Oh boy, it's finally here. Arrow's brand new, limited Scarlet Box collection of
Clive Barker's
Hellraiser.
It's a whopping 4-disc blu-ray set, including loaded special editions
of the original, the first two sequels, and Barker's early short films.
It's kind of an update to Anchor Bay's already impressive, Lament
Configuration limited edition 4-disc DVD set, but with all new scans, HD
transfers, and a heap of new extras. The 2009 US blu-ray of
Hellraiser still
has some unique special features, so we'll look at that, too, as well
the old 2000 special edition DVD. Because I want to do a thorough review
worthy of this thorough set.
Update 12/5/15: I added the old US Anchor Bay
Hellraiser 2 DVD into the comparison mix, and added the bit about Arrow's
Hellraiser 3 mis-framing.
Update 2/19/16: I've added the US Paramount DVD of
Hellraiser 3
into the comparison mix (it's got a pretty unique doc covered in the
special features portion), and also consolidated this and the previous
update to make it all a more readable, cohesive piece.
Update 9/8/17: Adding another
Hellraiser 2 DVD to the mix. Why bother? Well, one, just because the more completist I can be the better. But the bigger reason is because the Anchor Bay 20th Anniversary Edition has some exclusive Red Shirt extras on it, that aren't included in the Scarlet Box. It's also worth noting that Arrow eventually reissued the Scarlet Box here in the USA since the last update, in December of 2016.
Update 10/31/23: Happy Halloween, kiddies -
Hellraiser is back! The Scarlet Box was awesome, but Arrow's new Quartet of Torment seeks to render it completely obsolete. They mostly do, but not entirely, as you'll see below. This set also includes the fourth
Hellraiser film,
Bloodlines, which I've compared to its previous releases on its own page,
here.
If you've never seen
Hellraiser... then you mustn't be a horror fan. But even then, I would recommend this film, because it's truly unique, intelligent and engrossing. And gross. But really, there's so much more to this story; you've got to see past that. It's Barker's masterpiece: a wild story that addresses the darker side of sexuality and invents a Hell that, in a very twisted way, can be attractive. It's the story of what a family must endure when one man decides to unlock the gateway to Hell, and then return. It's got strong performances, great visual effects, an epic score, and while the film may be a little rough around the edges thanks to a low budget and first time director, all its minor flaws are swept over by
Hellraiser's visionary content.
Is
Hellraiser uncut? Let's talk about that. It's pretty
well known that Barker had to cut his film to get it rated; he talks
about it in some depth on his group audio commentary, amongst other
places. He largely says he prefers it now as it is, and that the scenes
are "nastier" when they don't linger on the effects quite as much as
they once did, though he does also mention wishing he had to opportunity
to maybe put a few bits back. Anyway, that's pretty much all bygone
history, with almost every release around the world featuring the same
R-rated cut, unless someone someday finds the trimmed footage...
except, the opening of
Hellraiser 2, which starts with a summary of the first
Hellraiser, including exactly eight frames that were cut out of
Hellraiser 1.
Two of those frames are from the explosion of Frank after Kirstie
closes the door, but the other six include a gruesome close-up not seen
at all in the theatrical cut of
Hellraiser 1. German label Turbine has
cut those eight frames from
Hellraiser 2 back into their blu-ray of
Hellraiser 1,
so it's kind of a more uncut and unrated version, though some would
argue it's revisionist, since they're technically cutting in footage
from a different movie, though it was obviously originally shot for the
first. It's up to us all to decide for ourselves, however none of the releases on this page include those eight
frames in the original
Hellraiser.
Hellraiser II: Hellbound suffers from pretty much all the usual
drawbacks of sequels, the worst of which being that it's no longer
adapting a Barker novel, instead penned by screenwriter
Peter Atkins.
