Read Online The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy by Paul Kane - Free Book Online Page A

boy, you look awful. Come here, come to mother.” But it is meant more as a parody than a real inclination to comfort: signification that she has become a female version of Frank. This is borne out just minutes later when she betrays and kills Kyle with a kiss, as Frank did with her. When Kirsty confronts her in the ensuing scene, she describes her role as “the wicked stepmother.” So when Kirsty, Tiffany and Julia are all together, the former feels obliged to take on a parental role to fill the void. Naturally Julia challenges this and attempts to undermine what she is doing: “You never could hold on to anything for very long, could you Kirsty?”
    Julia does all she can to confuse Tiffany when the three of them are in the wind tunnel. But in the end the young girl realizes that Kirsty’s warnings not to trust her were correct. It is how she is able to recognize Kirsty in Julia’s skin at the denouement: Julia would never perform such a selfless act to save her. So Tiffany heeds the parental advice of Kirsty, rather than Julia. If more evidence were needed of this mother-daughter role-play, it comes when Kirsty breaks down and cries because she could not help her father. Tiffany hugs and consoles her, as a daughter might, which gives her new “mother” strength—“Tiffany, we’re getting out of here!”
    It isn’t until Tiffany comes of age herself, learning to speak again and facing not only the Channard Cenobite—which she inadvertently defeats—but also Leviathan itself (consequently ridding herself of the obsession with puzzles) that the pair of them slip back into their sister roles once more. More than that, she has earned the right to become Kirsty’s true equal, encapsulated by the look they give each other at the end before walking down the path—both dressed in black, both mourning their loved ones, and their loss of innocence.
    The other parental role in the film is adopted by Leviathan. It remade Julia as a Queen of Hell, and transformed the Cenobites into their present form. Like they are naughty children it punishes them when they misbehave—pitting the newly-minted Channard Cenobite against the others when they start to remember who they are, and finally destroying its new son when he puts his own needs before his creator’s. And how does it do this? By means of the umbilical cord still attached to Channard, the giant fleshy tentacle drilled into the top of his head immediately after he comes out of the Cenobitization chamber. Leviathan is the supreme parent, an all-seeing and all knowing father (or mother?) who is not scared to castigate its children if it sees fit.
    Lastly, no reunion would be complete without mention of Frank and Julia’s swan song. This comes just after Kirsty has seared the flesh from him, and it promises Julia her long awaited vengeance. With echoes of those mock wedding vows from Hellraiser , Frank says, “Julia, I knew you’d come. You’re a girl who always keeps her promises.” “Oh, I do.... I do....” she replies. Frank then seals his own fate by demanding that she kiss him, the means by which he betrayed her in the first film, and how she betrayed both Channard and Kyle. He is asking for trouble. The demand enabling her to get close, she uses this ruse to rip out his heart—taking back what she once gave to him—and then delivers her coup de grace: Frank’s last words to her, “Nothing personal, babe.” Thus concludes her metamorphosis into him. She has learned well from her teacher, seducing Channard and using him, knowing full well that he was never meant to be a part of this family. When she tells the doctor, “I’m cold,” she means it in more ways than one. As Julia watches Frank’s heart burn, there is blood on her lips; she scorns not only what she and Frank once had together, but also Kirsty’s inability to find and rescue her father.
    Fairy Tales
    One final theme we must mention is that of Fairy Tales. Barker has commented in past