For Pinhead and Clive Barker fans the wait is finally over! Hellraiser was released this past Wednesday on Hulu. Being a huge fan of the films and all of Clive Barker's books I couldn't wait to see it. I had to wait for the weekend to see it though and just watched it today.
Let me first say a few things before I get into my thoughts on the new movie.
This is my SPOILER FREE reaction to the latest hellraiser reboot featuring Jamie Clayton as Pinhead. I breakdown my thoughts on the full movie...what I liked and what I didn't care for or more accurately what I feel they could have done better with.
Alright let's dive in!
I was really excited about seeing this reboot of Hellraiser if for no other reason it had Jamie Clayton playing Pinhead! But I have to admit, after being burned with so many other reboot movies and favorite books being brought to streaming services and each one worst than the last I expected this film to be a piece of shit! I have to say that I was blown away in that it didn't suck!
I should also say here that I have a major fucking psychotic response to films and TV not staying consistent with the original source material. The reason being is that they take something that is great the way it is and try to turn it into something it is not. This has never worked out in the end. I don't know what it is with these asshole producers and directors that make them think they can do a better job than the person or persons who created it in the first place. Its like a band recording a Beatles song and thinking they can do it better than the Beatles.
I'm telling you this now because 90% of the time if I don't like something, it has strayed too far away from the original source material. The Hellraiser reboot does and does not do this. It's its own story but at its core or its heart it is still Hellraiser.
I'll admit that when I started watching I wasn't liking it much. There was a minor internal battle as to weather or not I was going to finish watching it. The deciding factor was that I hadn't seen the new Pinhead in action yet so I kept watching.
I'm not saying that the beginning totally sucks but it kind of does. It just feels contrived like it is trying to hard to be Hellraiser. This brings me to one of the biggest flaws with the film and that's its characters.
A huge part of the 1987 Hellraiser success was that it was very Character driven both in the novella and the film. I cared about Larry, Julia, Frank and had a huge crush on Kirsty played by the gorgeous Ashley Laurence. But the new Hellraiser characters are so week I can't even remember their names except for Trevor. I just didn't give a crap if one or all of them died in the end...in fact a couple of them I couldn't wait to see Pinhead get her hooks into them and put them out of their misery.
In my opinion the only strong characters in this version of Hellraiser were the cenobites. And lets face it, the cenobites and especially Pinhead are the real reason we want to watch the Hellraiser movies. I thought all of them did a fantastic job. They looked and felt like the demons of Hell.
Jamie Clayton was a kick ass Pinhead. I thought she brought new life to an already great character. When she said the iconic line from the 1987 Hellraiser, "We have such sights to show you..." I was hooked in! Here is a quick interview with Jamie Clayton and her thoughts on the new film.
Jamie Clayton Interview
The other major weakness of Hellraiser 2022 is that plot is kind of non-specific. There is a puzzle box which summons demons, the cenobites from another dimension who proceed to shred who ever solved the puzzle box. This plot works better in the original version of Hellraiser because of the characters motivations. As stated above, the new characters are weak as are their motivations through out the movie. I think what is happening is that in the 2022 version they are trying to draw from the motivations of the first 2 Hellraiser films it doesn't fit right.
Now on to some of the things I really enjoyed with the 2022 Hellraiser! I don't know enough about film techniques and the proper names of things. With that being said, it looked and felt like Hellraiser on the screen. It has a dark almost hopeless kind of feel to it. This adds alot to it visually.
The score and sound track to the new Hellraiser were great. The 1987 Hellraiser score is one of my favorites. In fact my friends and I would use it frequently in our seasonal Halloween haunted houses. The 2022 score is of the same caliber and I love that in a couple of place it slips into the original score. Again this just enhances the whole film.
Most of the special effects were were pretty good. The cenobites looked pretty fucking amazing! Pinhead stole the show as she should. I think Jamie Clayton gave the strongest performance out of all the other Characters.
So if your sitting on the fence about weather or not to see the new Hellraiser I would saw go for it. It does not live up to the original but it is not that bad either. like I said at the top, it didn't Suck. I would give it a solid 3 out of 5 stars and maybe 4 out of 5 based on Jamie Clayton's Pinhead.
So as Doug Bradley would say, "No tears. Its a waste of good suffering."
Check out Hellraiser on Hulu!
Here's the trailer if you somehow missed it.
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