Hellraiser

Hulu takes on 'Hellraiser' reboot, Mila Kunis powers 'Luckiest Girl Alive' and 'The Redeem Team' revives USA basketball, both on Netflix.

[one of the year’s most unusual dramedies](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-06-23/marcel-the-shell-review-with-shoes-on-a24), telling the story of a tiny talking shell (voiced by Jenny Slate) who becomes an internet sensation, and then worries about the impact all the fuss and attention will have on his family. The plot is the stuff of “The Twilight Zone” — and, frankly, not quite twisty enough to sustain a 105-minute film — but Hancock and his cast effectively convey the essence of King’s story, which is about a well-meaning kid learning how anything that comes too easy likely has dark strings attached. But all of this is over-explained in the film — often by Ani herself, in the incessant voice-overs. When the 1992 “Dream Team” of NBA all-stars arrived at the Olympics in Barcelona, its goals were twofold: to reassert America’s dominance in its homegrown sport and to elevate basketball into a global product. The new reboot retains the elements that define a “Hellraiser” story, including the sadomasochistic extra-dimensional monsters and a cast of human “heroes” who rarely act heroically. [Andrea Riseborough](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-nancy-review-20180607-story.html)) wins the kind of lottery prize usually referred to as “life-changing money.” But Leslie doesn’t really want her life changed. And Riseborough is a dynamo, making sure that even at her worst, Leslie has enough personality and humanity that the audience roots for her just to get through another day. The new “Hellraiser” is suitably bloody, and Bruckner and company understand (at least theoretically) the core of Barker’s premise, in which people’s rapacious needs end up hurting everyone in their general vicinity. It’s a story often told, but this movie tells it well, energetically dramatizing the in-the-moment experiences Leslie has and showing how they inform the choices she makes. But while this film looks better and feels more serious than most of the “Hellraiser” sequels, there’s something pro forma about it. The box can be twisted into multiple configurations, each of which leads to the solver’s hands getting punctured and a portal opening to a realm ruled by the Cenobites, a hedonistic race for whom pleasure, pain and enlightenment are all tightly — some might say constrictively — intertwined. [Clive Barker’s 1987 horror movie “Hellraiser”](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-18-ca-5604-story.html) (adapting his novella “The Hellbound Heart”) became a cult favorite due to its kinky overtones and its visually striking villain: a spiky-domed demon dubbed Pinhead.

Hellraiser returns with all new sights to show us. Here's what you need to know about the newest reboot to the franchise's ending!

Movie's Princess Peach11h ago - A side order of 1-Ups with your McChicken Nuggets?](/articles/mario-movie-mcdonalds-seemingly-leaks-how-princess-peach-looks) [The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 7 Review - "The Eye"20h ago - Middle-earth burns as darkness looms.](/articles/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-episode-7-review-the-eye) It features “classic” Assassin’s Creed gameplay and takes place in an open world, but is a mobile game rather than a console release.](/videos/assassins-creed-codename-jade-reveal-trailer-ubisoft-forward-2022) [Trombone Champ is a Hilarious Take on Guitar HeroTrombone Champ is available now on PC! Pinhead knows Roland will either see the light — literally — and embrace his newfound transcendence at the hand of an unseen deity, God or Devil, or he'll despise the eternal suffering as punishment for insulting their generosity. She can let Colin go, erasing the last reminder of deceased brother Matt (Brandon Flynn) from existence — possibly lifting a guilty weight — or she can mark Trevor, the encapsulation of all her struggles with addiction. [Dune: Awakening Reveal TrailerTake your place in the fight for Arrakis in Dune: Awakening, an open world survival MMO set in the sci-fi world of Frank Herbert's Dune.](/videos/dune-awakening-cinematic-reveal-trailer) [Assassin's Creed Codename Jade - Reveal TrailerUbisoft has announced Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, a new game in the series set in Ancient China. Roland is granted his “mercy” wish, but at an ultimate cost — Pinhead bestows upon him the Leviathan gift of Power. David Bruckner — alongside co-writers Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski — explores how fear and excitement can unfortunately lead to the same outcomes. The Cenobites are summoned by the actions of Roland — they aren't renegade predators — and he must either accept or deny responsibility for what transpires. Riley's investigation of the evolving puzzle box — with 6 unique phases that offer an "Audience with God" upon completion — leads her to the Berkshire estate of vanished billionaire art dealer Roland Voight (Goran Visnjic). It's not long before the wires bind him, stretch him against a stone platform, his forearm skin is degloved Gerald's Game style, and he's yanked into a well of agonizing howls where the Cenobites roam. He chose the Liminal configuration upon his completion of the puzzle, translating to Sensation — but the Cenobites' gift isn't of human pleasure; it's of mortal pain. Roland is also fitted with a golden mechanism that protrudes like an ax through his spine and out his rib cage, pulling his nerves around churning gears.

