A classic

I remember it very well, when I was a kid, the poster for this movie used to really terrify me. Eventually, I finally saw it, twenty years later. Even though it is considered a massive horror classic, I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since I discovered last week that Roger Ebert really hated this flick. Well, for this time, I have to say I didn't agree with good old Roger. Indeed, I thought it was pretty good and Clive Barker managed to create a really unsettling but fascinating world. Indeed, thanks to some pretty impressive special effects, those cenobites looked pretty badass and this concept of extreme pleasure and pain was really interesting, even though it didn't seem that the characters experienced much pleasure or maybe it was some kind of masochist notion, the more pain you get inflected, the more pleasure you get? Unfortunately, they didn't develop this much. Furthermore, except when the cenobites were present, the rest of the movie was not really impressive. Indeed, the directing was average, the acting was really weak and the story didn't make much sense. Still, it remains a really striking nightmarish world and I enjoyed most of it. To conclude, even though it is not really amazing, it is and remains a true horror classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

7/10