Still, it's the most crowd-pleasing of the eight (as of this writing)
sequels, bringing back pretty much the entire cast and bringing them
into a much more ambitious, and higher budgeted, world. There are
stunning visuals and more of pretty much everything fans wanted to see
return from the original. It's a great time and very fun film, but it's
it's just not quite as smart, and is missing the focus of the original
film. Why are we here except to see more? That's more than enough reason
to watch and have fun; but we've slid down the scale of artistic
achievement.
So
Hellraiser II slid, and then
Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth, embraced that direction and ran headlong into it.
Hellraiser 3 is a B-movie and is fine with that. It's again written by Atkins; but this time it's directed by
Amthony Hickox (
Waxwork,
Sundown: the Vampire In Retreat), who just takes the opportunity to play with all of
Hellraiser's
toys. It's villains and iconography are back, but now in almost a silly
world with lighter characters. There are still hints of
Hellraiser's
dark power; but this is a film where a monster kills people by shooting
compact discs out of his head. This one still looks to have a nice
budget (something later films in the series sorely lacked), and I'm sure
if this wasn't titled "Hellraiser III," horror lovers would still be
talking about what a kick this movie was. However fans looking for the
greatness of the original
Hellraiser were further disappointed... even maybe a little insulted this time. But if you can ease off your expectations of another
Hellraiser 1;
this is a very fun and engaging 90 minutes. But we're definitely at the
point where I wouldn't recommend it to the non-horror fans.
Now the
Hellraiser films have been released and re-released on
home video plenty of times. We're only seeing the first three in this
set, because the later ones are all owned by Dimension Films. But the
films get less and less worthwhile as you go; so the first three are
more than fine.
Hellraiser was first released on DVD in 1997, and then re-released in a cool, limited edition tin as a bit of a special edition with
Hellraiser 2
in 2000. Unfortunately, I sold that off long ago, but I did manage to
snag a single disc release of the 2000 DVD for this comparison. Then
we've got the aforementioned UK DVD boxed set of the first three films
from 2004, which is kind of the standard def predecessor of the Scarlet
Box. It's worth noting that both sets include two versions apiece of
Hellraiser III,
so we'll get into that as well. Then, to bring in the HD competition,
we've got the 2009 US blu-ray, which is also from Anchor Bay. And we're
comparing them all to the 2015 Scarlet Box BD set and 2023 Quartet of
Torment UHD set, both from Arrow.
 |
1) 2000 US AB widescreen DVD; 2) 2000 US AB fullscreen DVD;
3) 2004 UK AB DVD; 4) 2009 US AB BD; 6) 2015 UK ArrowBD;
7) 2023 UK Arrow UHD.
|
All six discs slightly letterbox their anamorphic 16x9 images to 1.85:1
(excluding the fullscreen transfer, obviously). The DVDs both have
slightly less info on the sides, at 1.84:1, but it's the definition of
negligible. Still, it's nice to get that extra sliver if you've sprung
for the blus. And there's another sliver around all four sides on the
UHD, because, though they're both 1.85:1, the UHD pulls back to reveal a
little more around the edges than the BD. Clarity is definitely up from
the DVDs to the blus, especially Arrow's. Even Anchor Bay's is a nice
step up from the DVDs in sharpness and resolution, though. Both blus
also have more natural colors, though their color palettes are
different, too (compare Julia's blouse... redder on the DVDs, bluer on
the US blu and yellower on the UK).
The first thing that draws your eye between all of them, though, is
probably how much brighter Arrow's blu is. It really brings out some
details that were crushed in past releases. It doesn't stop the film
from being dark when it means to me, it just keeps the film from being
murky like the older DVDs look. Preferable degrees of brightness and
sharpness can be a little subjective... a number of people online had
been voicing their displeasure in how the clearer transfer makes Arrow's
blu look especially grainy. I think the new UHD will satisfy them. The
colors are deeper now, too. Comparing the leaves behind Frank, they're
downright pale on the BD compared to the richer greens of the UHD. And
both the increased resolution and the colors work together to make
small detail, like the studs on Julia's belt look considerably more
lifelike.
