Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box Trilogy Region A

I'm a long time collector of limited and special edition blu-rays. When this title was originally released in the UK only, I missed out on snagging a copy before it sold out. I later purchased the non limited UK edition that was also from Arrow Video and included the trilogy only on three discs. When I heard that Arrow was going to re-release the title in Region A with the same swag, I was so excited to have the opportunity to nab a copy for myself.The outer box is produced in a very sturdy cardboard and resembles a puzzle box with an opening on the front spine where you can see all of the contents inside through a little window into the contents. When you lift the front cover off, you see the first Hellraiser disc which has a puzzle box image on the cover. Each movie is housed in a slim plastic tray with an outer cardboard cover which has similar puzzle box art on one side, and some iconic images from the trilogy on the other side.Now we get to the exclusive items that are only found in The Scarlet Box.* exclusive blu ray with a TON of extras including; two early Barker films ( a little weird but interesting) a documentary on Barker's books, a new documentary that looks at the whole franchise, along with some other items.* 200 page hardcover book that looks in depth at the three films enclosed along with a lot of other behind the scenes essays* a reversible poster printed on heavy weight paper* 5 very cool postcards with images from the trilogy* a 20 page booklet with some never before seen artwork by BarkerThis is by far one of the very finest special edition blu ray box sets I've ever seen. The quality of the outer box and all of the enclosed materials are top notch. If you're not familiar with Arrow Video, they're a UK company that I would say Scream Factory is an equivalent US producer of horror titles on blu ray. I've been collecting them for the last few years since I purchased a region-free blu ray player, and am very excited that they've recently started to produce titles that are playable in the US. If you have a region-free player, I would strongly suggest you check out their other titles, many of which have never been released in the US on blu ray. If you're a casual Barker fan, this set is probably a little too pricey for you. If you love the original Hellraiser films, you owe it to yourself to snag this up before it disappears. It is truly a gorgeous set, and you will be glad you added it to your collection.

All right I thought i would do a review once i got this myself and watched it, as others on here either were just negative reviews or positive ones that praised it without mentioning the actual quality of the film transfers themselves. I just am going to review the movies themselves.To start the rumors about grain are true. Most notably the 1st film. While i did see some grain throughout it in no way looked bad or was distracting to the film experience. In fact grain aside i thought it looked amazing both in picture clarity and color. The new 5.1 mix was also quite good for the 1st film. A definite improvement to the old dvd. The 1st film when i think of grain reminds me of this constant gripe everyone has with blu ray transfers with grain. They either argue that if a film has grain that is bad and should be cleaned and removed, but then they also argue that too much DNR clean up ruins the films original look and that's bad too. It's damned if you do and damned if don't with film clean up nowadays.Any ways moving on. Hellraiser 2 looked great as well and had virtually no grain at all. So nothing to complain about there, though i did notice some visual effects didn't look as great in blu ray. Some stop motion here and there and some fuzzy moments like for me was the big spanning shot of the labyrinth at the middle of the film with channard and julia. You'll see it right at the main menu shown in a short loop of footage from the film. That aside it did also have one other thing i didn't find too great: the 5.1 mix isn't too good. I don't know if it is just my setup or not but it sounded muffled down. Like it wasn't splitting the sound to all the channels very well. It sounded like a bad stereo to me. I ended up just using the pcm stereo hd.Ok now onto the 3rd film. Unfortunately much like how the 3rd film is the weak link in the trilogy, so is the blu ray quality. It looks ok, nothing special. Not all that high rez looking. The sound was also nothing special just you're average stereo. I had to keep turning it up at parts when they talked and back down during the effects and explosions.Ok so having seen all 3 of these i can agree that arrow overcharged for this. They are definitely worth getting if you can find it cheap. Hope this review helps people to know what you are getting.

I had been wanting this set since i found out the UK got it. When I found out Arrow was releasing it in the states, i was beyond excited. however, at the time, i did not have the money to get it. I read it was going to be limited and again i was crushed since i am a big Clive Barker fan and have many of his novels. but fortunately, i made some extra money on ebay and picked this up as a present to myself and i am so glad i did. the set is really nice and packaged very well. the book is a nice solid hard cover, the disc are packaged in digipaks and the poster/cards/etc are packaged in a seperate packaging. also included besides the first three films are a bonus disc featuring clive barkers short films and more about him. cant wait to watch that one! the bonus features for all three films are specatcular! Arrow really went above and beyond. Now my complaints. Hellraiser 1 had a pretty descent blu ray transfer and looked great in 1080p. not perfect but better then the original dvd. however, hellraiser 2 had a terrible transfer and looked muddy and poor on blu ray. looked more dvd quality so was a bit disappointed with that. part 3 had a decent transfer as well. not as stunning as part 1 but a lot better then part 2. other complaint, why wasnt part 4 included? i know after 4 they all went straight to dvd and were mostly crap but since 1-4 did get theatrical releases i would of expected 4 to be included. i would of liked to have seen the original version with the work print scenes included with the original ending. makes for a much better movie! overall though, a very good set. the price may be a tad high for some but remember, Arrow put a lot of work into this set which does cost money. with the book, prints, documentries, bonus features, deleted scenes etc its not going to be cheap. i personally feel it was well worth the 78 i paid. and im glad i did.

Fantastic set. Worth every penny! Lots of extras documenting the story behind the films. And to top it off, the steelbook art is gorgous and beautifully metallic.The films themself look and sound superb!Highly recommended for Hellraiser Fans.

Best version yet of the original trilogy.

This box set includes three discs with the first three movies in the series in blu-ray. Each movie has been restored, plus there is a fourth disc with bonus material. On this bonus disc includes two Clive Barker short films (Salome and The Forbidden), a documentary about the evolution of the Hellraiser franchise, and a documentary about the literary works of Clive Barker. This set also includes a 200 page hard cover book packed full of articles and images. There is also a fold-out reversible poster, a set of 5 art cards, and a twenty page booklet featuring original concept art of Hellraiser. The box itself is made of sturdy cardboard. All in all an impressive set for this iconic horror movie franchise.

Pre-ordered this awhile back. I love the Hellraiser series and am a big fan of Hellraiser 3 as well.The quality on the Hellraiser 1 and 2 from the set were clear with grain. Hellraiser 3 quality was really clear, no grain and thought the transfer was very well done for the 3rd film and that made the purchase worth it for me (as I am a fan of Hellraiser 3, some do not like this film for their reasons). The set it comes in is also very solid.Let alone, you get a disc filled with bonus material and a booklet as well.4/5 Stars due to the pricing, I was hoping for less grain with Hellraiser 1 and 2.

This is such an elegant set. The booklets and packaging are top shelf and very informative. These discs contain the best possible transfers and special features ever released for Hellraisers 1-2-3. If you’re thinking of getting this, do!