Nitro Video Rating:
PURCHASE THE DVD: Hellinger (1997)

Hellinger wants to be a nightmare fable in the same family as Hellraiser or Candyman, and there are moments when it succeeds. Unfortunately, this low-budget story of a woman haunted by a guardian demon (for lack of a better term) is far too misguided, suffering from two major fallbacks: a horrible ending and a senselessly violent scene that is so devoid of any humanity that it actually may rank as one of the most vile moments ever put in a movie.

Most shot-on-video work suffers from poor production values and rotten acting, and while Hellinger does have its share of clunky performances and no-so-special effects, the photography and music in the movie are way above par for this category. Also of note are some nice eye-candy moments provided by fetching lead actress Shannah Betz (aka Shana Sosin) and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene by Seduction Cinema siren Jessica English (aka Paige Turner.

A violent, shocking and sometimes gut wrenching picture, Hellinger can only be recommended to those who really ultra-independent and violent cinema.

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
• Studio: Brentwood Home Video
• DVD Release Date: July 12, 2005
• Run Time: 325 minutes (includes three other movies on DVD)