HULU’s hugely anticipated Hellraiser reboot aims to right the wrongs of the franchise’s chequered output, and it’s getting a release date very soon
Clive Barker’s original Hellraiser film is the stuff of legend. It is utterly gross, soaked in gore, and – if you were born in the 1980s, as I was – likely traumatized you at some point during the 1990s. It gave us Pinhead, the lament configuration, the cenobites, and the stickiest, grotesque kind of gore imaginable.
Well, the good news is that Hellraiser is getting a complete reboot and will soon debut on HULU, bulking out the streaming platform’s ever-growing roster of original, horror IP. Even better, it will not be related to any of the godawful sequels that have slowly been pumped out over the years – there are currently 10 films, including the original.
Based on Barker’s novella, The Hellbound Heart, the film became an instant, cult classic following its release in 1987, cementing Barker as one of horror’s most important visionaries. Definitely not for the faint-hearted, Hellraiser is an utterly bonkers film about a gang of inter-dimensional beings, the cenobites, led by Pinhead, that get their jollies by torturing humans.
Hellraiser Streaming Release Date
HULU’s reboot of Hellraiser is now wrapped and will get its official release date via HULU on October 7, 2022. Prior to its exclusive release on HULU and Disney+, Hellraiser will debut at its world premiere at Beyond Fest in Santa Monica, California, on October 4. The film will not launch in cinemas, however – like Prey, it will be a streaming exclusive.
That means, if you want to watch Hellraiser when it gets its release on October 7, you’ll need to have either a Disney+ or HULU subscription. In the US, the film will be available exclusively via HULU. Outside the US, meaning the UK and Europe, the film will be available on Disney Plus.
How To Watch Hellraiser Online
If you don’t have Disney+ or HULU, Hellraiser will be available to buy or rent via the usual channels – iTunes, Amazon, Microsoft, YouTube, and the like. But to watch it for free as soon as it gets a release date, you will need either a HULU or Disney+ subscription. And if you don’t have one, you can get access here – it is well worth the investment too.
As of the film itself, a trailer for Hellraiser is now available to watch.
As you’d expect from a modern trailer, it does reveal quite a bit about the film, its characters, and the plot, so if you don’t like spoilers or want to go into the movie without any preconceived notions, I’d avoid watching it so you’re going into the film completely fresh when it gets a release.
Hellraiser Cast & Production: Who’s Behind The Movie?
The Hellraiser reboot goes all the way back to 2008. Back then, Barker wanted to write and direct a new film, rebooting his 1987 classic. Multiple rewrites were done but Barker could not secure funding for the film. The idea flip-flopped around for over a decade before David S Goyer and Spyglass Media got involved, confirming their intention to do a remake of the original movie.
Clive Barker is not involved in this production, however, with writing duties credited to Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. Goyer helped develop the story for the film, alongside the two screenwriters mentioned above. The film itself is directed by David Bruckner, the man behind The Ritual (2017) and The Night House (2020).
Furthermore, Bruckner’s last film, The Night House, was written and by the same guys behind the new Hellraiser film – Goyer, Collins, and Piotrowski – and that film earned itself an impressive 87% on Rotten Tomatoes which should fill even the most cynical of hearts with more than a little hope for this new Hellraiser film.
As for the plot of the new Hellraiser film, here’s what its director, David Bruckner, had to say about the concept and overarching theme of the new film:
As far as what fans can expect, it’s a re-imagining, to one degree. I also think that it fits within the world of Hellraiser and what you’ve seen before in many ways. I wouldn’t say it’s strict canon. Again, we let our imaginations run with this. And I’m a big believer that, you know, movies are dreams and sometimes they present strange iterations of one another, and that we should just embrace that and kind of run with it. My suggestion to fans is to go into it not thinking exactly where it’s fitting in the history of the series and to just experience the film. And then, I don’t know. We’ll see what conversations grow from there.
Source
Hellraiser Plot
I won’t go into spoilers about the plot; I hate it when articles do that. Instead, here’s the official plot/tagline for the new Hellraiser film via Disney:
“A young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension.”
As you can see, the film reverts back to its original concept: an unsuspecting person messes with the lament configuration and unleashes the cenobites. Back to basics, essentially. But in this context, as with Prey and Top Gun: Maverick, I think this is definitely the right move.
A Female Pinhead? Why Not…
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the new Hellraiser film is that Pinhead, the titular leader of the cenobites, is now female, played by Jamie Clayton. Up until now, Pinhead – while sexually ambiguous at the best of times – has always been male. The original – and best – iteration of Pinhead was, of course, portrayed by Doug Bradley.
In this new version of the film, Pinhead retains much of what made the original character so distinctive – a face full of nails – but is also a completely different beast in nearly every possible way. The styling, the personality, and the way the character carries themselves are entirely different. Bradley’s Pinhead always had a whiff of the aristocracy about him, while Clayton’s seems to be much darker, more sinister, and a little more sexual.
Either way, the new Hellraiser will get its official release date on HULU/Disney+ on October 7, 2022, so you’ll be able to watch it then and make your own mind up about the new Pinhead and Bruckner’s vision for the franchise. If the film is a success, you KNOW Disney is thinking long-term here, meaning multiple films and perhaps even a TV series.
