HELLRAISER (2022)

 

Hellraiser Movie Review

Because we know Hollywood has limited ideas these days, Hulu brings the world yet another horror remake few asked for: Hellraiser. A brief history--in 1987, Hellraiser, a film written and directed by Clive Barker, and based on Barker's own novella, The Hellbound Heart, was released, and it kind of took the horror world by storm. The movie was a standout during a time that saw horror movies beginning to decline, and its lead character, Pinhead, became an icon in the genre. Two really good sequels, Hellbound: Hellraiser II and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, followed. In a perfect world, this is when the franchise would have died, but as horror fans, we know better. Seven more sequels followed, and none were any good, but we knew it was only a matter of time before they rebooted the whole thing. So here we are...Hellraiser being remade, and titled Hellraiser once more. 

It makes me want to cry too!

Riley (Odessa A’zion) is a drug addict living with her brother, Matt (Brandon Flynn), who decides he's had enough of her and throws her out. Feeling guilty, he goes looking for her and disappears after coming in contact with a mysterious puzzle box, which Riley and her boyfriend had stolen. Hellraiser fans will recognize the box, of course, and Riley, her dude, her brother's dude, and the other roommate (not a dude) go on the hunt for Matt. Riley is as annoying as any lead character I can recall, and, unfortunately, that sinks the movie right out of the gate. We can rely on the cenobites to help out, of course, but it takes a painfully long time for them to appear. Speaking of painfully long, this movie clocks in at over two hours, and there's not nearly enough interesting stuff happening to keep you hooked that long.

"Speak for yourself!"

The cenobites take on a much different look than we're used to, with some good and some bad. Generally speaking, I'm a fan of what they did with the faces, and less so of what was done with the bodies. I very much prefer the look from the original films, and think the flesh/muscle suits look a little hokey--that said, the look does work well on one or two of the cenobites. One character in particular it doesn't work well on is our feature star, Pinhead.

AKA The Priest, or Hell Priest...whatever your pleasure

If you haven't seen the movie yet, you may be wondering what the remaining cenobites look like, so here goes...

Masque

The Gasp

The Asphyx

Chatterer

The Weeper

The Mother

There's one more, but that one's kind of a spoiler, so I'll say no more. Overall, I was surprisingly satisfied with the cenobites--I wish the kills felt more like they did in the original films, but that's a mild complaint. As is common with remakes/reboots, there were several nods to the original films, and a few made me grin. The look inside Leviathan, a reminder of Hellraiser II, was especially cool. There's a nifty little twist near the end, and the final scene is also rather memorable. This remake of Hellraiser is frustrating--there's so much to like about it, but so much else weighing it down. Having a lead character who is so unlikable, who puts everybody in danger, and who does nothing really to redeem herself is bad--trying to make her into some sort of hero in the end is unbelievable and predictable. The acting was lacking across the board. The story was fair, but certainly not enough to justify 121 minutes. This movie is probably better than most of the original's sequels that came out after Hell on Earth--this statement, however, does not put it in any elite category. 

On A Scale Of One to Ten: 5

Hellraiser (2022) Movie Trailer