Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II (2015)

Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II: Directed by Kevin McDonagh. With Oliver Smith, Peter Atkins, Simon Bamford, Clive Barker. A documentary uncovering the history and the making of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser (1987) and Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) films.

“This film is mistitled. Itu0026#39;s the story about all the people who made Hellraiser and Hellbound. You already know itu0026#39;s much too long. I finally gave up after 2 1/2 of the 4 plus hour version. Itu0026#39;s basically asking 40 different people the same question, filming their response, and then clipping it all together.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are some odd moments. Doug talks at length about Clareu0026#39;s audition for the part, how he read with several actors but when she finished her read, he knew she had the part. Then it cuts to Clare saying, u0026quot;I donu0026#39;t know what Doug is talking about; I never auditioned for the role.u0026quot; And there is ZERO comment from the interviewers! Every interview is in its own silo with no commentary or corrections or clarifications asked for.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s one of the strangest films since there seems to be no editing whatsoever; every play Clive wrote is discussed (who cares? Isnu0026#39;t this about Hellraiser?), the back, back, backstory of the special effects teams are told when we really donu0026#39;t care about their personal lives or experience.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWorst of all, itu0026#39;s boring. I kept waiting for some insights but other than everyone calling Clive a genus and saying how challenging their roles were, thereu0026#39;s very little digging here. If this was chopped back to a 90 min documentary with some editing and chapter breaks and titling to give it some structure, it would help tremendously. But there isnu0026#39;t, so it just plods along and goes on and on and on….”