FanCam: Hellraiser - Prophecy (2006)

What happens when a group of biology students decide to make a fan film meshing together two horror franchises, namely The Prophecy and Hellraiser? This is an incredibly interesting premise and, even though the execution is a bit sophmoric even for our FanCam standards, the integrity of the two worlds is kept intact and melds together beautifully. So, if one is unfamiliar: The Prophecy is about the war in Heaven wherein Gabriel and Michael are battling, with Lucifer wanting to enter the fray. Hellraiser is about the rulers of Hell, the Cenobites, that are the embodiment of sadistic fantasy and are called from the depths by a puzzle box. There. Now, get out your Hi-8 camera and lets shoot a movie!

 
Written, produced and directed by Jonathan S. Kui, the film is all about ambition. At a run-time of 20 minutes, it is substantial but not quite substantial enough to support the big questions asked here. In a nutshell, Lucifer is prevented from entering the Labyrinth (the domain of Hell that houses the Cenobites and their god, Leviathan). What Lucifer (Jeremy Yost) wants is to get into the Labyrinth and recruit the Cenobites to fight for him in the angelic war. Cool stuff! He convinces a young anthropologist to solve the Lament Configuration and brings the Cenobites to Earth where he can pitch them the idea. Residents of Hell are usually pretty cagey, so there are some... counter demands.

The usual issues are in play here: lack of equipment, time, cast of friends, filmmaking knowledge, etc. In most fan films that is going to be the case. Nothing rang out here as exceptionally bleak, though. Our neighbors are not actors, our Cenobite costumes (for the most part original, no Pinhead or Chatterbox, for example) are largely put together with duct tape and pleather and love and spit. There are some nice chain effects here (those of you familiar with Hellraiser will know what that means.

The love of the material comes through in spades, but Hellraiser: Prophecy as the opposite problem most fan films have: the concept of this story is WAY too big for 20 minutes and is rushed. Most of the time, fan films don't have enough story to power the show. Not the case here. So, prepare yourselves for some barely audible sound and homemade horror shenanigans with a TON of heart. Watch Hellraiser: Prophecy and then head over to www.hellraiserprophecy.com to view Demons to Others: The Making of Hellraiser: Prophecy.