Review: "Hellraiser"

Clive Barker is known for a certain kind of horror that revels in pain with slight tones of sex. His work in Hellraiser is no exception in this case with its kinky overtones and visually striking villain, Pinhead. The original films had their share of fans due to the visceral nature of their proceedings. All of the things you could expect to see in a remake are here, such as sadomasochistic monsters and a cast of morally questionable characters. Still, unlike the original, it doesn’t stick the landing, nor does it have bite.

The plot follows Riley McKendry (Odessa A’Zion), a recovering drug addict, who is living with her brother Matt. Matt feels that Riley’s new boyfriend, Trevor, is a bad influence that may force her to revisit some bad tendencies especially as she is trying to better herself. After a bad fight with Matt, Riley storms off to Trevor’s place where he explains to her that he has a plan to break into an abandoned storage warehouse that was owned by a billionaire. Trevor further explains that whatever is inside could make their dreams come true. The two jump at the opportunity and find a puzzle box inside. Riley is drawn to it and figures out the puzzle only to see a blade shoot out of it upon completion which she avoids. This brings forth the otherworldly Cenobites and their leader, Pinhead (Jamie Clayton) into Riley’s world and turns it upside down.

The proceedings are nothing new for fans of the franchise and it is suitably bloody. Director David Bruckner, who is famous for well-received horror films like “The Ritual” and “The Night House”, understands the core of the franchise and how people's desires, no matter how vain or malicious, end up hurting those around them. Similarly, how Bruckner depicts the more terrifying moments feels almost dream-like which works well for this franchise. The film looks better and seems to take itself more seriously than previous installments but something feels off about it all. Bruckner’s previous films all deal with a level of guilt or addiction which he seems to want to dive into more with Riley, but it is all half-baked. His ability to balance the monsters with a character-driven story seems to be a struggle. He seems to have a casual indifference to character and narrative continuity. The plot grinds through nightmarish scenes of menace and terror, yet none of them come with revelation making the two-hour run time a bit of a slog.

The true star of the film would be of Jamie Clayton’s performance as Pinhead. Clayton’s eyes work wonders for the character as she brings such an eerie calmness to the Hell Priest. While the film is largely centered around Riley, the audience cannot help but to hold on to every scene that Clayton steals. That isn't even a slight against A’zion’s performance as Riley as she is the “pin” to the entire film. Her struggle with addiction also has a strong line and similarity to Barker’s fascination with BDSM extremes of pleasure and pain, there is a level of shame in both. Her addiction and the influence that Trevor has over her aren’t just physically harmful but even socially as it furthers the divide between her and her caring brother. Despite the overly long runtime and mostly using characters as props, writers Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski get that part right.

Fans of the franchise will surely find enough in this remake/reboot to enjoy but aside from that and Clayton’s performance, it is largely skippable in a month filled with a ton of horror content for Halloween. This updated version doesn’t really hang together very well scene to scene nor does it enhance Barker’s original character concepts. Barker’s original and the short story derived from it all didn’t have much to offer in way of a story as they were only vague plot suggestions, to begin with, Hellraiser at its core was Final Destination. A death fest with surprising and horrid character design and the extra-curricular BDSM. Again, if you enjoyed the originals or Barker's work there is plenty here that you may enjoy, or it’ll just make you dig up the original films anyway.