Spoiler WarningHellraiser is a gnarly and gory reinvention of the franchise that’ll make Clive Barker proud. It’s hardcore and utterly exquisite that delivers all the carnage you could ask for. The film has an all-around great cast, some pretty epic kills, and beautiful visuals and effects. Hellraiser fans will finally get to see a story that puts Pinhead and the Cenobites up front and center. Jamie Clayton pulled off an amazing performance as the first female Pinhead, and the Cenobites are just absolutely terrifying.
Opening in Belgrade, Serbia, Serena (Hiam Abbass) arrives at an undisclosed area where Lorenz (Predrag Bjelac) is waiting for her. A little spy-like meeting takes place between the two characters and swap cash for the infamous puzzle box. Now arriving at The Berkshires in Massachusetts during a late-night party, Joey (Kit Clarke) is exploring the mansion where he runs into Serena sitting at a bar. Serena eventually tells Joey to meet her at an exact location in the home to show him something.
Joey arrives minutes later only to walk into a large room surrounded by several glass-cased relics along the walls. Curiously, Joey picks up the Lemarchand Box that was located in the center of the room as the mysterious billionaire Roland Voight (Goran Visnjic) arrives out of nowhere. Voight tells Joey to complete the puzzle, and just as he does so, a small blade ejects from the box stabbing Joey in the hand. It is revealed that Voight had ultimately set Joey up to be killed by the Cenobites so that he can receive his “prize”.
Six Years Later
Six years later, Riley (Odessa A'zion), who is a recovering drug addict, is living with her brother Matt (Brandon Flynn), Matt's boyfriend Colin (Adam Faison), and another roommate Nora (Aoife Hinds). Riley is in the midst of a relationship with Trevor (Drew Starkey), who is also a fellow addict where the two had originally met in rehab. Matt tells Riley that he doesn’t like her spending time with Trevor due to their drug addiction history. Matt reveals how much he cares about her and that all he wants her to do is stay away from drugs.
Refusing to listen to her brother, Riley arrives at Trevor’s home the very next day. Riley tells Trevor that she’s tired of always being broke and mentions that she needs to be more looking for a better-paying job. Trevor tells Riley about an abandoned storage container that’s owned by Voight that could possibly contain several items that’ll be worth a lot of money. Riley accepts Trevor’s offer and heads to the abandoned container later that evening. Successfully breaking inside, the only item they were able to find was the Lemarchand Box.
Arriving back home, Matt is extremely disappointed that Riley is drunk and decides to kick her out of his apartment. Riley leaves the apartment to a nearby park where she relapses and takes drugs. She then fools around with the box and ends up solving the first configuration just before nearly missing the ejecting blade from stabbing her. Trying to figure out if it’s all a hallucination or not, the Cenobites finally arrive.
The Cenobites explain to Riley that she can come with them to a world of pain, or someone else can go in her place. Showing up at the worst time, Matt shows up to help bring Riley back to his apartment just before accidentally being stabbed by the small blade from the box. Matt tries to wash the blood from his hands until the Cenobites arrive and takes him away. Now in the box’s second configuration, Riley realizes that Matt has been taken by the Cenobites and begins to investigate the truth behind the Lemarchand Box.
With everyone determined to find Matt, Riley and Trevor are able to find Serena. She reveals that the Cenobites are real and that she was originally working for Roland Voight before he died six years ago. Taking the box from Riley, Serena quickly solves the puzzle into its third configuration and intentionally stabs herself with the blade. The Hell Priest (Jamie Clayton) and the Cenobites arrive yet again and take Serena away. Riley then realizes that she must go to the Berkshires mansion to investigate further.
From there, Riley ends up discovering the true meaning behind the Cenobites and the Lemarchand Box. Trevor, Colin, and Nora arrive at the mansion to bring Riley home until Nora is randomly stabbed by Roland Voight who was hiding behind the walls. Nora is taken by the Cenobites and the box shifts into its next configuration. Deciding to ultimately give up and throw the box away, Pinhead arrives and reminds Riley that the Cenobites will either take her or someone else in her place. Being chased by the Cenobites, Riley manages to stab one of them with the box, discovering a way to kill them and using a different strategy to complete all the box’s configurations.
It is later revealed that Trevor has been working with Voight the entire time and Riley was originally supposed to be the first to die. With everyone trapped in the large complex room that Voight had designed for the Cenobites, Voight solves the box to its final configuration. He was able to convince Pinhead to change his prize and Voight is taken away to the sky. Riley decides to kill Trevor to save Colin and tells Pinhead that she refuses to accept any prizes from the Cenobites, knowing that her brother won’t truly come back as himself. The Cenobites return to their world as Riley and Colin leave the mansion.
The Cenobites are the Best Part of Hellraiser
Controversy is an understatement when Jamie Clayton was first cast as Pinhead, but it’s safe to say that she absolutely nailed it in the film. All the Cenobites look and sounded fantastic as they used real costumes instead of CGI. Each Cenobite design has stretched and cut skin, exposing muscles and bones, that easily turned them into something otherworldly. Hellraiser is a lot different from the 1987 original, but this reboot is worth every minute of its two-hour run time.
Hellraiser will arrive on October 7th exclusively on Hulu.