Into the Labyrinth: Hellbound: Hellraiser II

Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) is a supernatural horror fantasy film directed by Tony Randel from a screenplay by Peter Atkins and a story by Clive Barker. It is the sequel to Hellraiser (1987) and was made a year later with much of the same cast and crew. Ashley Laurence returns as Kirsty Cotton, now in a psychiatric hospital. Its head, Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham), is secretly obsessed with the Lament Configuration. He resurrects the skinless Julia (Clare Higgins) and opens the way into the Cenobites’ realm. The sequel takes the series out of the house and into Hell itself: the Labyrinth, the god Leviathan, and the human origin of Pinhead (Doug Bradley). Reviews were mixed on release, but later critics have reassessed it more favorably.

At a glance

Release date	September 9, 1988 (Toronto); December 23, 1988 (US); June 16, 1989 (UK)
Director	Tony Randel
Writers	Peter Atkins (screenplay); Clive Barker (story)
Based on	Characters from The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
Starring	Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Kenneth Cranham, Doug Bradley
Runtime	99 minutes
Rating	R (US), after six minutes were cut; initially rated X
Box office	$12.1 million (US and Canada)
Franchise	Hellraiser: sequel to Hellraiser (1987); followed by Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)

Plot summary

A prologue set in British India in the 1920s shows army officer Elliot Spencer opening the Lament Configuration and becoming Pinhead. In the present, after her father’s death at the hands of her uncle Frank, Kirsty Cotton is admitted to the Channard Institute. She tells Dr. Channard and his assistant Kyle MacRae (William Hope) her story. She begs them to destroy the bloodstained mattress on which her stepmother, Julia, died.

Channard has the mattress taken to his home. He gets a disturbed patient, Mr. Browning, to cut himself on it, and the blood frees a skinless Julia from the Cenobite dimension. Kyle sees it happen and flees. Kirsty befriends Tiffany (Imogen Boorman), a mute patient with a gift for puzzles. That night a skinless figure writes “I am in Hell, help me” in blood on her wall. Kirsty believes it is her father. Seduced by Julia, Channard brings more patients home for her to feed on. Then he forces Tiffany to solve the box so they can enter the Labyrinth.

Spoiler section: the Labyrinth and Leviathan

Above the Labyrinth turns Leviathan, a vast diamond that Julia calls the “god of flesh, hunger, and desire.” Julia betrays Channard, who is turned into a Cenobite. The figure in Kirsty’s room turns out to be Frank, who tricked her into coming. Julia tears out his heart and is then pulled into a vortex, leaving only her skin. Kirsty shows Pinhead a photograph of Spencer, and the Cenobites remember that they were once human. They turn to fight Channard, who kills them all. Kirsty puts on Julia’s discarded skin to distract him while Tiffany solves the box in reverse, and Channard tears himself apart. In a final scene, two movers clear Channard’s house. One is pulled into the mattress, and the other sees a pillar of fused bodies rise from it. One of the faces asks, “What’s your pleasure, sir?”

Production and behind the scenes

New World Pictures greenlit the sequel while the first film was still in post-production. After a stressful shoot on Hellraiser, Barker chose not to direct again, staying on as executive producer and story writer. Michael McDowell was in talks to write and direct, but rewrites on Beetlejuice and health issues led him to drop out. Randel, a longtime New World employee who had been an uncredited editor on the first film, made his directing debut. Atkins, who knew Barker from his days as a playwright, wrote the script. The goal, Randel said, was a larger film that expanded the Cenobites’ world.

The script originally brought back Larry Cotton. Andrew Robinson declined, later saying he disliked the script, and Atkins said the story worked better without him. A more elaborate Pinhead backstory was cut when New World’s financial troubles slashed the budget. Most of the first film’s crew returned, including cinematographer Robin Vidgeon and effects designer Bob Keen. Filming took place mainly at Pinewood Studios, with Heatherden Hall standing in for the Channard Institute. Randel drew on M. C. Escher for the Labyrinth, which he described as a psychological rather than religious picture of Hell. Christopher Young returned with a larger score. For Leviathan’s horn-like sound, he worked in the Morse code for the word “god.”

Release and reception

The MPAA first rated the film X. Barker put this down to its preference for showing the grotesque rather than hinting at it, and six minutes were cut to get an R. It premiered at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on September 9, 1988, and opened in the US on December 23. It grossed $12,090,735 in the US and Canada. In the UK it opened at No. 1 in June 1989 and took roughly £1.74 million.

Reviews were mixed. Rotten Tomatoes lists 53% of 34 reviews as positive, with a consensus that says it “retains the twisted visual thrill of its predecessor, although seams in the plot are already starting to show.” Metacritic scores it 41. Roger Ebert gave it half a star, calling it a series of “gruesome images that can be watched in any order.” Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times found it “faster and campier,” “more of an action/adventure picture this time around.” Young won the Saturn Award for Best Music, and the film was nominated for Best Horror Film.

Legacy and influence

Later reassessments have been kinder, especially to how the film expands the mythology. Michael Gingold described it as a successful horror sequel. For the 30th anniversary, Meagan Navarro highlighted Leviathan, the Labyrinth and its account of where the Cenobites come from. The series continued with Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992). The 2022 reboot, Hellraiser, also draws on Leviathan.

Trivia

Kenneth Cranham said he took the role because his grandson, a fan of the first film, pestered him to.
Oliver Smith, the skinless Frank of the first film, returns and also plays Mr. Browning and the skinless figure who writes on Kirsty’s wall.
Nicholas Vince, the Chatterer, took a hook to the jaw while filming on a swinging torture rack.
A filmed scene with Pinhead and the Female Cenobite disguised as a doctor and nurse was cut. On-set photos of it were used in publicity and on video covers, fuelling rumors of an “infamous deleted surgery scene.”
In early drafts, Dr. Channard was named Malahide.