Rent Hellborn (2003)

Oh my God! - Hellborn review by CP Customer

This film was the biggest load of pants I have seen in a long time. It's not scary, it farcical!

Spoilers follow ... - Hellborn review by NP

Probably the most unfortunate aspect of this film is that the first few scenes give away what becomes the entire story-line. {SPOILERS} In an asylum full of insane killers the world does not care about, a ‘Harvester’ visits at specific times to claim their souls. This is revealed by the very impressive realisation of the Harvester, the fires of Hell burning from its eyes. The rest of the running time is filled with the new Doctor, James Bishop (Matt Stasi) coming to this apocalyptic conclusion – slowly finding out what we already know.

That isn’t to say the journey isn’t entertaining. The enigmatic, cool, calm and collected Doctor McCourt (Bruce Payne) and his demonic nurse Helen (Tracy Scoggins) are terrifically creepy in their roles. A word too for Lauren (Julia Lee), Bishop’s cheerful fiancé, never seeming to realise anything is wrong despite the obvious strain her other half is under.

This is good, low-budget fun, containing few surprises, that allows you to ‘go with it’, with a few moments of effects and gore. I particularly enjoyed the notion of escape attempts being referred to as ‘patient indiscretion’. There is some briskly mentioned nonsense about The Harvester being unable to return to whence he came without a soul, so when Bishop makes his escape, the impressive creature has to claim his servant McCourt instead, which seems a little impractical … you might think.