Henry Cavill’s Worst Movie, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is an imperfect system. The hugely popular review aggregate website is an oft-misused tool that tries to boil complicated opinions down to whether a film is “good” or “bad.” It’s also raised viewer expectations to an unhealthy degree; if a movie gets an 80% critical score, for example, plenty of people might choose not to watch it or tell others they “heard it was bad,” even though that score ostensibly means that 4 out of 5 critics recommend the title. At its best, the site is an essential resource and a place where pop culture fans can go to find interesting writing and varied opinions on all sorts of visual art. At worst, though, Rotten Tomatoes boils years of artistic labor down to a number.

With all that in mind, it’s admittedly pretty hard to argue against a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score. It’s the cinematic equivalent of flatlining, and it’s also the score given to “Hellraiser: Hellworld,” a 2005 straight-to-video horror sequel that exactly zero RT-approved critics enjoyed. According to the site, “Hellworld” isn’t just one of the lowest points in the long-running “Hellraiser” franchise (two other installments also garnered zero positive reviews), but also the lowest point — at least in terms of critical reception — in the career of a then up-and-coming Henry Cavill.

Eight years before Cavill suited up for “Man of Steel” and two years before he had a breakout turn on saucy Showtime series “The Tudors,” the actor could be spotted playing a supporting role in the eighth “Hellraiser” film, which centered on a computer game called “Hellworld.” While most movies in the series pulled from the world first created by Clive Barker in 1986, “Hellraiser: Hellworld” was based on a short story by author Joel Soisson (one that apparently had nothing to do with the franchise’s universe). The movie’s script tied the Cenobites fans knew and loved — led by Doug Bradley’s Pinhead — to a plot about a group of young people who are lured into a mysterious mansion for a party targeting fans of the “Hellworld” online game. Iffy twists, haunted house tropes, and a bit of early cell phone-based horror ensue before the movie signs off with what seems to be regarded as a less-than-impressive conclusion. Fans tuning in just for Cavill will likely be disappointed, as his static character Mike doesn’t make it very far.

Like every movie, “Hellraiser: Hellworld” no doubt has its fans, but the critics who have shared their opinions on the movie aren’t among them. Writing about the film in 2022, Alternate Ending’s Tim Brayton called it “a dire film, confusingly lurching through its incoherent spread of random and somewhat arbitrary scenes in the middle, and getting absolutely nothing from any of its young cast,” including the now-successful Cavill. In his review for Film Freak Central at the time of its release, Walter Chaw was perhaps even more disappointed, concluding that “the final double twist resolves itself in ‘Hellworld’ as the weakest kind of equivocal garbage.”

In Kayleigh Donaldson’s ranking of the “Hellraiser” movies for /Film, “Hellworld” came in second to last place, with Donaldson noting that it was seemingly only made so Dimension could retain the rights to the franchise. Donaldson did praise the movie’s premise, though, and noted the presence of “Aliens,” “Millenium,” and “The Terminator” actor Lance Henriksen, conceding that it “has some decent scares if you think of it as a generic slasher film.” But she also noted, as others have, that it doesn’t function well as a part of the “Hellraiser” universe, and added that when it comes to the twists and turns “it’s all executed so sloppily.” Basically, if you’re a Cavill fan, you’d be better off watching “The Witcher” for the fifth time than spending 95 minutes on this lackluster sequel.