Audio-wise, every disc gives us the choice between the
original 2.0 and a 5.1 remix, except the 2009 BD, which skips the 5.1.
And the blus and UHD naturally bump them up to lossless. Every disc
except the 2000 DVD also includes optional English subs, and the 2009 AB
BD also throws in Spanish ones.
I've also got a pair of
Hellraiser II Anchor Bay DVDs on
hand: the old 2001 disc and 2008's 20th Anniversary Edition. Not that I
expect them to add anything surprising to the comparisons, but the 2001
DVD offers a fullscreen mode just like the first film did, so I thought
it might be worth looking at to see how the 4:3 version looks. And the
2008 has a few exclusive special features.
 |
1) 2001 US AB fullscreen DVD; 2) 2001 US AB DVD widescreen DVD;
3) 2004 UK AB DVD; 4) 2008 US AB DVD; 5) 2015 UK Arrow BD;
6) 2023 UK Arrow UHD.
|
Arrow's blu looked pretty spiffy with another fresh 2k scan from the
film's original interpositive (true of all three films in the Scarlet
Box), but the new UHDs aren't just 4k, but also have the benefit of the
original camera negatives (true of all four of the films in that set,
albeit with some shots composited in from lesser elements). Framing is
letterboxed to 1.85:1, with a little extra picture along the bottom on
the BDs as opposed to the DVDs, which are again more of a 1.84:1. And
again, though they're both 1.85:1, the UHD pulls back to reveal a little
more around the edges than the BD. With the obvious exception of the
full-frame DVD, which is open matte, giving us plenty more
picture on the top and bottom while losing nothing on the sides. Of
course, it's mostly dead space and looks far less attractive than the
widescreen image.
Detail and clarity are naturally improved in
this film's jump to HD, but you might notice another difference with the
UK DVD: a ghosting effect on the doctor's hand. Yes, all of the DVDs in
the 2004 boxed set are interlaced - yuck. Even the original 2001 DVD
didn't have this problem, and happily they got rid of it again for the
2008 edition. Naturally, Arrow's blu-rays and UHD are free of this
issue. Again, the 4k resolution smooths away the jagged edges of the
BDs and the use of the OCN gives us more subtle grain texture, though
it's excellently rendered on both of Arrow's discs.
Audio-wise, the situation is pretty similar to the first one. Every
disc gives us the choice between 2.0 and 5.1 except the 2008 DVD drops
the stereo track. The BD and UHD are of course lossless. Every release
includes optional English subtitles except the 2001 DVD.
Now we come to
Hellraiser 3. Between the Arrow and Anchor Bay
sets, there was also an interesting US DVD from Paramount in 2006. It's
unfortunately just the R-rated cut, but it looks pretty good and has a
unique special feature which makes it interesting. But of course, the
real story is with the Scarlet Box and Quartet of Torment sets, which
have both cuts and heaps of special features.
 |
1) 2004 UK AB widescreen DVD; 2) 2004 UK AB fullscreen DVD;
3) 2006 US Paramount DVD; 4) 2015 UK Arrow BD; 5) 2023 UK Arrow UHD. |
So, like I said, all three sets have two different versions of
Hellraiser 3
in them. But they're different different versions. Anchor Bay gave you
the unrated version of the film in both widescreen (the film's OAR) and
fullscreen. Arrow (both sets) gives you the edited theatrical cut and
the complete unrated version, both in widescreen. Paramount, meanwhile,
just offers the widescreen R-rated cut. Thankfully, Anchor Bay's DVD
isn't interlaced for
Hell On Earth. And they're clearly using the
same master, making the US and widescreen UK DVDs almost entirely
indistinguishable apart from AB's PAL speed up.
