Inventive, thoroughly original and outlandishly energetic, Hellraiser is the best horror film of the late 1980s. Written and directed by Clive Barker, it is actually a wonderful hybrid of science-fiction and horror. It's filled with gruesome special effects, and some wonderful photography. An overtly sadomasochistic storyline sets it apart from other films in the genre.

In a foreign country, Frank (Sean Chapman), buys a square puzzle from an Asian man. He brings it back home, and sitting on the floor with candles lit, he begins to solve it. Light starts pouring into the room.

Suddenly the puzzle starts moving by itself and hooks jump out of it and become inbedded in Frank's skin. He screams in horror as his flesh is torn. We next see a room filled with chains, hooks, nails, and body parts. It is another dimension...a hellisih place ruled by the Cenobites. Frank is here now, or rather parts of him are scattered on the floor.

Soon after, his brother Larry (Andrew Robinson) and his wife Julia (Clare Higgins) are considering moving into the house. They think Frank has disappeared. The house is a mess, and Larry finds an ashtray in one of the rooms with maggots in it. They decide to make it their home nevertheless.

On the day of the move, Julia keeps having visions of her past. She remembers a torrid affair she had with her brother-in-law Frank. At that moment, Larry cuts his hand badly on a nail sticking out of a wall, as he is carrying a mattress up the stairs.

His blood seeps through the floorboards and into the room below. It begins regenerating and forms what appears to be a human body without skin. That night, the couple have a dinner party. Among the guests is Larry's daughter Kirsty (Ashley Laurence).

Feeling restless, Julia leaves the table and wanders through the house. She enters one of the rooms and suddenly a hand grabs her. She looks down at the ground and screams. It's the skinless body, and he reveals himself to be Frank.

He tells her that Larry's blood brought him back to life, and that he needs more blood to be complete. Julia agrees to help him. At her apartment, Kirsty has a nightmare about her father. It's a premonition about death. She calls him, but he tells her that everything is okay.

Meanwhile, Julia goes out to a bar and picks up a guy. She takes him back to the house and into the room where Frank is hiding. As the guy is undressing, and with his back turned, Julia smashes his head in with a hammer.

Then she goes into the bathroom to wash up while Frank crawls over to the body. When she returns, she sees the corpse on the floor drained of all it's blood. Frank walks over to her. He is becoming whole again.

He tells her to bring him more bodies because when the Cenobites find out about it, they'll come after him. When Larry comes home, Julia disposes of the body in another room. She brings another man home and the same thing happens. Demanding an explanation, Frank tells her the story and shows her the puzzle.

He tells her about the other dimension and the Cenobites...how they promise eternal pain and pleasure. Later, during a storm, Frank is growing restless. While Larry and Julia are in bed together, Frank walks into the bedroom and mutilates a rat behind Larry's back. It's a not so subtle gesture for Julia to produce another body for him.

Bringing a third man home, this time Kirsty sees them. She follows them into the house, where she sees the man bloodied and near death. Frank appears and reveals himself to Kirsty. She finds the puzzle and realizing how valuable it is to him, she runs out of the house with it. She faints, and is taken to a hospital.

While playing with the puzzle, she opens up the dimension of the Cenobites. There are four of them, led by "Pinhead." They tell her that she must go with them. Kirsty pleads for her life and tells them that she can take them to Frank.

She runs to her father's house to warn him that Frank wants to kill him. But she's too late. It's already happened and Frank is now wearing Larry's skin. He tries to kill Kirsty, but ends up stabbing Julia by mistake. He then drains her of all her blood.

The Cenobites appear and Frank is suddenly impaled with hooks and chains. He is literally torn apart. But the Cenobites don't keep their word with Kirsty. They come after her. However, Kirsty outwits them.

Picking up the puzzle, she plays with it and manages to make them vanish. She tosses the puzzle into a bonfire, but a strange homeless man comes over and walks into the fire to retreive it. In flames, he turns into a skeletal bird with wings and flys away! (A serious suspension of disbelief is required here.)

In the final scene, we see the puzzle again being sold to an unsuspecting victim.

Hunter: This film is pouring with creativity. Clive Barker's imagination worked overtime to visualize a hell like we had never seen before. It's truly not for the faint of heart, but if you have the stomach for it, be prepared for some of the best gross-outs in horror history.

Jason: A good showing in the '80s for horror movies here. Hellraiser is a very imaginative foray into the dimensions of horror. Barker is quite masterful in the creation of some greatly interesting characters and an intriguing storyline.

The special effects are quite good. The music is notable here, too, for it seems to set the tone for the dimensions where the action is played out and a nice bridge between the two.

The Hellraiser series of movies is long-lived (indeed, yet another sequel is under works, apparently), but it is here, in the original, that you have a tight story, fairly well-defined characters, decent pacing, and some good horror that all come together to make it the best of the series.