Kirsty is brought to an institution after the death of her family, where the occult-obsessive head resurrects Julia and unleashes the Cenobites once again. Hellbound: Hellraiser II was suprisingly not only better than what i was expecting but also better than the original film plus can we just admit the fact that this movie was very freaky and creepy? I mean the scene where the Cenobites die and turn into their human forms or that guy cuts himself and then Julia appears with no flesh? Were just spooky to say the least and definitely a great sequel. (7.5/10)

Mere hours after the events in the original, adorable Kirsty ( Ashley Laurence ) quite literally goes to Hell, attempting to bring her father back, with an puzzle solver in tow, who might know how to close the Lament Configuration once and for all. It is most unfortunate, however, the young puzzle solver ( Imogene Boorman ) is so awful in her role that it becomes distracting, not to mention that I spent most of her scenes wondering if the role was being played by a real girl, or an androgynous guy?Pinhead and his Cenobites are still gruesome and ghoulish, simultaneously frightening, and also what keeps most watching, but the depiction of Hell is only a mixed bag. Hell is shown here as a labyrinthine series of concrete hallways, dusty, seemingly endless, like we're just wandering through a castle. Some shots of it are convincing, and look good, while in other scenes, it's clearly just painted backdrops.Claire Higgins, as Julia, is an evil creature, cold and ruthless. It's interesting to wonder how the series would have progressed if she had agreed to return for more sequels.

It's hard to even qualify this as a slasher film seeing as how it's a lot more than just one character who does the killing. In fact, Pinhead barely directly kills anyone at all. It's more like a standard horror movie. Anyway, I was expecting to see more of Pinhead in this movie, but he may have had even less screen time than the original film. As far as slasher movies go, this wasn't bad at all. It has a bit too much exposition in the first half, but at the second half, it really does get better. We get our most creative parts here as we see Hell.I admit to not being the biggest fan of stop motion. I just think it sticks out pretty badly. The designs were still pretty creative with this. I like how it follows up directly with the first movie. You rarely see that in films like this. I do kind of like the characters and they get some fairly good development. It's still pretty confusing and too complicated. I wouldn't recommend this to someone who wasn't a fan of horror movies, but I would to someone who is. ***

HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II is the horror film that shows such nasty horrors that other late '80s horror films can only dare to hint at, and to boot it's a film made at Pinewood Studios. I have a feeling that this was the last horror film made in Britain (not counting amateur productions of course) to really offer up graphic, depraved horror, the stuff of nightmares, and we've never seen its like since. This is in some ways a superior sequel to the first film and I would rate the two almost equally as horror classics of the 1980s; it's merely that HELLRAISER came first with a delightful and raw simplicity that gives it the edge. HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II takes the basic premise of the first film, only to expand upon it, explore the mythology created, and deliver an even bigger and better adventure.The gore and violence certainly hasn't been toned down, and in some ways it's even nastier than before. There are skinless people, hooks ripping flesh and, in a moment of pure evil, a man who hallucinates that his body is covered with grubs is given a straight-razor with which he proceeds to slash himself before a living corpse comes out of the mattress he is sitting on and devours him - if that isn't spine-chilling then I don't know what is. This is a very visual movie which is one of the few to offer up a depiction of hell; the resulting images are both creepy and highly disturbing. The hell displayed here is a labyrinthine maze of ancient corridors, populated by the weird figures of giant babies with their mouths sewn shut, undulating bloodstained bodies, and a clown who juggles his own eyeballs. Then we get skinless corpses writing "I AM IN HELL HELP ME" on walls with their own blood and one of the scariest mental asylums I've seen on film (you know, the 'maintenance' level).The special effects are varied and entertaining, aside from the huge spinning demonic shape in the sky at the end which is a little bit rough around the edges. The makeup is gruesome and the cenobites are as disgustingly awful as ever. Even some cool stop motion animation pops up at the end of the movie to menace our heroes. The music is evocative, the pacing excellent and Tony Randel's direction top-notch - compare this to a pitiful mess like DREAM DEMON and you'll see what I mean. The film also benefits from a high calibre of acting from most of the cast, some of whom return from the first film.First up is Ashley Laurence reprising her role to good effect as the feisty Kirsty, although Imogen Boorman stands out more as the strangely beautiful mute girl who has a way with jigsaws. Clare Higgins is back and even more deadly-but-beautiful than ever. However, the film is commanded by Kenneth Cranham playing the fiendishly perverse Dr. Channard who eventually ends up becoming a new, even more horrific Cenobite (one with plenty of comedic one-liners too). Cranham's initially decent doctor soon turns out to be a sweaty bastard as the cracks start to show and it's another excellent performance from the underrated actor. Watch out for William Hope playing a young male doctor, Kyle, who helps Kirsty in her quest.Doug Bradley is perfect as Pinhead although largely underused here, what with all the other sub-plots going on. HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II is an imaginative piece of work with a truly unique visionary style, a masterpiece of the macabre and not for weak stomachs - this comes highly recommended. Unfortunately it marked the end of quality in the series which, with the arrival of HELLRAISER III : HELL ON EARTH, turned into just another US horror franchise, albeit one with a little more class than most.