Mass Movement Magazine

Hellraiser: Collected Best II - John Bolton, Larry Wachowski, Dave Dorman (Checker Books)
Despite being a collection of one-off stories from assorted writers and artists, ‘Hellraiser: Collected Best II’ succeeds in being every bit as edgy, provocative and disturbing as Clive Barker’s own written work. This is anything but a cheap cash-in; the artwork is just as vivid as the imagination that drives each of the stories forward, and for once the ‘mature readers’ tag is well earned. Readers may be surprised to find out that Pinhead, Butterball and the other movie Cenobites barely feature in these stories, and the writers concentrate instead on introducing new, original fiends. Dealing as it does with scenarios of people being damned to eternal torment in hell, the stories cleverly escape the risk of repetition by developing the concept of the Lament Configuration, allowing it to take different forms beyond that of the infamous puzzlebox. The quality is nigh on consistent throughout the collection, but the story that stands out for me is ‘Songs Of Metal And Flesh’ by Peter Atkins, Dave Dorman and Lurene Haines. It’s the tale of a jealous music student who conspires to steal both the limelight and girlfriend of his biggest rival, a blind young pianist whose habit of sliding his fingertips down the length of the piano proves to be his undoing when the jealous student inserts razor blades between the keys. Owch! With his fingertips, his love life and his glittering career now in ruins, the maimed pianist dedicates his life to creating a new piece of music, one that serves as a key to unlock doorways into hell. When he finally unveils his lament concerto before an unwitting audience, it gives Dorman and Haines a chance to really let rip with some memorably macabre and perverse artwork that lingers long in the memory. Somehow managing to be both ugly and beautiful at the same time, ‘Hellraiser: Collected Best II’ hooks you from the very first page and refuses to let go. Liam Ronan