* Today on Robot 6:
* Nick Gurewitch unveils a new Perry Bible Fellowship comic and some old BBC cartoons;
* and Douglas Wolk unveils the secret of All Star Superman. Or does he?!?!
* Hobbit news: Bofur and Ori have been cast, Gandalf has not.
* Neil Marshall’s Centurion is now out on DVD after a blink-and-you’ll-miss it theatrical run (and some time on VOD, I guess). Marshall’s three-film track record runs “overrated/masterpiece/great time at the movies” for me thus far, so I’m really looking forward to this one.
* More behind-the-scenes sketches and notes from the new Morrison/Stewart/Clarke Batman & Robin hardcover, this time focusing on the new characters in the book.
* I love that “Genesis P-Orridge Quits Throbbing Gristle” is a headline that can be truthfully written in the year 2010.
* I’m always glad to see Brian Hibbs put on his reviewer hat; this time out he reviews a trio of midlist DC books and a pair of zombie television shows.
* If you’re not all Halloween-mixed out, you definitely want to check out Tim O’Neil’s contribution to the genre. This one focuses on the sinister ambient/industrial/electronic end of the spectrum, much to its benefit. I’d also forgotten how the otherwise pretty dire Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth was sprinkled with quotes nearly the equal of the iconic lines from the first two–thanks for reminding me, Tim.
* Finally, you’ll notice I’ve added one of those thingamabobs whereby you can instantly post my posts to the social network of your choice by clicking a button at the bottom of each post. My question is, which of these does anyone use? Twitter and Facebook seem like no-brainers, and the email icon seems to be gmail-specific, but I also put Google Buzz and Digg and Delicious and Technorati and StumbleUpon down there because I’ve at least heard of ’em. Do any of you use them? Is there anything you don’t see down there that SHOULD be down there? Please let me know what you think in our wonderfully fast, non-double-posting, non-spam-ridden comments!
Tags: Carnival of souls, comics, film, Frank Quitely, Grant Morrison, Hellraiser, Hobbit, horror, links, music, Neil Marshall, Superman, television
I rewatched Hellraiser III over the weekend for the first time in over a decade and I was amazed by the fact that it really wasn’t that bad. It actually made more sense than I remembered – I remembered Evil Pinhead’s motivations being opaque, but on rewatching it the clear contrast between Eliot Spencer’s neutral nature and Pinhead’s evil became very clear. Even if it was still a clear step in the direction of the Slasher Pinhead of the later sequels, from Officious Psycho-Sexual Torturer Pinhead of the first two, there is at least an in-story reason why Pinhead in this film is content merely to kill people instead of pulling them away for more intimate torment. Surprisingly, the bit about the first World War seemed most effective this time around: Eliot Spencer was ruined by the war, and Evil Pinhead tries to recreate on Earth the type of mass slaughter Spencer saw and was destroyed by in the War. Separated from his more malevolent self Spencer could see that that was wrong – while he personally deserved to be in Hell as one of Leviathan’s servants, when separated from his most evil impulses he could see that Pinhead unrestrained by Hell’s rules was an even greater abomination who had to be stopped. The best part of the moment is when Spencer faces down Pinhead: you can definitely see some regret on Spencer’s face that he’s essentially condemning himself to an eternity of suffering, but he accepts the responsibility because he can’t deny that he deserves it, and more importantly that he enjoys it as well.
It was, also, a surprisingly well-shot film, and it looks great considering how cheaply it was made. The last half, more or less from the moment Pinhead emerges from the Pillar of Souls, is pretty taut, with some intense moments throughout – maybe nothing as bad as the elevator scene from Hellbound, but the scene in the church with Pinhead’s mock crucifixion was far more explicit than I remembered.
I just wish a Pinhead completely unfettered by vestigial humanity wasn’t also a Pinhead who cracked jokes like Freddy Krueger.
I also remember being frustrated by the obvious attempt to dumb things down represented by calling the Cenobites “demons,” the disappearance of Kirsty as the main character, the moronic CD cenobite, and on and on. No beef with the Spencer/Pinhead storyline per se, or with some of the writing and images, but it’s surrounded by some real idiocy.
Admittedly, the half-assed Cenobites Pinhead creates are . . . half-assed. He says as much to Joey. And yeah, the cackling Freddie Krueger-isms – no argument there. But it’s still a solid story with some nice bits, as opposed to the next movie, which was a good idea hobbled by poor execution and editing-room malpractice, and certainly better than any of the STV installments (with the possible exception of Hellseeker if you’re feeling generous).
Whoa, threaded replies! Don’t that beat all.
Anyway, one of the nice things about the Hellraiser sequels is that there are so many logical cut-off points if you want to call it a day with keeping up with them. Personally I only consider the ones with which Barker was directly involved as canon, so you’ve got Hellraiser (writing from his novel and directing) and Hellbound (story and producer). You could also stop after III, which sort of gives closure to Pinhead and still involved personnel from the first two, and wasn’t an anthology film like the fourth. You could stop with the fourth, which was the last one released theatrically. Shit, you could stick with all the straight-to-video sequels until the one currently being made without Doug Bradley. Any of those cut-off points can give you a clear conscience.
Doesn’t Neil Marshall have four movies? Are you not counting Dog Soldiers?
1. Dog Soldiers, 2. The Descent, 3. Doomsday. I can’t count the one I haven’t seen when talking about why I want to see it!
Haha, me no thinky hard. Sorry!
Reddit button. Fuck Digg.
Not sure if there is an equiv Tumblr button, but I’d probably be most likely to use that, even moreso than FB or Twitter. Buzz, Digg, all the rest I don’t use at all.
As far as I know there’s not, Sam. I’m guessing Tumblr likes to keep itself “in the family.” But I’ll look to see if there’s a separate plugin from the one I’m using for all the other sites.