Hellraiser 1, 2 and 3 Collectors Edition Pack - Region 2 DVD

Along the way, there are a few great and many good things: the nasty little family drama of the first film, played by Andrew Robinson and Clare Higgins, as a marriage is literally torn apart by the bloody, skinless brother-lover in the attic, and the still-striking look of the series' major demons, the Cenobites. Part II is a mess, but has a certain grand dementia and Part III at least gives the films' poster boy, Doug Bradley's Pinhead, centre screen as he bids to become the Freddy Krueger of the body-piercing set.

On the DVD: Hellraiser: The Collector's Edition presents parts I and II in anamorphic widescreen, while III is cramped at 4:3 full-screen: the transfers are okay if not sumptuous, a little soft if aptly gloomy. Region 1 releases have director and crew commentaries and retrospective documentaries that are sadly not included here--though completists note: this edition boasts on-set cast and director interviews (five minutes apiece for I and II) which are not on the American set. I and II also have trailers (and II has a printable stills gallery and a pointless extra which consists of extracts from the film grouped together as "sub-plots"), but III is strictly no-frills. --Kim Newman