Hellraiser VII: Deader (2005) is a movie that I recently rewatched for the first time in a long time on MAX. The storyline follows a reporter who finds a tape that shows a cult bringing the dead back to life. She thinks this could be her big break and the story of a lifetime...she might be right.

This movie is directed by Rick Bota (Hellraiser: Hellworld) and stars Kari Wuhrer (Eight Legged Freaks), Linda Marlowe (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Simon Kunz (The Parent Trap), Paul Rhys (Chaplin), Doug Bradley (Nightbreed) and Georgina Rylance (War Machine).

This did have a more realistic storyline than some of the Hellraiser sequels and the main character was easy to root for (she reminded me of Ashley Judd). The subway scenes in here were pretty cool and it was a good subplot to add to the storyline. Those scene's definitely added intensity to the circumstances. However, this is another Hellraiser movie without enough Pinhead. It's too bad because the beginning and ending of this movie are great. The opening corpse in the bathroom was awesome and the last 12 minutes of the film were the best part of the movie. We needed more scenes like the end.

Overall, this sequel had the most potential since Hellraiser III, but still doesn't live up to expectations due to an underuse of Pinhead. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

I'm a huge fan of the Hellraiser movies and the Hellraiser universe, but the movies are getting worse and worse. To me, there are only 3 "real" Hellraiser movies, and that's the first 3. The fourth has some ups and downs, but all in all, I think Pinhead's awesome dialog makes up for the downs. The fifth is taking it all in a different direction, a direction I strongly disagree with, but nevertheless, it's an interesting movie, with pretty good acting and visually, it's very nicely done.

Then this Rick Bota guy comes along... And just as I thought it couldn't get any worse, he delivers the deathblow to the Hellraiser franchise. His movies are messed up, the main characters in both hellseeker and deader keeps experiencing some horrible stuff, and just as it's about to get fun, they "wake up" to discover that they were just dreaming or had a vision - I hate that, it's messy and confusing! Also, Pinhead's role in these movies is not very well defined, which is also (sadly) very well shown by his absence. He only appear in a few minutes in both of Bota's miserable movies to deliver some nice one-liners.

This Bota guy is destroying what true fans love about these movies, I hope this will be the end, no need to make it a long a painful death, Hellraiser deserves better...

A rather forgettable additional to the Hellraiser universe that quite frankly could have been left out and no one would have missed it.

To make an effective Hellraiser movie you cannot simply inject Pinhead and the Coenobites into any old script and expect it to carry any essence of the universe to which they belong.

Deader is a rather apt name for the movie as it also describes the writing.

Its not the worst entry in the franchise but it is another example of sucking at the teat of what was once an iconic movie series.

I'm glad this hasn't been the end of the series and have rejoiced at the 2022 Hellraiser which finally does something for the fans :)