Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Hellbound Heart

Scene for scene, it's the Hellraiser movie. It's one of my favourite movies ever but it's weird leaving a review for something so similar to the movie that I'd seen before reading. Barker is an imaginative force as always.

Content Warnings

f18's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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leafhead's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A fun read! Very similar to the movie that was made based on it. A staple for horror fans, and for good reason!

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hauntedantiqueshop's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I liked it a little more than the movie, ~~which isn’t really saying much~~. Could have used more Cenobites lore though, they’re iconic and absolutely rule.

In the movie, Kirsty was Rory’s daughter. In the book, it seems she’s a friend that’s in love with him? I hate that change so much.

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mfrisk's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Having watched the movie ahead of time it made the book come alive even more so reading it. This was a super fast paced and gory read which expands upon the movie to take us into an evil underworld and shows us how far humans will go to achieve the good things they feel they are owed. Not my typical horror read as I would have liked a bit more time with the characters but I did enjoy it for the most part.

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dogearedbooks's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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maryncemetery's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sarah984's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book was fine, but overall it was disappointing to me. The characters all felt very one note and unrealistic (Julia's actions were at least interesting but her reasons for doing them were pretty stupid), aside from

Julia's murders

the gore almost all takes place off-page or is barely described (why else am I reading this?) and the prose was so overwrought and goofy.

There is a part near the end where Barker wants to convey that a dead character is possessed by one of the cenobites so that character turns to Kirsty and essentially just says, "I'm a cenobite!"

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