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British actorHenry Cavillhas been at the forefront of many Hollywood projects over the last decade. After his catapult to A-list status with his portrayal of Superman inMan of Steel,Cavill has starred in many other mainstream films, includingBatman v. Superman, Justice League,andMission: Impossible - Fallout. In addition to his movie work, Cavill has also taken on a few roles in the television realm, including Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix hit seriesThe Witcher. While some of Cavill’s films have not done too well with critics, such as the 2024 action-comedyArgylle, there is one that stands out within his filmography as notably bad.
Hellraiser: Hellworld,directed by Rick Bota, was released two decades ago in 2005. 20 years later, the film still has a 0% critic rating and a measly 22% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Upon its release, critics were quick to call out the film for its many clichés and its overall poor production.Unfortunately, not even the newfound stardom of Henry Cavill can save this film from its many flaws.Spoilers for ‘Hellraiser: Hellworld’ ahead.
Horror Clichés Saturate the Story in ‘Hellraiser: Hellworld’
The narrative ofHellraiser: Hellworldis practically drowning in violence and sex, which are arguably themost cliché and overused elements of the horror genre. The film follows a group of friends who spend much of their time playing a game called Hellworld. However, things take a dark turn when one friend, Adam (Stelian Urian), commits suicide after becoming overly immersed within the sinister game.Two years later, the remaining friends are invited to a mansion party that is themed after the game.
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The entire group decides to go, many of them eager to potentially meet up with other Hellworld players. At this party, some of the friends suffer horrifically gory ends while others are continuously tormented, drugged, and pursued by The Host (Lance Henriksen), Pinhead (Doug Bradley), and the Cenobite minions.The film treats its brutal deaths as a spectacle and oftentimes incorporates sexual elements and nudity into the violence itself. The party also revolves around the prospect of soliciting sex, with characters wearing masks featuring phone numbers attached to the cell phones they were given upon entry.
Henry Cavill’s Character in ‘Hellraiser: Hellworld’
Unsurprisingly,Henry Cavill’s character, Mike, can only be described as an unlikable sex addict. Flaunting his looks and leather jacket, Mike is eager to go to the Hellworld party, hoping to hook up with some of the other women there. He never really took his friend’s death seriously, and he certainly pays the price for that decision within the narrative. After arriving at the party, he quickly becomes enamored with a beautiful masked woman. The two of them disappear into a room where one of the film’s many unnecessary sex scenes takes place.
A little later in the night, Mike runs into the woman again, but she is no longer wearing her mask. She successfully lures him into a secluded area before disappearing deeper into the mansion. It is soon revealed to the audience that she is actually a Cenobite. An unaware Mike continues to venture throughout the room, running into morbid items, including jars of fetuses, a dead body, and his friend’s decapitated head.
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Instead of reacting with an appropriate amount of fear to the situation presented before him, Mike simply quips, “Not good,” before meetinghis own grisly demiseat the hands of a hook that drops from the ceiling and impales him through the chest.Although Mike is most certainly dead, Cavill continues his role in the film as the Cenobite version of the character, appearing later with a stitched-up face and bloody hole in his chest.
Understandably, most critics and audiences didn’t have much praise for the film. One Rotten Tomatoes critic, David Nusair, simply called the film “moronic.” Others have noted how it was far inferior compared to the other films in theHellraiserfranchise.Critics were also quick to bash the clichés, with Tim Brayton and John J. Puccio noting how the film seemed to “go-through-the-motions” with “the main characters wandering into every room they don’t belong in.“This annoyance at the narrative is heavily present within the audience reviews as well.
Although the Rotten Tomatoes audience rating is higher than the critic rating, general viewers were largely unimpressed. Like the critics, audiences failed to see the point of the film, noting how it mainly consisted of characters simply wandering around until they met their gory ends. Many also noted that the film grew boring at any point that wasn’t flooded with violence or sex.Many viewers were also upset because Pinhead, the main antagonist of theHellraiserfranchise, only makes a brief appearance in the film.
According to both critics and audiences, viewers who wish to venture into theHellraiserfranchise should maybe consider skipping this particular entry.However, fans of Henry Cavill may find something to enjoy, despite the unlikable traits and early demise of the character he portrays.Hellraiser: Hellworldis available to stream onPluto TV.
