Movie Goals for 2025 and Hellraiser

I used to be a bit of a movie nerd. In high school and college, I worked part-time at a video store, so I got the chance to watch lots of free movies.

I would work through the films of various directors, like Kubrick, the Coen Brothers, Spielberg, Tarantino, and Woody Allen (before he was canceled!). And in the late 90s/early 2000, there were a lot of great filmmakers getting their start, such as Anderson (Wes and Paul Thomas), Spike Jonze, and David O. Russell.

But after I moved to Japan, I lost touch with cinema. Sure, I would watch a movie every now and then, but I didn't have my finger to the pulse. Many years, I hadn't even seen a single Best Picture nominee (gasp!). This was partly an availability problem. Lot of movies don't get a wide release in Japan, or they come out months after the US release, by which point I'm no longer hyped to see the movie.

And, of course, I'm just older. Adult life sucks away a lot of your time and you just can't watch as many movies.

So, I've decided to set a goal for this year – 52 movies in 2025. One movie a week. That should be doable, right? I'll try to keep at least 75% new to me, not re-watches.

I'll use this blog as my own personal Letterboxd to post reviews and track my progress.

Hellraiser (1987)

To start us off, I had never seen any of the Hellraiser movies, though I was, of course, familiar with the famous Pinhead character. Watching this one, I enjoyed the strong 80s energy, and it had some nice scenes like when the dude's skeleton was first raised from under the floorboard.

The pacing seemed a little off and the world building was a little to sparse. For example, it felt like we spent a lot of time with Julia seducing men to their deaths, but her end was rushed. And it is said that the Cenobites are seeking the limits of pain/pleasure, but in the movie, that just seems to mean immediately ripping your body to shreds. My understanding is that this is mostly due to the odd movie morals in the US, where sexual content is strictly limited but gore/violence is fair game.

In any case, I enjoyed the movie and could see why it became a horror classic.

★★★⭐︎⭐︎