Synopsis:

Sexual deviant Frank inadvertently opens a portal to hell when he tinkers with a box he bought while abroad. The act unleashes gruesome beings called Cenobites, who tear Frank's body apart. When Frank's brother and his wife, Julia, move into Frank's old house, they accidentally bring what is left of Frank back to life, uncoiling a terror for Frank's daughter Kirsty to contend with.

Intentions:

Hellraiser - The Leviathan Cut - a two-in-one mix of Hellraiser, 1987 and its sequel Hellraiser II Hellbound, 1988. As a preteen navigating the otherworldly dimensions of other horror icons like Freddy Krueger and Ash Williams, I became enamored with Pinhead and the Cenobites. In their first two outings at least. Both films were so twisted and surreal compared to other slashers, but today, I find each film to be marred by an incredible amount of padding. Hellbound alone included two lengthy flashback sequences repeating much of the first film’s story beats. So, I ultimately cut 61 minutes total from the combined runtime, working mainly to eliminate redundant shots and dialogue. The list of specific edits below is about a third of the total number of changes I made, but these were too minimal to dive into with significance.

Change List:

Cutlist: Hellraiser Moved Pinhead's origin from Hellraiser 2 to the start of the edit, replacing Frank's introduction Trimmed Julia’s and Larry's conversation when entering Frank's house Trimmed Kirsty and Larry's conversation about finding work, cutting directly to Julia to help demonstrate why Kirsty is feeling trepidatious about visiting her father. Trimmed the move-in sequence Shortened Kirsty's industrial walk through the city before visiting her father When Frank and Julia are copulating, I cut from when Frank says, "it's never enough," directly to Julia's reaction, cutting the shot to Larry Cut Larry's response after "does it hurt." The scene can naturally end there, not when he says, only when he drinks Trimmed Julia's reaction to Frank’s resurrection De-emphasized Kirsty's interaction with her suitor since he'll disappear halfway through the narrative anyhow Eliminated Kirsty's late night conversation with her father Sped up the pace of Julia's various excursions by excising shots, along with her painful conversation with Larry afterwards Cut Frank and Julia's exchange once Larry returns home, as to help retain the mystery of the Cenobites Removed Kirsty working at the pet shop and the vagrant’s visit Sped the pace of Julia sacrificing men to Frank by removing redundant shots Eliminated the entire sequence where Julia attempts to seduce Larry, only for Frank to appear and skin a rat - We cut immediately from Frank shouting, "No, no, no!" to Larry telling his daughter he's got a real problem Excised all moments in the hospital with Kirsty and her nurse/doctor Removed the hallway guardian sequence during Kirsty's stay in the hospital Cut the first implication of Frank stealing Larry's skin Cut all the preamble of Larry possessing Frank Trimmed the Frank-as-Larry dialogue to try to make it seem like he wasn't inexplicably revealing his identity so soon Shortened Julia's initial fate and the hand of Frank Eliminated the excursion into Larry's spare bedroom Shortened the final exchange between Kirsty and Pinhead at the end of the first film, and cut everything between Kirsty returning him to his realm to the final shots of the house from the first film, eliminating her boyfriend from the film’s conclusion Eliminated the final sequence with the vagrant demon at the end of the film Hellraiser II Hellbound Removed the cop's mention of Steve to Kirsty since he's not present in the previous confrontation with Frank, Julia, and the Cenobites Trimmed Kirsty talking about fairy tales with officer Ronson Eliminated the two minor jumpscares involving the cop. These may be necessary in warming an audience up at the start of the film, but this is not so for the middle of this edit’s narrative Removed Channard going back to speak to officer Ronson Shortened Kirsty's conversations with Kyle since everyone and their mother knows that he's cannon fodder anyway Cut Kirsty walking to the message written in her wall with blood, touching the blood, and smearing it on her lips To help reduce redundancy and Kyle's forced delivery when he enters the office, I shortened his discovery of Channard procurement of the the mattress that Julia died on Removed much of the backstory regarding Julia and Frank's affair, along with Frank's resurrection that we've already seen at this point Note, I kept the flashback of Frank opening the box since it's now missing from the start of the film Eliminated the long establishing shot of the inside of Channard's house between the establishing shots of the house's exterior, and the mattress he's acquired Drastically shortened Channard's second stroll through the maintenance level asylum Cut Kyle reading, about "Children of the Vortex" Trimmed moments from Chananrd's tragic offering to Julia in order to reduce the outright gore and heighten the climax of her return. I also excised her lengthy chase after the patient Removed Julia getting dressed prior to Channard wrapping her up because her getting dressed is useless if Channard is going to help wrap her later on, plus it's more touching if he decides to help her right after she expresses rage at her current skinless state Cut the strange clothing bit between Kirsty and Kyle Quick note, I've cut many redundant lines that I've not mentioned. Kirsty saying, "not again," though, is just egregious writing that I needed to note Hastened the pace of Tiffany working on the puzzle box and cut Julia and Channard's back and forth once she successfully opens it Removed the sequence of Kirsty finding the davenport in her family home filled with blood and bugs Trimmed Tiffany's funhouse scene and the sequence when approaches the yet unseen Leviathan Cut Kirsty's unsuccessful attempt to talk to Tiffany Removed Julia's line of, "It wants souls, and I brought you," in order to help make Leviathan's goals more nebulous Attempted to smoothen the transition when Kirsty pulls the cloth from the writhing woman in her father's house Cut the audio Frank screaming out when losing his skin because he appeared to be ripping it off himself Removed Channard's line, "The Doctor is in," and Tiffany's response of "Shit" Cut Channard's line, "I'm taking control of this operation" Eliminated Tiffany's out of place lines stating she needs to finish the puzzle Removed Channard's, "Case is closed" line Added a fade to white when Kirsty and Tiffany leave the institute instead of a fade to black