Now, I mentioned how the Arrow blu-ray has more picture info, chiefly on
the left hand side than the previous versions (and you can see it in
those shots I posted above). But it's been pointed out on the
blu-ray.com forums that this extra info is probably a framing mistake,
as it sometimes shows
too much, i.e. camera equipment or crewmen standing on ladders in the background. Here's a clear example of what I mean:
 |
1) 2004 UK AB widescreen DVD; 2) 2015 UK Arrow BD;
3) 2023 UK Arrow UHD.
|
That's way too much on the left; you can see where the special effect of
the pillar ends and it's just big wooden boards in the Scarlet Box.
Clearly that was not meant to be seen on camera. However, that shot
passes very quickly, and most of the film, while still showing you more
picture on the left hand side than intended, doesn't contain anything
that egregious. It's mostly just a little bit extra of the set. But
every once in a while, a shot will pop up with something you shouldn't
see in it. But as you can also see above, Arrow's UHD fixes the
framing, pulling in a little tighter vertically to maintain the 1.85 AR
while cropping that excess material on the left again. It's also worth
noting that AB's widescreen DVD is framed at about
1.76:1, as opposed to Arrow's 1.85. The old fullscreen version, which
has extra vertical info thanks to its open matte, looks softer and
murkier even than the widescreen DVD version. And the new UHD's grain
structure is easily the most improved over the BD in this trio. Look at
the grain on
Paula Marshall's forehead... you can only really make it out now on the 2023 release.
 |
1) 2004 UK AB widescreen DVD; 2) 2004 UK AB fullscreen DVD;
3) 2015 UK Arrow BD; 4) 2023 UK Arrow UHD.
|
And
now let's look at the inserted unrated footage. You'll notice the
quality is poor in all of these versions, because neither Anchor Bay nor
Arrow could find proper film elements for the unrated footage, so they
used, apparently, an old laserdisc or tape for this footage. The other
thing you'll notice is that two of the shots are fullscreen this time
(1.30 on Anchor Bay's, and 1.33 on Arrow's). That's because, as you can
see in the top shot, Anchor Bay just cropped the unrated footage to 1.76
to match the rest of the widescreen film. The footage both labels are
using is fullscreen, missing picture on the sides. So AB's cropping is
an already cropped picture, meaning it's losing image on all four sides
now. That's probably why Anchor Bay felt it was worth including a
fullscreen cut of the film, so they could give you that film without
their cropping.
Arrow, on the other hand, takes the unusual tact of shifting the aspect
ratio mid-picture on their unrated versions. Rather than cropping the
already cropped footage like Anchor Bay, the picture jumps from 1.85 to
1.33, which is a little distracting to say the least. And that's why
they also offer the cut theatrical version, so you can see their HD 2k
and 4k scans without the sudden drop in quality and shift in aspect
ratio. I guess that's fine if you want to show off how good
Hellraiser 3 looks here; but this film is genuinely better in its uncut form.
Here, every disc just has a stereo mix, except the 2004, which also
has a 5.1. The HD versions are lossless, and they all include optional
English subtitles.
 |
| 1) 2004 UK AB DVD; 2) 2015 UK Arrow BD. |
Both sets also include Barker's two early short films,
Salomé and
The Forbidden, and the quality of the original films is so raw, it's hard to distinguish a big difference between them (especially
Salomé). Arrow's book doesn't even mention how they made the transfers for these like it does with their
Hellraiser restorations,
because I doubt they did much. They're both fullscreen, which is their
OAR. One substantial improvement, however, is that Arrow's set corrects
the interlacing problem on the Anchor Bay set; so it is, once again, a
worthwhile improvement. Sadly, these were dropped entirely from the
Quartet of Torment set.
The old, 2000
Hellraiser special edition DVD already had some solid extras: specifically an audio commentary by Clive Barker,
Ashley Lawrence and Peter Atkins, and a nice 25 minute featurette called
Hellraiser: Resurrection.
All of the subsequent releases kept those, while adding more extras on
top of them. Here's the mass amount of stuff the UK box-set added:
Hellraiser:
- audio commentary with Clive Barker - this is a second, newer
commentary with Barker by himself, providing a lot of info he missed the
first time around.