Now that Hellraiser is on Hulu, it is time to discuss which version better captures the horror of The Hellbound Heart and the Cenobites.

While even the original Hellraiser has a straightforward horror story, the movie became part of our collective nightmare due to the stylish design of the Cenobites and the bone-chilling acting of Doug Bradley as the Hell Priest, the villain popularly known as Pinhead. The reboot does not aim to remake what was done before, but to push the franchise in a new direction. And the visual design of the Cenobites, the puzzle box, and the Labyrinth dimension all echo Barker’s original vision. If we think about the novel adaptation alone, the original Hellraiser is miles ahead of the reboot. [Hellraiser](https://collider.com/tag/hellraiser/) quickly became one of the most influential horror movies of the 1980s, spawning a profitable franchise of movies, comic books, and merchandising. The reason is simple: the new movie doesn’t try to copy The Hellbound Heart.

The initial reviews of the Hellraiser remake are out, and it looks like it is a mixed bag.

For all the flayed flesh and impaled skin in the picture, this Hellraiser isn't sharp enough." [Hellraiser reboot release date confirmed](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a40986536/hellraiser-reboot-pinhead-jamie-clayton-first-look/) [Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-10-07/review-hellraiser-luckiest-girl-alive-redeem-team-lebron-james-kobe-bryant) said: "There's something lacking. [First trailer for Hellraiser reboot with Sense8 star](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/trailers/a41297817/hellraiser-reboot-trailer-jamie-clayton-pinhead/) [Hellraiser](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/trailers/a41297817/hellraiser-reboot-trailer-jamie-clayton-pinhead/)'s remake has received a mixed response in its first reviews. [Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hellraiser_2022).

Hulu's Hellraiser reboot makes some devilish changes to the lore that Clive Barker established in his 1987 cult classic horror movie.

One of the positives of the 2022 version of Hellraiser is it does away the muddied confusion as to whether the Cenobites’ Labyrinth is Hell in the Judeo-Christian sense, or if it’s simply a nightmarish parallel universe. It’s implied that all of the Cenobites were created in a similar fashion. Only those who’ve succeeded at feeding six victims to the box like Voight and Riley get the privilege, nay the pleasure, of Cenobite-hood. In that flick, Laurence was brought back for the first time since the ‘80s to throw Kirsty’s character under the bus. The original Hellraiser movies were actually far more bizarre and esoteric in their structure, despite delving into much of the same ‘80s slasher imagery as the later Nightmare on Elm Street movies (also in Barker’s movies, it’s the young people outliving the adults). But as she realizes what has happened, Pinhead appears to her repeatedly to bargain, even bending the rules to encourage Riley to keep playing, sometimes by letting her sacrifice a fellow Cenobite to the box, and sometimes by allowing her to pick a secondary victim by blood sacrifice after Voight gets in the way. In that film and its source material, one of the characters accidentally bleeds on the spot where Frank was abducted by the Cenobites, as well as where his last drop of semen landed. We later discover that the Leviathan-shaped puzzle box we saw at the beginning of the movie is the Lament Configuration’s final form. Rather than a perfectly cube-shaped box, it has an almost hourglass figure, and to solve its riddle, Joey must twist it closer to the shape of a diamond… Hellraiser (2022) is a different story entirely, one loosely about the destructive allure of addiction, and the lingering scars and regret it leaves behind. The flesh of Pinhead’s victims is not the only thing that’s bent in surprising and unnatural shapes. All the trailers and ads tease of familiar sensations, and suggest that we’re going back to the original source material for [Clive Barker](https://www.denofgeek.com/clive-barker/)’s twisted mingling of pleasure and pain, dominance and submission.

Hellraiser has always been a unique franchise in the horror genre. More art-house than the slashers that were popular at the time of its original release in ...

