Just in time for a nice Halloween scary night up pops the reboot of Hellraiser. There have been many film and TV spinoffs from the original Hellraiser in 1987 and if you have seen any of those, you basically will get the drift of this updated film release right away. That said, you shouldn’t need to dig back in the library for one of the earlier films to enjoy Pinhead and mates for a goulash horror blast. Having seen several of the earlier films, this one facelifts the special effects with some nice CGI and therefore saves it for a possible sequel.
Serena Menaker (Hiam Abbass), a Goth type woman, meets up with a man who is to give her a special box. In return Serena gives him payment. The box ends up in the hands of Mr. Roland Voight (Goran Visnjic) a collector of evil art effects. At a party that evening we meet Joseph “Joey” (Kit Clarke) who is a guest at Voight’s huge mansion and gets invited to a special room where most of Voight’s collection is housed.
Meeting Voight for the first time Joey’s impressed by him. On one of the pedestals is a strange puzzle box and Voight gets Joey to try and solve the mystery connected with it. So begins a night of extreme wickedness leading into the devious plot that happens 6 years later with addict Riley (Odessa A’zion) and her brother Matt (Brandon Flynn).
Director David Buckner capitalizes on the success of the original release depicting several of the strange and dangerous monsters that roam Hell. I like the way he introduces his characters and the predicaments in which they find themselves. And having seen previous attempts by others to keep the storyline going, this one definitely comes across more diabolically wicked.
His portrayal of the monsters such as Pinhead (played a female Jamie Clayton in this reboot) is awesome and represented looking quite evil. Other characters are a bit out of focus and include The Chatterer (Jason Liles), The Weeper (Yinka Olorunnife), The Gasp (Selina Lo) and The Asphyx (Zachary Hing). Their involvement with the central characters is a bit lame however, which tends to be a downer.
Hellraiser has been rated R by the MPAA for strong bloody horror violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual content and brief graphic nudity. So, be cautioned when you are deciding to allow your teens to view the film. For those that are mature horror fans however, go for it. If you know who Clive Barker is, the film was produced by him and the script loosely based on his book and characters.
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Brandon Flynn, Odessa A’zion, Drew Starkey, Adam Faison, Aoife Hinds, Kit Clarke, Goran Visnjic, Hiam Abbass
Directed By: David Buckner
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
MPAA Rating: language, sex gay and straight, violence, torture, gore, disturbing images, brief nudity
Running Time: 2 hrs.
Opening Date: October 7, 2022
Distributed by: 20th Century Studios
Released in: HULU