- Under the Skin part 1 - Doug Bradley interview about Hellraiser
- on-set interview with Clive Barker - a short, vintage promo interview.
- Trailers, TV spots, and galleries - the original DVD had a trailer and some stills, but this set adds more.
Hellraiser II:
- audio commentary with Peter Atkins and director Tony Randel
- audio commentary with Tony Randel, Ashley Laurence and Peter Atkins
- Under the Skin part 2 - Doug Bradley interview about Hellraiser 2
- Lost In the Labyrinth - a 'making of' featurette produced by Clive Barker
- on-set interviews with Clive Barker, Tony Randel, Claire Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Imogen Boorman and Kenneth Crantham - more vintage promo stuff
- Trailers, TV spots, and galleries
Hellraiser III:
- audio commentary with Anthony Hickox and Doug Bradley
- Under the Skin part 3 - Doug Bradley interview about Hellraiser 3
- an on-camera interview with Hickox
- on-set interviews with Clive Barker and Doug Bradley - the vintage promo stuff again
- Trailer and galleries
The fourth disc, with Barker's short films, also included interviews with Barker and some of the cast as part of each feature.
The US blu-ray of the first
Hellraiser has the original 2000 extras, but not any of the 2004 extras except for the Doug Bradley
Under the Skin
interview. So it's missing the second commentary and the vintage
interview. BUT, and this is a big but, it does have some new, exclusive
extras. Specifically, it has three all new interview featurettes by Red
Shirt Films, who always do a great job. They're all around 15-20 minutes
and specifically, they interview Ashley Lawrence, composer
Christoper Young and actor
Andrew Robinson.
And Anchor Bay's 20th Anniversary DVD also has three all new interview
featurettes by Red Shirt Films, which again are all around 15-20 minutes
each. This is in edition to the commentary and all the other stuff
carried over from the 2004 UK box, even the easter egg behind-the-scenes
footage. But today, it's just these Red Shirt extras that are still of
interest, because they never made it over to the Scarlet Box. The first
one interviews cenobite actors
Simon Bamford,
Nicholas Vince and
Barbie Wilde, the second one is with director Tony Randel, and the third is Dr. Channard himself,
Kenneth Cranham.
And I mentioned earlier that Paramount's US DVD of
Hellraiser 3
had an interesting exclusive feature, right? It doesn't have any of the
extras from the other releases, except for the theatrical trailer, but
it has a half hour documentary called
Clive Barker: The Art of Horror. This had previously been released
on VHS in 1992 by itself. It's not about
Hellraiser 3,
but Clive in general. It centers heavily around a couple direct
interviews with Barker, and focuses on some interesting aspects of his
career you don't see covered as often on his DVDs including his model
kits and comic books. He even talks about
Transmutations and Rawhead Rex,
which is valuable, since there are no editions of those films with any
extras at all. If you've got this disc, hang onto it, and you might even
want to pick it up as an addendum to the Scarlet Box just for this
feature. If you do, be careful, Miramax reissued this
Hellraiser 3
DVD in 2011, but minus the doc. So make sure you get the 2006 one. The
front covers are identical, except Miramax's has their logo on the top.
So now onto the new Scarlet Box. It has the original
Hellraiser 1 &
2
2000 extras and ALL, yes all, of the 2004 boxed set's extras. Some of
the features are given different names... The "on-set interview with
Clive Barker" is now just listed as "original EPK," but it's the same
thing. Everything from the lament configuration boxed set has been
carried over. And, of course, some big new extras have been created.
Specifically:
Hellraiser:
- Leviathan - A full length documentary on the making of
Hellraiser, that was previously only available on DVD direct from the
creators' website. It's feature length and interviews just about
everybody, but it should be noted the version they sell is even longer
than the trimmed down documentary included here. Still, the one in this
set runs 90 minutes, so it should easily satisfy most viewers
- an interview with Sean Chapman - a pretty lengthy talk
- Soundtrack Hell - a featurette interviewing Stephen Thrower, of a band called Coil. He talks about how he was commissioned to create a soundtrack for Hellraiser that ultimately wasn't used, in favor of what Chris Young created.
