A lot of things occur in November: the Halloween candy is consumed, Thanksgiving dinner takes place in the States, and the impending dread of the imminently ending semester begins to set in. Every month, I have a new thing to worry about, but that never stops me. Here are some highlights of what I watched in November 2021. For a full list, see my Letterboxd diary.
The Mummy (1959)
Viewed on: November 1
Hammer Horror is a sizable gap in my film knowledge, so I figured now is as good a time as any to get started. I had already seen The Blood of Dracula, so I figured a step in another direction was a good move. Thus, I turned on 1959’s The Mummy, featuring Peter Cushing going up against a bandaged and unrecognizable Christopher Lee for another round of hero v. monster. There’s not too much character development (I couldn’t tell you the name of any character by the film’s end), but The Mummy is a decent whodunnit that ends very abruptly, telling a complete story with no hangups. [Grade: A-]
Hellraiser (1987) / Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) / Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) / Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)
Viewed on: November 3/11/19/26
As you can see, I was in a horror mood coming off of Halloween. Based on a Clive Barker novella and directed by the man himself, the original
Hellraiser is a horror classic for a reason. Even though the most recognizable character, Pinhead, gets remarkably little screen time,
Hellraiser doesn’t mince words (or meat) and gets right down to brass tacks...or brass chains. Despite some clunky direction and tone-deaf line deliveries, I supremely enjoyed it.
[Grade: A
] Its first sequel,
Hellbound, is a direct follow-up with many of the same characters...only this one actually has the balls to go Hell. It tries some new things, but ultimately it’s not as entertaining or deliciously violent as the first film...to its detriment.
[Grade: B
] Hellbound was followed by
Hell on Earth, which does exactly what the title promises. I can commend the series for trying new things and going in a completely different direction, but that’s about the only thing it has going for it. It does get pretty silly in its second half, and it loses any momentum it gained by the time it gets to the actual climax, which is slightly disappointing.
[Grade: B
] The final theatrically-released
Hellraiser was
Bloodline, which attempts a franchise retcon while simultaneously be partly set in the far future.
Bloodline had a notoriously troubled production, but I actually think the end product is not as terrible as some have let on. I like that it jumps around in time, and there are some trademark creative ideas in there. However, the downside of this is that
Bloodline is all over the place and doesn’t know where it wants to dedicate its time.
[Grade: C
]
