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Review of Hellbound: Hellraiser II (Christopher Young)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you seek the gold standard of massively gothic horror
music, the score that solidified Christopher Young's reputation in the
genre and has inspired imitations for decades to follow.
Avoid it... if you expect this sequel score to remain totally faithful to Young's themes from Hellraiser, which retains an arguably more cohesive narrative despite far lesser highlights.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Hellbound: Hellraiser II: (Christopher Young) After
striking a hook-torn nerve with his ultra-gory and sexually deviant
Hellraiser the previous year, Clive Barker returned to write and
produce the 1988 sequel, Hellbound: Hellraiser II. With largely
the same crew and cast returning, the second movie in the franchise
wrapped up the narrative of the first entry. The perversely doomed
Cotton family is provided their ultimate fate as they relish or fight
the inter-dimensional realm of the grotesque Cenobites, beings neither
living or dead who thrive on the torture and dismemberment of average
folks who, more often than not, deserve some of the reckoning they
receive. This time, though, the legend of the Lament Configuration
puzzle box has spread, and a psychiatric hospital doctor tasked with
treating a sympathetic, surviving character from the prior story is
actually obsessed with experiencing the Cenobite lifestyle for himself.
After all, who doesn't like having hooks tear apart their body and nails
driven into their head? The movie does flesh out the backstory of the
lead villain, Pinhead, and opens the door for the character's lingering
humanity to influence this and future films. The spectacle once again
earned Barker and his team an X rating in America because of the
outrageous depictions of violence, which were toned back only so far as
to sneak the picture into theatres. To the pleasure of all, composer
Christopher Young returned to score the sequel. He had replaced English
band Coil on Hellraiser and produced a groundbreaking gothic
score that aggressively merged orchestral mayhem with grandiose tonal
fantasy for a genre more accustomed to synthetic atmospheres and
experimentation. For Hellbound: Hellraiser II, the composer took
that sound even further, enriching its depth with a much more openly
massive sound. The fuller recording ambience for the enthusiastic Munich
orchestra, aided by a notable presence for the newly added chorus, is
augmented by even more prevalent gong and timpani. The glassy sound
design in cues like "Leviathan" and "Chemical Entertainment" replace
comparatively prickly ambience from prior score for a more mature,
weighty environment.
With the more variable and powerful soundscape in Hellbound: Hellraiser II comes relentless force in the horror passages that may be too challenging for some listeners, especially given the somewhat lighter touch with which Young approached those scenes in the previous work. The middle portion of this score is a brutally overwhelming cacophony of symphonic explosions, most of it organically generated and often featuring the heavily metallic tint. Young has a bit more fun in this score, too, using his horns to form the Morse code of the word "god" for the Leviathan concept here. While brass and percussion still hammer away on key at the outset of measures with even more reckless abandon in Hellbound: Hellraiser II, the choir is where Young achieves his greatest advancement in the concept. Very high violins defined the mysterious haze of suspense in the first score, and while that group still performs that role in the sequel, it hands over some of those duties to flutes and high female voices. Mixed choir, meanwhile, handles their new presence with absolute zeal, providing immense religious power on top of throaty brass performances to yield one of the most flamboyantly gothic tones of the era. Thematically, Young's two Hellraiser scores don't form as tight a narrative as they could have, but the composer does provide a handful of sometimes obtuse references back to the first score in his sequel. The main franchise theme doubling for the puzzle box is mutated by Young in this score to become a new identity, but he does reference the prior identity's three-note phrasing in a pyramid formation a few times. These instances occur in a cameo at 5:42 into "Hellbound/Second Sight Séance" on massive choir and brass but develop into a more formal appearance for full choir at 6:36 with wild triangle and flute. The idea also returns to bookend the story at 0:28 into "What's Your Pleasure" on pure fantasy choir. The memorable resurrection theme from the first score, an elegant waltz guided by curiously demented, two-note formations, is only briefly alluded to at the end of "Looking Through a Woman" on music box here. The returning sadness theme for yearning, rising, melodramatic string figures provides a warm interlude to the new soft material at 1:18 into "Something to Think About" and struggles through its own shadows on strings at 2:33 into "Obscene Kiss." The more interesting development of themes in Hellbound: Hellraiser II occupies the villains. While Young had provided an identity for the antagonists in the first score, it never really congealed. In the sequel, the idea evolves into a very effective tool of menace, dominating throughout "Skin Her Alive" and tickling in the middle and end of "Obscene Kiss." It becomes grandiose at 3:40 into "Headless Wizard" for an extended performance. This theme stands apart from the more general Cenobite material that consisted of massive washes of dissonance and prickly percussion in the first score and teases in lighter shades during "Stringing the Puppet" in this one. Any consternation caused by Young's diminishment of the previous work's themes will likely be assuaged by his dedicated development of all-new themes built from the same exact DNA. He graces Hellbound: Hellraiser II with a reworked franchise and puzzle box theme that inverts some of the three-note figures from the prior theme for the same emotional impact. It switches the high violin tones for flutes as the lead and previews the forthcoming Species main theme at times. This character idea debuts with great sensitivity at 2:06 into "Hellbound/Second Sight Séance" and returns at 6:07 after extending out of the previous score's version of the main theme. It opens "Something to Think About" with familiar flutes dominating over violin washes and blends with elements of the prior sadness theme to explore new territory. Deconstructed to a nearly unrecognizable form early in "Obscene Kiss," it receives a brass rendition at 0:06 into "Headless Wizard" takes the place of the fanfare at full ensemble size but returns to soft beauty on female voices at 1:00. Before yielding to prior score's main theme in "What's Your Pleasure," the idea offers echoes of the ongoing saga on solo horn. More singularly spectacular is Young's homage to Jerry Goldsmith's climactic action music from Poltergeist to form a theme of alluringly fabulous malice for the rise of Dr. Channard in this tale. With undulating bass lines over melodramatic, tonal chord shifts, this theme is guided by solo cello at 4:13 into "Hellbound/Second Sight Séance," its vocal counterpoint following familiar three-note phrasing at times, and momentum builds to a massive brass statement of majesty that formally shifts to the three-note phrases like most else in these scores. This theme of wonderment reprises its glory at 1:51 into "Headless Wizard" with more crackling percussive effects. The new main theme of Hellbound: Hellraiser II is the score's slashed heart, however, outrageously gothic with full orchestral and choral force. Split into two parts, the A phrase is the over-the-top fanfare at the start of "Hellbound" and reprised at 1:30 into that cue. The B phrase is the actual theme of the film, heard at 0:18 in "Hellbound" and repeating a few times immediately thereafter. The B phrase opens "Looking Through a Woman" over shades of dissonance before the fanfare erupts at 1:28 before yielding to primary theme in full form at 1:49; the A phrase then becomes badly distorted with only elements of the fanfare and its timpani lines intact. The B phrase mingles with new menace motif in the first minute of "Dead or Living," and the A phrase very slightly informs the climax of the cue. That fanfare is twisted badly for effect at the start of "Sketch With Fire," though the B phrase consolidates on brass only at 0:18 in a nice shift. The chords of both phrases guide meandering suspense early in "Obscene Kiss," and the fanfare interrupts the villain theme at 4:57 into "Headless Wizard" before heading onto a new tonal path. The aforementioned new menace motif consists of cyclical, rising four notes that can accompany other themes in the bass. It can be heard at 5:59 into "Hellbound/Second Sight Séance" and takes the spotlight on huge brass at 6:53. It also provides brutal suspense against the main "Hellbound" theme in "Dead or Living." While enthusiasts of the franchise know that the sound of a music box is critical to the mystery of the Lament Configuration, Young adds a carnivalesque calliope motif to his sequel that is challenging to absorb. It opens and closes "Hall of Mirrors" while shifting in the stereo soundscape maddeningly, and it occupies the second half of "What's Your Pleasure" to ruin the otherwise deceptively restful closing of the score. On the whole, Hellbound: Hellraiser II may not be as tight a musical narrative nor as fully listenable on album as Hellraiser, but there is no question that the 20 minutes of hugely gothic highlights from the sequel score easily outflank the predecessor. When Young's horror music is referenced by history, this score's highlights remain the pinnacle of such achievements. The new themes even managed to force their way to represent Doc Ock in 2004's Spider-Man 2 with Young's assistance. On album, the score's presentation has remained the same throughout the years, though a 1989 GNP Crescendo album appended selections from Young's attractive score for 1982's Highpoint to its end. Regardless of album, the massive fantasy cues from this score remain the gold standard for Halloween enjoyment. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
1989 GNP Crescendo Album:
Total Time: 73:48
2012 BSX Records Album: Total Time: 61:16
(Music from Hellbound: Hellraiser II only appears on CD2 of the set.)
NOTES & QUOTES:
The inserts of both albums include details about the score and film.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Hellbound: Hellraiser II are Copyright © 1989, 2012, GNP Crescendo, BSX Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 5/11/24 (and not updated significantly since). |