[Hellraiser](https://collider.com/tag/hellraiser/) is the best entry in the series since the original. Listen out for one of the [best soundtracks in horror](https://collider.com/best-horror-movie-soundtracks/). Hellraiser is available to stream on Shudder, Amazon Prime Video, and Tubi. [Hellraiser](https://collider.com/tag/hellraiser/) has remained an enduring cult classic among horror fans. While Inferno is not one of [Derrickson's best films](https://collider.com/scott-derrickson-films-ranked-by-metacritic-score/), it is still a worthy Hellraiser sequel that offers an early look into Derrickson's directing style and his eye for the twisted and surreal. While an improvement on Revelations, it is still one of the worst entries in the series and further condemned the franchise to wallow in the background until the recent reboot. The fourth entry in the series and the last to be released theatrically, Hellraiser: Bloodline is a time-hopping adventure that follows the Lament Configuration through three different time periods. It is the only way to send the terrifying Cenobite back to his own dimension before he can unleash hell on earth. Based on the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also created [Candyman](https://collider.com/tag/candyman/), the series spans 11 movies, with the latest just released on Hulu. [Hellraiser](https://collider.com/tag/hellraiser/) has always been a unique franchise in the horror genre. Following three detectives who are pursuing a God-obsessed serial killer, the story also checks in with Pinhead and his new cronies from time to time. Pinhead is one of the

Odessa A'zion plays Riley McKendry, an addict and the unlucky inheritor of an unholy puzzle box known to fans as the Lemarchand Box or Lament Configuration.

Pinhead knows Roland will either see the light — literally — and embrace his newfound transcendence at the hand of an unseen deity, God or Devil, or he'll despise the eternal suffering as punishment for insulting their generosity. She can let Colin go, erasing the last reminder of deceased brother Matt (Brandon Flynn) from existence — possibly lifting a guilty weight — or she can mark Trevor, the encapsulation of all her struggles with addiction. Roland is granted his “mercy” wish, but at an ultimate cost — Pinhead bestows upon him the Leviathan gift of Power. The Cenobites are summoned by the actions of Roland — they aren't renegade predators — and he must either accept or deny responsibility for what transpires. Riley's investigation of the evolving puzzle box — with 6 unique phases that offer an "Audience with God" upon completion — leads her to the Berkshire estate of vanished billionaire art dealer Roland Voight (Goran Visnjic). He chose the Liminal configuration upon his completion of the puzzle, translating to Sensation — but the Cenobites' gift isn't of human pleasure; it's of mortal pain.

Hellraiser (2022) starring Jamie Clayton has made some big changes to Clive Barker's classic horror film about pleasure and pain.

One of the most interesting little changes to the original movie comes in the form of Riley being courted by The Priest with a tantalizing offer; she can keep the puzzle box's transfiguration going by piercing her friends with its blade. The giant diamond-shaped entity drifts down from a stormy sky of lightning and thunder to descend upon his mansion, promising another "threshold" of delights. The Leviathan, otherwise known as The God of Flesh, wasn't revealed until Hellraiser II: Hellbound, and so in the original Hellraiser, audiences didn't know what it was, or its connection to the Cenobites. Their manipulation of their surroundings only ceases when a protagonist gets to the Voight mansion and can shut them out with the intricate metal gates Roland has added for security measures. By the second half of the movie, they're in full force and terrorizing the protagonists, a steep departure from the original, where the Cenobites didn't appear prominently until the end, and Pinhead had less than ten minutes of screen time. The newer film definitely makes the intensity of the action much more terrifying for victims who assume they can escape the Cenobites by changing location. There were two main reasons for this approach; to keep the suspense high, and make the primary focus the villainy of Uncle Frank and Kirsty's step-mother Julia, who was not only having an affair but actively killing people. This new film returns to the "heart" of Barker's original story, based on the novella aptly named The Hellbound Heart, and focuses on a young woman Riley who comes in contact with the infamous puzzle box and runs afoul of its deadly morality game. In the original movie, the focus was on the Cotton family who move into a creepy old Victorian. Jamie Clayton shares a very similar appearance to Pinhead, with just the high leather collar traded for exposed flesh and a keyhole medallion in her throat. The cast of Bruckner's Hellraiser is a fairly diverse group, including actors of color who depict various sexual orientations. Her lecherous Uncle Frank was the one who summoned the Cenobites and got