Released: October 2022
Director: David Bruckner
Rated R
Run Time: 121 Minutes
Genre: Horror
Distributor: Hulu
Cast:
Odessa A’zion: Riley
Jamie Clayton: The Priest
Adam Faison: Colin
Drew Starkey: Trevor
Brandon Flynn: Matt
Aofie Hinds: Nora
Jason Liles: The Chatterer
Yinka Olorunnife: The Weeper
Selina Lo: The Gasp
Zachary Hing: The Asphyx
Goran Visnjic: Voight
Behind my left shoulder on a black shelf lies The Scarlet Box. What is that, you ask? It is the collection of the first 3 Hellraiser movies on Blu-Ray. Not only does the box include the movies themselves, but a great deal of extra stuff including booklets, cards, and even more behind-the-scenes details. It was released by Arrow Video some years ago. It’s a very limited edition boxed set, and probably my favorite. I bought it for about 60-70 bucks from Walmart Online, and had it delivered to my local store. Just for fun, I decided to look at what the boxed set costs NOW, and the highest I’ve seen is close to 500 bucks. The lowest? Maybe about 225. Why do I bring up The Scarlet Box? Because I’m a huge fan of Hellraiser, obviously. Especially the first two movies. Sadly, the franchise started going downhill with number 3 and 4, and would end up going straight to video starting with Hellraiser: Inferno, which I will defend to the death as a not-so-terrible movie. The last film in the franchise, Judgment was a huge step back in the right direction, but the movies before that and after number 5 were…awful, especially Revelations.
Hellraiser, which is based on Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart, follows Riley, a young woman struggling with addiction when she and her boyfriend discover a mysterious puzzle box hidden n a safe tucked away in a cargo container. Upon solving this box, mysterious beings begin to show up as Riley seems to hallucinate. These creatures are Cenobites, beings from another dimension that represent forbidden pleasures. The leader of these creatures is The Priest, a female Cenobite that has pins in her head. While the original film was essentially about a broken family and a broken marriage, addiction is the focus of this story. It’s not just addiction to painkillers or other drugs, but also addiction to the flesh, to power, or to forbidden knowledge. You see that with time the box changes shape. The story in this movie stands apart from all the other movies. There really is no connection outside of certain key elements that define Hellraiser: Pinhead, the Lament Configuration puzzle box and the other Cenobites. But you also have this one character that searched for ultimate pleasure only to experience unrelenting pain. I’m amazed at how good this story is. I wouldn’t put it on the same level as the original two films, but it’s infinitely better than all the others.
This new Hellraiser changes things up quite a bit, especially in the lore. In the previous films, the Lament Configuration was simply the name of the puzzle box that summoned the demons. In this new picture, the Lament Configuration is one of several different shapes that the box takes with each victim, and that is another change. Each configuration requires a sacrifice made in blood when the configuration is solved by a small blade that sticks out from the box. As a result, the victim begins feeling woozy as if from some kind of high, but the world around them changes as walls open revealing other-worldly hallways. This is a visually stunning film. It feels different and it looks different. I really dig the new design of the box and the way it changes forms. It’s very mechanical. The Cenobites on the other hand, have a more organic look to them. In the original film series, these demons were clad in black leather fetish-wear with horrific make-up. The “clothing” on these new beasts is basically the result of extreme torture. I really like the look of the new Pinhead. She’s pretty intimidating. She’s the best Pinhead the franchise has had since Doug Bradley’s iconic performance in the original films.
The acting in the film is pretty good. Odessa A’zion is pretty good as the drug-addicted Riley. Goran Visnjic is basically the film’s “villain” as it were. He plays a rich guy that’s obsessed with the occult and ends up getting more than he bargained for when he tricks people into solving the puzzle box. But the real question that fans had on their minds was who was playing the new Pinhead and was she going to be any good? Jamie Clayton is the new Pinhead and YES, she’s fantastic. Most of the side-characters though, are pretty forgettable and end up being demon-fodder. From a visual standpoint, Hellraiser is extraordinary. I’d already mentioned some of the costume and box designs above, but the sets are also incredible. It looks like a lot of the shifting walls and rooms were done practically, but I’m sure that CGI was used to enhance the atmosphere at certain points. There is some obvious CGI being used, but it’s done in such a way that doesn’t feel out of place. If there’s one huge complaint about this movie that I’ve got is that it’s not gratuitous as a Hellraiser movie needs to be. The original film was an oozing gore-fest, but when you’re dealing with S&M-themed demons, it kind of goes with the territory. That’s not to say that this movie isn’t gory. It really is, but it feels restrained to a certain a degree. The musical score by Ben Lovett is really good. He obviously incorporates a good deal of Christopher Young’s themes into this movie and it really amplifies the atmosphere.
Clive Barker spent the better part of 14 years trying to get a new Hellraiser film off the ground. Unfortunately, Dimension Studios, under the umbrella of The Weinstein Company, weren’t really having it, as the majority of Hellraiser films were made strictly to maintain the rights to the franchise. When it was announced that 20th Century Studios/Disney had obtained the rights to Hellraiser, I was utterly shocked. We were finally going to get the remake that was promised. Was the final film the movie that was promised? Not quite, but it’s still an achievement. It looks great, and it feels like a proper Hellraiser movie. That’s because the people involved were more interested in respecting the franchise rather than keeping the rights. Dave Bruckner and David S. Goyer have delivered a movie that I think should satisfy most Hellraiser fans. I think they did Clive Barker proud and Doug Bradley himself has said that really likes what they did with Pinhead. It’s not a perfect movie, but I really enjoyed it. The fact that we have new really good movies in both the Predator and Hellraiser franchises, is amazing. Hulu’s been killing it lately, and I hope that we get more good Hellraiser movies, because why wouldn’t that be awesome? So, yeah, I definitely recommend this movie to horror fans. 2022 has been pretty good for horror so far, and we’ve still got two and a half months to go. This genre has such sights to show you.