The $4,000 budget was spent on the Director of Photography for camera and lens rental ($500), to the gaffer for lighting equipment rental ($500), location rental for the final scene ($500), costumes and makeup ($500), routine transportation ($250), production design ($300), Kraft services ($350), and the rest for miscellaneous expenses. Several of the latter including parking tickets, bus passes, last-minute supplies, and - amusingly enough - a hotel room that, because of lack of a permit, the crew was thrown out of.
It's a pretty decent budget, but it was used up very efficiently. I have to agree with the director that the rental fee for the last scene's location was a very good choice, as the location looked great and matched the actual movie scene very well. The film was also shot in New York, which makes this a very impressive final cost! Just remember, for future films, to make sure that the rental or purchase price of a good shotgun mic is part of your budget, because solid audio is a must!
While the previous film from this director was very difficult to understand without any previous knowledge of the Hellraiser and Prophecy films, Hellraiser: Deader gave a better background story. As I've never seen any of the movies that these fan flicks were based on, I was better able to follow along with the story, though I still remained a bit lost. Of course, I'm certainly not among the normal target audience for this film, as they would all have prior knowledge.
Perhaps the most gratifying part of doing this critique, however, is seeing how much progress has already been made on this second film compared to the first. I’m very impressed with such signs of improvement and, given the ending of this film, have hopes for a continuation.
Though this movie fits in the rather narrow genre of fan flicks, it is still entertaining, even for those who know nothing about the backstory. It shows a promising improvement from the crew, and leaves open the possibility for future projects.
