Well, the wait is finally over, I finally got to check out Hulu’s new Hellraiser film and while I didn’t t think it was perfect, there ain’t a lot of bad things I can say about it.
Look, each to their own, the best thing about opinions is that we all have them, right? so, the things I loved about Hellraiser may be the same reason people disliked it. The one thing that seems to really bother me these days is people using the Laugh Emoji when someone says they like a film in a social media post. Yes, they might not agree with their taste in films but why would they choose to laugh at them? as if the viewer is inferior to them, if you’re one of those horrible people, then you are an assh0le. Now, on with the review.
The cenobite design was just mesmerising. The moment you realise that their clothing is nothing but stretched-out, flayed skin adds a hellish, dark tone to it all. I could feel the excruciating pain with each different one. The flayed skin clothing was a nice touch and made you believe that when those chains fly at you, you’ll witness pain and suffering that’s unimaginable to the human mind. The best thing you can hope for is a horribly painful death. Either you die, or you become one of them and tbh, it doesn’t really seem like a nice existence. The sound design was epic and also one of the best things about the film.
Jamie Clayton as the Hell Priest couldn’t have done a better job. Her calm, soft, yet evil tone really sent shivers down your spine.
If you asked a lot of people about the new Hellraiser then the only thing people would know is that Pinhead is now a female character. Those same people are complaining about the shining glimmer off of the “pins”. Now, I haven’t read the novella but I’m educated enough to know that the Hell Priest aka Pinhead was a sexless being and even Clive Barker wasn’t happy with how he/she was portrayed in the original movie. However, we can not argue with Doug Bradley…it’s just that Jamie’s character felt fresh and new. They’re completely different films. I feel it has the potential to be a stand-alone franchise and I will welcome any future instalments.
I found the main characters a little weak as well as some dialogue. The back stories supplied never really gave us a chance to connect with them, but in true horror fashion, these guys and girls were just lambs for the slaughter. Not that any of the acting was in any way bad they just seemed a little paper thin.
We got treated to a nice amount of gore but I was expecting a little bit more. I am not sure about the ratings but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 15. I was expecting a lot more cenobite torture and madness but what we got was certainly a joy to watch for any horror fan.
Another awesome film is from David Bruckner, a director that seems to be making serious waves in the horror industry. I will eagerly await his next project.
So, now that we have finally got the film over with it’s time to move on to the new HBO series. Yup, you read that right – HBO is developing a new Hellraiser series. Unfortunately, things have been very quiet. Supposedly, David S Goyer is the man developing the new series. If that’s still happening then this is great news. Goyer has some great writing credits to his name including Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
Maybe now that 70% of the world has accepted the new vision from Bruckner, we will start to see some developments with the HBO series. I still hold on to the hope that we will see Pascal Laugier in the directing chair for some Hellraiser. Many moons ago, Laugier was attached to directing a Hellraiser movie but left the project due to creative differences with the production company. When Laugier released Martyrs on the world, he seemed like the perfect choice to breathe torturous life into the franchise. Now, that we seem to be finally moving away from the light-hearted horror made for teenagers and we have a more mature approach to horror, who knows? I would be more than happy if he only directed one episode.
Anyways, folks, that’s it. Hellraiser is now available to stream on Hulu. And, stay tuned for more updates on the series.
As always, thanks for reading.
