REVIEW: New ‘Hellraiser’ is worthy update of horror classic
Photo: Jamie Clayton stars in the new Hellraiser. Photo courtesy of Hulu / Provided by press site with permission.
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser is a deserved classic in the horror genre. The family drama from the 1980s is ostensibly about a nice family and an old, creaky house. What could go wrong? Well, Barker doesn’t have the scares devolve into ghosts and paranormal activity of the traditional kind. Instead, he fashions a story of pain and pleasure, typified by the presence of monsters called Cenobites, otherworldly beings that have apparently taken their desire for pleasure to another realm of existence. For the unbeknownst, the most famous Cenobite is Pinhead, portrayed by Doug Bradley in the original film and its sequels.
Now, in 2022, Hellraiser is back. There was every bit of worry about the announced redo (not quite a remake, not quite a reboot) of Barker’s original vision. This one is a Hulu production directed by David Bruckner and featuring virtually none of the characters from the original, except Pinhead (this time portrayed by Jamie Clayton) and some other Cenobites.
Well, surprise, surprise. This reimagined Hellraiser turns out to be one of the strongest horror entries of the year, a perfect compendium for the Halloween season.
The 2022 update centers on the character of Riley (Odessa A’zion), who has a contentious relationship with her brother, Matt (Brandon Flynn). They live in the same apartment together, along with Matt’s boyfriend, Colin (Adam Faison), and another roommate, Nora (Aoife Hinds). The sibling contention is present because Riley is trying to kick an addiction to pills, and she’s recently brought home a new friend, Trevor (Drew Starkey), who she met at a support meeting. Matt doesn’t think her sister should have a romantic relationship with another person in recovery.
The establishment of this familial network is greatly appreciated and so often missing from horror movies. In these opening minutes, the audience is able to figure out the past and present of these friends, lovers and family members, and one begins to care about them as people. Riley’s struggle to kick her habit becomes a metaphor for the later struggles she will face.
Events eventually turn upside down when a literal Pandora’s box disrupts the proceedings. Riley and Trevor find this box and begin turning its convoluted contraptions, not realizing that they are opening up a gate to the world of the Cenobites, where pain is constant and pleasure is, well, painful. There’s a prologue to the movie that explains the mysterious box and its connection to a wealthy occult collector (Goran Višnjić). To be honest, the whole maniacal millionaire trope has been done so many times, and that proves to be one of the few weaknesses of an otherwise excellent horror flick. That said, the ultimate outcome for this occult collector is marvelous and should not be spoiled.
When Riley and company open up the gate to the Cenobite world, there’s no real escaping. In many ways, they find themselves in a Pandora’s box of their own making, and they must figure out how to survive (and who may need to be sacrificed). Rules are never explicitly talked about; everything is more trial and error.
The visuals of the film are of a wondrous quality. Hulu and Bruckner, working off a script by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, have crafted fascinating monsters out of the Cenobites. They are strange, scary works of art, with stretched skin, exposed internal organs and protruding metal objects. Add to this the dread and darkness of the scenery, and the audience can truly appreciate the sense of heady mayhem around each dark corridor.
Much like the original cinematic adaptation, this Hellraiser works so well as a horror movie because it covers terrain not typically seen in other genre entries, like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween or Friday the 13th. Barker’s creation, which originated with his novella, is a cerebral scarefest that asks the audience to travel into another dimension and consider these creatures who are both godly and human, riding the edge between dementedly divine and diabolically destructive. Sure, they have chains that fly through the air and hook their victims. Sure, they can slice up people in a million different ways. But their scariest characteristic is the ability to play mind games, to make their prey consider their souls, their pain, their pleasure, their mental predicament of finding a way out of a maze that exists everywhere and nowhere.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Hellraiser (2022), directed by David Bruckner, stars Jamie Clayton, Odessa A’zion, Brandon Flynn, Adam Faison, Aoife Hinds, Drew Starkey and Goran Višnjić. Screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. Running time: 121 minutes. Now streaming on Hulu. Rated R for strong bloody horror violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual content and brief graphic nudity. Rating: 
