While it seems to have been in development hell for as long as we can remember, the new take on Hellraiser is finally here.
Director David Bruckner has wiped the slate clean of around 25 years of dreadful sequels and started afresh.
If you are coming into this expecting a shot-for-shot reboot, think again Bruckner’s Hellraiser is a completely different animal.
Clearly, the writers have researched Clive Barker’s work extensively and created a new on-screen mythology to fit our new characters.
We follow Riley, a recovering addict living with her brother and his partner, who stumbles upon the mysterious lament configuration box which holds the key to both pain and pleasure.
While many will be excited to see Jamie Clayton’s take on the Hell Priestess, the film is largely dominated by the nuance performance of Odessa A’zion as the haunted Riley that really drives the film. This isn’t to take anything away from Clayton, who once on-screen alongside her other horrifying looking cenobites, simply dominates scenes by just being there.
The other area Hellraiser succeeds is in the cenobite design and the gory demises of victims, which are simply grotesque and will have some viewers wincing. This is what Hellraiser is meant to be – weird, gruesome and a bit perverted.
The runtime of 2 hours may cause some gripes but Bruckner is clearly world-building here and there is plenty of indications that if audiences respond we will definitely see more of these cenobites in the future.
We may have been waiting for decades but finally we have a new Hellraiser film to be proud of.
Hellraiser is streaming now on Hulu.
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