This “Hellraiser,” created 35 years and nine sequels after the original, feels obedient and staid, contrasting to Barker’s version, which expressed his distinctive sensibility and preoccupations. Filmmaker David Bruckner’s eleventh entry in the series is a true renewal.
The new reboot maintains the characteristics of a “Hellraiser” plot, such as the cast of human “heroes” who infrequently display heroic behavior and the sadomasochistic extra-dimensional creatures. To adapt his book The Hellbound Heart, horror auteur Clive Barker assumed the helm in 1987. Hellraiser soon became one of the most influential 1980s horror films, inspiring a lucrative series of films, comic books, and merchandise.
The superb supernatural thriller “The Night House” was written by Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski, and David Bruckner. In this “Hellraiser,” Odessa A’zion plays Riley, a frequent drug user who aids her dubious lover in stealing an old puzzle box.
What the Hellraiser is actually about
The Lament Configuration, a strange puzzle box that, when solved, calls forth the Cenobites, an infamous band of sadomasochists, is the central concept of the film. Even now, watching the first “Hellraiser” makes you feel like you’ve just happened upon a vulgar but well-known occurrence.
The new “Hellraiser” is appropriately gory, and Bruckner and colleagues comprehend (at least in theory) the fundamental tenet of Barker’s story, which is that people’s insatiable needs ultimately harm everyone nearby. Jamie Clayton, who portrays the Hell Priest’s eerie, calm, and unsettlingly alien carriage, also makes a beautiful Pinhead appearance in the film.
A new iteration of Hellraiser is currently streaming on Hulu, 35 years and nine sequels later. It makes hints at the same themes and borrows well-known plot points, but it commits the classic reboot error of packing on too much narrative to what should have been a more focused reimagining of the Pinhead universe.
Barker adapted his novel into a script for the first Hellraiser film, essentially telling the same story. But the reboot tries to go in a different direction. Fans hoping for an accurate rendition of the original book may be disappointed. Config problems, rewriting the laws that link Cenobites to human desire, and casting a new star to play the Hell Priest are all examples of configuration puzzles.
In that film, Barker introduces the Cenobites, a race of demon-like sadists that threaten their human prey with sensual sensations well beyond their (or our) worn-out conceptions of pleasure and suffering. David Bruckner’s Hulu relaunch restores the majesty of Cenobite lore after decades of underfunded Hellraiser sequels used as a justification to keep the intellectual rights. It departs from the sex-dungeon massacre and leather BDSM outfits, but it retains the franchise’s emphasis on the fuzziness of the distinctions between pleasure and pain, fear and excitement.
While staring at what does look to be a supernatural entity, a nude and hairless Voight is flayed and has pins put into his body. According to Hellraiser legend, Pinhead and his fellow pain-loving creatures were made by a god named the Leviathan. Voight’s change is probably the result of this deity, and it can be also possible that they are remaking him into a Cenobite.
Roland assumes the role of the enemy in full; Pinhead is merely granting requests by providing remarkable experiences devoid of Earth’s constraints. Intentionally evil behavior is demonstrated by Roland’s decision to mark Colin (Adam Faison) as a sacrifice rather than the stranded Asphyx Cenobite.
Roland fulfills his “mercy” wish but at a terrible price: Pinhead gives him the Leviathan gift of Power. A big chain bursts through Roland’s glass ceiling and pierces his chest just as the final dismantled bolt bounces off the marble floors, and his gaping hole begins to heal.
