the lure of the labyrinth that draws us to our chosen field to unlock those secrets. Others have been here before us and have left us signs, but we, as explorers of the mind, must devote our lives and energies to going further to tread the unknown corridors in order to find ultimately, the final solution. We have to see, we have to know..."
The alleged God of the Labyrinth is called Leviathan in the 2nd movie. Leviathan curiously is also a book by Thomas Hobbes in 1651, a philosopher writing about the structure of society and government and social contract theory. Hobbes looks down upon the churches and churchmen.
Leviathan in the bible is referred to several times. Notably:
"Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words?"
"Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life?"
"Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?"
"Who can strip off his outer coat? Who would approach him with a bridle?"
Curiously it opens up some S&M imagery.
Anyhow... this is one small portion of the interest in the 2nd movie that doesn't even fully go into the appeal of both movies together.
The Cenobites
Cenobite is a word for monk. A Cenobitic monk usually lived in a group as opposed to being alone or hermit-like. It makes sense that Pinhead and his posse were monastic or priest-like in many ways including their priestly robes and regal demeanor. Self flagellation or whipping oneself is often used by monks or priests in a religious context. So the Cenobites' unworldly scars are part of their religion like many monks or priests and not in direct opposition to them. Pain is often used to induce altered states. These altered states are believed to open up one's mind to the spiritual. So the use and concept of pain for spiritual release is, at its base, monastic and religious. When Pinhead says "such a waste of good suffering" it clarifies that these monks really think suffering is precious and powerful and can be honed or wasted. It's not merely a serial killer's cold chaotic murder, it's a calculated act of seeking knowledge and guiding another to that spiritual height. And I go to the statement in the bible of Leviathan. "If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!"
Movie quote from Pinhead "Explorers in the further regions of experience. Demons to some... angels to others." This is the line that got me to love the movie originally. Besides some obvious flower opening imagery on the TV set as Kirsty opens the box *ahem* lament configuration immediately following a fever dream of her Uncle saying "Come to Daddy". Her new box gives birth to a bunch of bald bloody monsters and she's now fucked. Figuratively but... COME ON! One of the beings even sticks his latex covered fingers into her mouth. Just for sh*ts and giggles.
Scary or sexy?
A particularly interesting scene in the 1st movie is a layering of two scenes wherein the wife remembers her affair with her husbands brother and her husband moves a mattress to the bedroom and bleeds all over the place after a scraping nail in the wall. They both got NAILED. The nuptial bed conjuring his demonic brother in both instances. I KNOW Clive Barker got a kick out of the NAILED scene. He has a messed up sense of humour (u for the Brits).
So... for a girl of ten to thirteen I learned that if I played with my box I would get to open my mind... and maybe some latex put in my mouth. Errr...
People have been asking why I love Hellraiser so much and it's an interesting thing to contemplate. I guess I had accepted my love of Hellraiser so much that I had stopped really knowing why I loved it so much. I no longer thought about the movies... and I forgot to watch them.
Anyhow... the "box" or Lament Configuration in the movie was a device that brought the unlikely, fantastic and horrible into the lives of the characters. A Pandora's box. Only one character in movie one really actually understood what the box meant and after having opened it spends the whole movie attempting to escape it. So apparently once you have knowledge of this sort there is no going back. This is the biblical story of Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge and being cast from Paradise.
"The mind is a labyrinth, ladies and gentlemen, a puzzle. And while the paths of the brain are plainly visible, its ways deceptively apparent, its destinations are unknown. Its secrets still secret. And, if we are honest, it is the lure of the labyrinth that draws us to our chosen field to unlock those secrets. Others have been here before us and have left us signs, but we, as explorers of the mind, must devote our lives and energies to going further to tread the unknown corridors in order to find ultimately, the final solution. We have to see, we have to know..."
The alleged God of the Labyrinth is called Leviathan in the 2nd movie. Leviathan curiously is also a book by Thomas Hobbes in 1651, a philosopher writing about the structure of society and government and social contract theory. Hobbes looks down upon the churches and churchmen.
Leviathan in the bible is referred to several times. Notably:
"Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words?"
"Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life?"
"Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?"
"Who can strip off his outer coat? Who would approach him with a bridle?"
Curiously it opens up some S&M imagery.
Anyhow... this is one small portion of the interest in the 2nd movie that doesn't even fully go into the appeal of both movies together.
The Cenobites
Cenobite is a word for monk. A Cenobitic monk usually lived in a group as opposed to being alone or hermit-like. It makes sense that Pinhead and his posse were monastic or priest-like in many ways including their priestly robes and regal demeanor. Self flagellation or whipping oneself is often used by monks or priests in a religious context. So the Cenobites' unworldly scars are part of their religion like many monks or priests and not in direct opposition to them. Pain is often used to induce altered states. These altered states are believed to open up one's mind to the spiritual. So the use and concept of pain for spiritual release is, at its base, monastic and religious. When Pinhead says "such a waste of good suffering" it clarifies that these monks really think suffering is precious and powerful and can be honed or wasted. It's not merely a serial killer's cold chaotic murder, it's a calculated act of seeking knowledge and guiding another to that spiritual height. And I go to the statement in the bible of Leviathan. "If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!"
Movie quote from Pinhead "Explorers in the further regions of experience. Demons to some... angels to others." This is the line that got me to love the movie originally. Besides some obvious flower opening imagery on the TV set as Kirsty opens the box *ahem* lament configuration immediately following a fever dream of her Uncle saying "Come to Daddy". Her new box gives birth to a bunch of bald bloody monsters and she's now fucked. Figuratively but... COME ON! One of the beings even sticks his latex covered fingers into her mouth. Just for sh*ts and giggles.
Scary or sexy?
A particularly interesting scene in the 1st movie is a layering of two scenes wherein the wife remembers her affair with her husbands brother and her husband moves a mattress to the bedroom and bleeds all over the place after a scraping nail in the wall. They both got NAILED. The nuptial bed conjuring his demonic brother in both instances. I KNOW Clive Barker got a kick out of the NAILED scene. He has a messed up sense of humour (u for the Brits).
So... for a girl of ten to thirteen I learned that if I played with my box I would get to open my mind... and maybe some latex put in my mouth. Errr...