Hellraiser II:
- Leviathan - Just like on disc 1, but all about Hellraiser 2.
This was sold with the first one on DVD, too; and I think this one is
also cut down, although the version here is over two hours.
- a second interview with Sean Chapman
- deleted surgeon scene - This might actually be the crown jewel of
Arrow's new extras! This is a very famous scene that was long believed
to not actually exist. You see, on the back of the old Hellraiser 2
VHS box, one of the screenshots showed two cenobites dressed as
surgeons - a scene that never appears in the film. In interviews,
everyone always said that they posed for publicity stills like that,
which is why the shot exists; but they never actually shot such a scene.
Well, here it is! Arrow found it. It's in low, video tape quality and
it has this ugly "Copyright: Troopstar" notice printed in large text
over the entire scene; but after all these decades, we finally get to
see that scene!
- behind-the-scenes footage - less than 2 minutes, but still very cool to see some fun glimpses of the making of this film
Hellraiser III:
- a new audio commentary with Peter Atkins (on the shorter, theatrical cut)
- Hell on Earth: The Story of Hellraiser III - This was an extra on the Leviathan DVDs; a 30+ minute documentary on the making of part 3.
- an interview with Paula Marshall
- FX dailies - about 25 minutes worth of alternate takes and unedited,
video-taped footage of the special effects being shot for the film
Bonus disc:
- an interview with David Gatward, a horror author, about Barker's books.
- Hellraiser: Evolutions - a documentary that runs a little
under an horror on the legacy of the Hellraiser films. It's got a lot of
stuff on the later films, and even interviews some of the people who
worked on those, like Rick Bota and Scott Derrickson.
Definitely one of the most compelling new extras, although I wish they
got a little more specific about the sequels than generally
pontificating about the legacy. I guess I was hoping for a Crystal Lake Memories of Hellraiser, but that would be insane to ask of a bonus disc extra. This is already pretty neat.
- The Hellraiser Chronicles: A Question of Faith - This is a roughly half hour long Hellraiser fan film. It's fairly cheesy, but earnest.
- audio commentary with the director on Hellraiser Chronicles.
And of course the bonus disc also includes the interview footage that accompanied
Salomé and
The Forbidden on the Anchor Bay boxed set, because like I said, all the extras from there are on here.
And I'll reiterate just to be clear, the original commentary and
Hellraiser: Resurrection feature from the 2000 DVD are in the Scarlet Box as well.
The
only extras not in the Scarlet Box are those three Red Shirt interviews
from the US blu-ray. If you want to be an ultra-completist, you'll have
to get that, too. Andrew Robinson is interviewed in
Leviathan, though, and Lawrence and Young are both interviewed in
Hellraiser: Resurrection (Lawrence, of course, is on the
Hellraiser commentary
as well). So you do get them in this set, just not those particular
interviews. For almost everybody, this box should be more than enough.
The
Hellraiser and
Hellraiser 2 discs also have an easter
egg apiece tucked away for those of us who remember the old VHS tapes.
The first easter egg was also on the Anchor Bay boxed set - again
showing that Arrow has imported absolutely everything. The second one is
new. Oh, and the short clip of behind the scenes footage on the new
Hellraiser 2 blu was also an easter egg on the Anchor Bay box.
The Quartet of Torment is an interesting follow-up to the Scarlet
Box. It adds a bunch of new stuff, but unfortunately loses a lot, too.
And I'm not sure it's a good trade.
So, for starters, what did we lose? Both
Leviathan documentaries, which were some of the best, most comprehensive features of any
Hellraiser release, plus their
Story of Hellraiser III doc. We also, as I mentioned earlier, lose both
Salome and
The Forbidden, as well as their corresponding interview featurettes. The
Hellraiser Chronicles
film has gone, too (and taking, obviously, its commentary with it).
