Oh man, Dimension Films.

Their rights to make Hellraiser movies were running out, so they had to make this movie within weeks or risk losing the rights to the film series. Due to the rushed production, Doug Bradley decided not to return as PInhead and Stephan Smith Collins took on the physical role and Fred Tatasciore (the voice of Megatron in the movies) did the talking.

At least one person was coming back. Gary J. Tunnicliffe created the makeup effects for every movie in the series from Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth to Hellraiser: Hellworld, wrote this movie and would write and direct the next movie, Hellraiser: Judgment.

Two boys — Steven Craven and Nico Bradley — have gone missing with the only evidence being a video filmed by Steven that documents their final moments. And oh yeah, there’s an ornate puzzle box left behind that the Mexican authorities return to their families.

So what was on that tape? Oh, only Nico killing a girl after having sex with her, then implicating Steven, then getting a Lament Configuration and then…well, you know.

Emma, Steven’s sister and Nico’s girlfriend, watches the tape and finds the box. She’s able to open it and free a bloody Steven, who warns her that the Cenobites are coming. Emma has become obsessed by the box, which leads her to try seducing Nico’s father and her own brother before the man who gave the box to Nico appears and kills Nico’s dad — man, that guy just almost got everything he wanted — and then Steven kills his own dad with a shotgun. And as everyone tries to escape, they realize they are stranded.

Oh the drama! Steven’s father and Nico’s mother were having an affair! Nico killed Steven and is wearing his skin! Pinhead admires Nico’s sexual proclivities! A shock ending!

The ads for this movie said that it was from the mind of Clive Barker, who went on Twitter to say, “I have NOTHING to do with the fuckin’ thing. If they claim its from the mind of Clive Barker,it’s a lie. It’s not even from my butt-hole.”

Bradley has revealed that he decided not to make the movie when he was told there would be no second draft of the script and that his salary from previous films would be, in his words, cut down to “the price of a fridge.” That has to be a reference to Ashley Laurence, who played Kirsty Cotton, and was paid exactly enough money for Hellraiser: Hellseeker to purchase a refrigerator of her own.

Bradley also referred to the film as “a cinematic ash can copy,” which is a concept taken from comic books. Publishers would make small print runs of comics — the original Creepy #1 is an example — to establish trademarks on potential titles and characters. These books were not intended for sale. Which reminds me, this movie screened in exactly one theater.

The director of this movie, Victor Garcia, also made the sequels Mirrors 2, Return to House on Haunted Hill and 30 Days of Night: Blood Trails.

You can watch this on Tubi.