Denver police Det. Joseph Thorne (Craig Sheffer) has a dark side. His newest case is the murder of a loner former classmate who got picked on by him and his friends. He finds the puzzle box among the belongings. He solves the box and the Cenobites appear. As he investigates further, he is pulled into a dark world searching for a sadistic opponent called The Engineer.
The best compliment I can give this straight to DVD movie is that it reminds me of Clive Barker. It has the leather S&M hypersexual monster designs. It has a flawed hard boiled detective protagonist. It has the nightmarish vision. It's directed by fresh-faced Scott Derrickson who would go on to bigger, better things. This is a really nice stepping stone. The only misstep is a side trip to cowboy country. It doesn't fit the general motif. Overall, this is an intriguing stab at a fading franchise by someone who obviously has a vision. Despite the lower budget, there are some interesting artistic attempts. It does take too many trips into the nightmare world when the only thing I want from Thorne is real investigating. I need him to be the chess master from the introduction.
The best compliment I can give this straight to DVD movie is that it reminds me of Clive Barker. It has the leather S&M hypersexual monster designs. It has a flawed hard boiled detective protagonist. It has the nightmarish vision. It's directed by fresh-faced Scott Derrickson who would go on to bigger, better things. This is a really nice stepping stone. The only misstep is a side trip to cowboy country. It doesn't fit the general motif. Overall, this is an intriguing stab at a fading franchise by someone who obviously has a vision. Despite the lower budget, there are some interesting artistic attempts. It does take too many trips into the nightmare world when the only thing I want from Thorne is real investigating. I need him to be the chess master from the introduction.