Gianneti, Louis. Understanding Movies. Fifth Edition. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. 1990.Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. Second Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 1990. Trencansky, Sarah. Final Girls and Terrible Youth: Transgression in 1980s Slasher Horror. Journal of Popular Film and Television. Summer, 2001. Vol. 29, no. 2, p. 63(11). Ebert, Roger. Hellraiser. Chicago Sun-Times. September 18, 1987. Norden, Martin F. The Changing Face of Evil in Film and Television. Journal of Popular Film and Television. Summer, 2000. Vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 50-53. In the end, Kirsty is able to defeat Frank by negotiating an exchange of her life for his with Cenobites. She then lures Frank up to the attic where the Cenobites await him. Because the Cenobites are outside of human and natural law, she is unable to defeat them, per se, and they tell her to leave, as "this is not for your eyes." Then she and her love interest, Steve (who is rarely seen in the film), flee the house as it burns and crumbles to the ground. She throws the puzzle box into the flames, only to see it snatched up and taken away by a flying demon. Kirsty, with her boyfriend Steve, in typical horror fashion, represent the next generation of human relations. As the house burns down and the puzzlebox is taken away, the viewer is shown the dismantling of home and family life as it is assumed to be. With that is the warning that with the next generation there is the danger that what is will never be enough, and there will always be someone who is willing to open up Pandora's Box. |
