“What’s your pleasure, sir?”
Hellraiser is a horror movie franchise based on the novel “The Hellbound Heart” by Clive Barker. The first film of the franchise was released in 1987 and the last in 2018. However, Hulu will exclusively be releasing a new Hellraiser film on October 7th!
With the anticipated release of the new Hellraiser film, I decided to binge watch every Hellraiser film. Yes, all ten of them.
Starting off, this was an easy task as I am a fan of the first few movies. When I first watched the original Hellraiser years ago, I had to rewatch it again just to fully understand what was going. The movie can be quite confusing but can reel you in. Despite not knowing what was going on at that time, I was still “hooked” by the movie. Watching someone solve the Lament Configuration and then seeing Pinhead and his grotesque Cenobites suddenly appear was frightening.
During my binge watch, I was fully entertained throughout the first four movies even though I have watched them multiple times before. For me, after the fourth film is where I felt a drop off. That started with Hellraiser: Inferno, the fifth installment of the Hellraiser franchise. Inferno was not originally written to be a sequel to the franchise. It felt more like low-budget psychological thrillers that I have seen many times.
I continued watching Hellraiser movies 6-10 and also felt the quality of those films were a huge drop off from 1-4. Each of those films have their moments though, gore being their best quality. Doug Bradley as Pinhead makes each film that he is in, worthy of garnering some bonus points. His performance as Pinhead throughout the franchise is fantastic! Bradley would star as Pinhead in Hellraiser I-VIII.
All of the Hellraiser movies have one thing in common, sadomasochism. Pinhead and his Cenobites get off on delivering physical and psychological pain to their victims. If you’re into BDSM, this franchise is right up your alley.
While I am not a fan of some of the latest films in the franchise, I can’t help but be excited for the release of the newest film. The Hellraiser franchise along with its iconic character Pinhead, is a must watch for every horror fan. I would suggest everyone reading this to binge watch the entire franchise before watching Hellraiser (2022).
There is not much known about the 2022 version, even the official trailer doesn’t give much. For me, that makes me more excited to see what it’s about.
Check out the trailer for Hellraiser (2022) below: