Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988) – While I did mention that I don’t think the original Hellraiser is an unqualified success, it’s far above the first sequel. Part of the problem here is that the movie tries to make Kirsty the main character, when her story is really done; the storyline keeps trying to be about other people until its manhandled back to being about Kirsty. But the other problem is that nobody involved in the sequel could equal the vision of Clive Barker (credited here as an executive producer, after writing and directing the original), and instead just made do with filler. We see the Cenobites’ home “dimension” — and it’s as full of endless corridors as a full season of Tom Baker-era Doctor Who. Even worse, there’s an attempt to “humanize” Pinhead and the other Cenobites, despite the fact that they’re the embodiment of a sadomasochistic hedonism that utterly erases one’s humanity. All in all, a disappointing outing.
Young Billy Young (1969) – The studio-made Western was suffering a bit of an identity crisis right then, when Italian-made Westerns were supplanting their dominance. Young Billy Young throws in a few feints toward anti-heroes with shaggy hair, but by starring Robert Mitchum, it still cements itself in the old-fashioned Western tradition of a good man doing good because that’s just what he does. There’s also a little confusion to whose story it really is, too; the title character (Robert Walker of “Charlie X” fame) gets overshadowed by Mitchum, because the camera follows the bigger salary. I’m interested in knowing how much the balance between those two characters changed from the original novel, Who Rides with Wyatt by Will Henry… but not interested enough to track it down and read it.
Final Approach (1991) – A test pilot (James Sikking) with amnesia after a mysterious crash is in the care of a psychiatrist (Hector Elizondo) who tries to pry the pilot’s memories open without giving him any information. Most of the movie takes place in a single room, with them sparring verbally (and sometimes physically). As a mystery, the movie tries to misdirect as much as it can — so much so that, once the movie’s final revelation lands, all of that misdirection seems like so much irrelevance. Definitely interesting, but not successful.
Abandoned movies:
John the Bastard (1967) – Figure out what the story’s about BEFORE the midpoint of the movie, mmkay?