And finally, on a smaller note, we lose that Hellraiser 1 easter egg of
the weird merch ad from the VHS. But here's what's new:
- Hellraiser 1 commentary by Kim Newman and Stephen Jones.
- Hellraiser 2 commentary by Kim Newman and Stephen Jones.
- Hellraiser 3 commentary by Kim Newman and Stephen Jones.
- 60-minute conversation on Hellraiser and Barker's novels by film scholars Sorcha Ní Fhlainn and Karmel Kniprath
- visual essay celebrating by genre author Alexandra Benedict about the Lament Configuration
- 41-minute
(Arrow's press releases say 60, but the exact running time is 40:57)
discussion on the queer aspects of Barker's work by horror authors Paula D. Ashe and Eric LaRocca
- visual essay about Barker and body horror by Guy Adams
- Extended Hellraiser 1 EPK material with an intro by Newman and Jones
- Extended Hellraiser 3 EPK material
- 80-minute discussion of Hellraiser 2 by horror authors George Daniel Lea and Kit Power
- visual essay on the music of Christopher Young by Guy Adams
- a half hour featurette interviewing a group of leather fetishists on Hellraiser's influence on the BDSM scene
So as you can see, it's pretty much all second hand accounts,
meaning we talk to experts rather than participants, which is never as
compelling. But that's not to imply that it's all junk or anything.
The new commentaries are fun, helped by the fact that
Stephen Jones worked as a publicist for the films, so has some extra insight. And
thanks to him, we also get a additional EPK material. So while there
was EPK stuff in the older set, there's more here, which is very welcome.
The
long discussions are interesting, but too long and indulgent. They're
in serious need of editing, to trim it to just the insightful moments.
The
Hellbound discussion also gets pretty hyperbolic, with one author describing a scene from
Hellraiser 2 as
the most emotional scene in all of cinema. Sure. Two of them are well
shot and look good, but the queer culture one is a webcam-based Zoom
chat. You'll have to be pretty damn dedicated to sit through all three
hours of that stuff, especially when a lot of time is wasted on banal
observations. Then there's the BDSM one, which is just silly. As for
the visual essays, Benedict's look at the box is interesting and
focused, but Adams'... well, I've seen several extras of his now on
recent releases, and they've all been downright annoying. His music one is alright, I guess, but the other one is pure TMI.
And there's a commentary, workprint, easter egg and trailer for
Hellraiser 4, which I've covered on
its own page.
Oh god, and I still haven't talked about the packaging yet. Now, the
Lament configuration box was pretty neat (if flimsy), and it had a
booklet with notes from Barker himself as well as critics. And the old
Hellraiser tin
was neat and had some cool postcards in there. But man, The Scarlet Box
has everything - multiple postcards, a little booklet of Barker's
conceptual art and storyboards, a double-sided, fold-out poster, a
Pinhead pin, and you want a booklet? This set has a 200 page, hardcover
book in it! It's actually written by the two critics who wrote notes for
the Anchor Bay box; but apparently they had a lot more to say. And it's
all in a very nice, and absolutely not flimsy box.
And now we're
on to the Quartet of Torment box, which maybe isn't quite as
impressive, but it comes pretty close. It's a sturdy slipbox which
houses the updated, 200-page hardcover book, plus a foldout digipack
that houses all four discs, which slips into a red, semi-transparent
sleeve. There are two versions, the standard one with Pinhead on the
cover, and an Arrow website exclusive with Chatterer on the cover.
These are massive collections that will take you ages to work your way
through. The Scarlet Box was the ultimate release for its time, like the
DVD box before that, but the Quartet of Torment is the new king.
Admittedly, extras-wise, it's almost a step backwards, but the new 4k
masters on next generation discs, with the corrected framing for part
3 and the inclusion of
Bloodline for
the first time, makes it an easily essential addition to your
collection. If you've already got the Scarlet Box, though, you'll
probably want to hang onto it.
