Lament-able

Film: Hellraiser (2022)
Format: Streaming video from Hulu+ on Fire!

I’m always a little leery of remakes. Oh, sure, there are some really good ones, but you probably already know the obvious examples that I would cite here. It always feels like there are too many remakes, though, as if studios are much more comfortable going with a story they already know (or a property they already know) rather than doing something really new. So it is that we come to the 2022 Hellraiser, which is honestly less of a remake and more of a completely new story with the same name attached to it. I think the idea here might be to take a step away from the original series, since the original Hellraiser franchise went hard off the rails in the third movie.

It's honestly hard to say if this is the start of a new franchise or the continuation of the old one. We have a new Pinhead, though, so it does feel like a fresh start and a reimagining. The concept of the Lament Configuration and the presence of the Cenobites (all but two of which are completely new) is really the only carryover from the original film, though, so this probably should be considered a new adaptation completely separate from the originals.

Off Script: Hellraiser

Film: Hellraiser
Format: Streaming video from NetFlix on The Nook.

I’ve read some Clive Barker although it’s been years. I haven’t loved his novels much, but some of his short stories are incredibly memorable. “In the Hills, the Cities” is the kind of story that stays with a person, or at least it was for me. Hellraiser was both written and directed by Barker, based on his novel “The Hellbound Heart.” The film created one of the most enduring horror icons in history. Pinhead is as much a part of horror lore as Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers. Hellraiser is a classic of the genre for a reason and very much in spite of some epically bad special effects.

Just as enduring a horror image is that of the puzzle box, which has a central place in the film. Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman, but played by Oliver Smith in his eventual undead state), looking for the extreme in sensual pleasures, finds the signature puzzle box in a shop. He purchases it and solves it, unleashing a series of hooked chains that sink into his flesh and rend him into pieces. The puzzle box, however, remains. Shortly thereafter, Frank’s brother Larry (Andrew Robinson) moves into his childhood home with his second wife Julia (Claire Higgins), not knowing that this is the very place where Frank was torn to bits or that the puzzle box is still in the house.