6. Hellraiser (1987)
Clive Barker. From the mid eighties to the mid nineties, this man was 'horror' in the UK and rightly so. His novels, and brilliant Books of Blood, created nightmares for people up and down the land. It was with his first film, however, that he truly broke into mainstream consciousness and, thanks to the iconic Pinhead, created a monster who would 'tear your soul apart'. The whole film has a dreamlike quality. Maybe it's the slightly dated look of the piece now or the dubbing of the voices, but even early on things don't sit right in Barker's world. From the moment we see Frank Cotton attempting to solve a puzzle box in Morocco before chains appear 'from hell' and pull his body apart, you know you're watching a horror film with a slightly different appreciation of the worlds beyond ours. The film itself largely focuses on Frank's brother, Larry (Andrew Robinson the Scorpio Killer in Dirty Harry) as he attempts to rebuild his relationship with his second wife, Julia (a brilliant Clare Higgins). After Larry cuts his hand moving furniture, the blood serves as a means to resurrect Frank and the flesh-free brother convinces Julia to bring men back to the house to give him more blood. It's with the arrival of the Cenobites, however, that the nightmare pulsates further. Sadomasochistic beings from another dimension, the Cenobites return to take Frank back with them just before he murders his brother's daughter. There is more imagination in this nightmare movie than in many others from this period and in the Cenobites, Barker created brilliant 'monsters' who truly terrify. It is in Frank, however, that the horror really lies as he so readily destroys his brother's life in return for sex and horrific pleasures. A brilliant nightmare which was watered down by a terrible trail of sequels (Pinhead in space, anyone?).